When “difference” is “dominance”: A critique of the “anti-power-based” cultural approach to sex differences

This article analyzes the dichotomization of two opposing approaches to studying sex differences in language use: the “difference/cultural” approach, which treats women and men as having “different but equally valid” rules of conversation, and the “dominance/power-based” approach, which focuses on male dominance and sexual division of labor in talk. I critique the stance taken by the difference approach. First, its notion of women and men as belonging to different “cultures” is too simplistic to account for everything that occurs in mixed-sex conversation. Second, the dichotomization of “power” and “culture” as two separate, independent concepts is inappropriate, because social interaction always occurs in the context of a patriarchal society. As a direction for further research, I propose that the relationship between gender and language should be approached from the viewpoint that we are doing gender in interaction. (Sociolinguistics, communication, conversational style, gender, sex differences)

[1]  Nikolas Coupland,et al.  ′Miscommunication′ and Problematic Talk , 1991 .

[2]  N. Henley,et al.  Body Politics: Power, Sex, and Nonverbal Communication , 1977 .

[3]  H. Eysenck.  Development of antisocial and prosocial behavior: Dan Olweus, Jack Block and Marian Radke-Yarrow: Academic Press, Orlando, FL (1986). 432 Pages. £51.50. , 1987 .

[4]  Victoria Leto DeFrancisco,et al.  The Sounds of Silence: How Men Silence Women in Marital Relations , 1991 .

[5]  P. Kollock,et al.  Sex and Power in Interaction: Conversational Privileges and Duties , 1985 .

[6]  J. Gumperz.  Discourse strategies: Subject index , 1982 .

[7]  Betty Lou Dubois,et al.  The question of tag questions in women's speech: they don't really use more of them, do they?↓ , 1975, Language in Society.

[8]  Linda Nyquist,et al.  The female register: an empirical study of Lakoff's hypotheses , 1977, Language in Society.

[9]  E. Aries,et al.  Conversational patterns among same-sex pairs of late-adolescent close friends. , 1983 .

[10]  Robin Tolmach Lakoff.  Women's Language , 1977 .

[11]  Suzanne J. Kessler,et al.  Gender: An Ethnomethodological Approach , 1985 .

[12]  Penelope Eckert,et al.  Cooperative competition in adolescent “girl talk” , 1990 .

[13]  E. Kissling,et al.  Street Harassment: The Language of Sexual Terrorism , 1991 .

[14]  B. Thorne,et al.  Language and Sex: Difference and Dominance , 1975 .

[15]  C. Gilligan.  In a Different Voice: Psychological Theory and Women''s , 1982 .

[16]  Don H. Zimmerman,et al.  Small Insults: A Study of Interruptions in Cross-Sex Conversations between Unaquainted Persons , 1983 .

[17]  H. Giles,et al.  Handbook of language and social psychology , 1992 .

[18]  D. Spender.  Man Made Language , 1980 .

[19]  C. Cole.  `Oh Wise Women of the Stalls...' , 1991 .

[20]  Alexandra Dundras Todd,et al.  Gender and Discourse: The Power of Talk , 1988 .

[21]  Senta Troemel-Ploetz,et al.  Review Essay: Selling the Apolitical , 1991 .

[22]  J. S. Shibamoto.  Japanese Women's Language , 1985 .

[23]  Judy C. Pearson,et al.  Gender and communication , 1985 .

[24]  Cheris Kramarae,et al.  Women's talk in the ivory tower , 1983 .

[25]  Fern L. Johnson,et al.  The talk of women friends , 1983 .

[26]  M. Goodwin.  He-Said-She-Said: Talk As Social Organization Among Black Children , 1993 .

[27]  Cheris Kramarae,et al.  Language, gender, and society , 1983 .

[28]  D. Tannen.  Conversational Style: Analyzing Talk Among Friends , 1984 .

[29]  A. Schlegel.  Gender Issues and Cross-Cultural Research , 1989 .

[30]  J. Gumperz.  Language and social identity: Author index , 1983 .

[31]  Deborah Tannen,et al.  That's Not What I Meant!: How Conversational Style Makes or Breaks Your Relations with Others , 1992 .

[32]  B. Dorval,et al.  Conversational Organization and Its Development , 1990 .

[33]  M. Saville‐Troike.  The ethnography of communication , 1982 .

[34]  Elaine Showalter,et al.  Feminist Criticism in the Wilderness , 1981, Critical Inquiry.

[35]  C. Gardner.  Passing By: Street Remarks, Address Rights, and the Urban Female , 1980 .

[36]  Deborah Tannen,et al.  Gender differences in topical coherence: Creating involvement in best friends' talk , 1990 .

[37]  Jennifer Coates,et al.  Women in Their Speech Communities , 1989 .

[38]  Cheris Kramarae,et al.  The voices and words of women and men , 1981 .

[39]  Deborah Cameron,et al.  Feminism and linguistic theory , 1985 .

[40]  Braj B. Kachru,et al.  ‘Socially realistic linguistics’: the Firthian tradition , 1981 .

[41]  Deborah Jones,et al.  Gossip: Notes on women's oral culture , 1980 .

[42]  Lana F. Rakow.  Looking to the Future: Five Questions for Gender Research , 1987 .

[43]  Fern L. Johnson,et al.  Close friendship in adulthood: Conversational content between same-sex friends , 1983 .

[44]  F. Johnson.  Political and Pedagogical Implications of Attitudes towards Women's Language. , 1983 .

[45]  P. Fishman,et al.  Interaction: The Work Women Do , 1978 .

[46]  Carole Edelsky.  Who's got the floor? , 1981, Language in Society.

[47]  D. Tannen.  You just don't understand: women and men in conversation. morrow , 1990 .

[48]  Sally McConnell-Ginet,et al.  Women and Language in Literature and Society , 1980 .

[49]  E. Bruner,et al.  Gender differences in graffiti: A semiotic perspective , 1980 .

[50]  N. Henley,et al.  Gender, power, and miscommunication. , 1991 .

[51]  Sex and Gender , 1987 .

[52]  Daniel N. Maltz,et al.  A Cultural Approach to Male-Female Miscommunication , 1983 .

[53]  Kathryn Carter,et al.  Women in Communication Studies: A Typology for Revision. , 1987 .

[54]  R. G. Kent,et al.  Language: Its Nature, Development, and Origin , 1923 .

[55]  Women and language in transition , 1989 .

[56]  Amy Sheldon,et al.  Pickle fights: Gendered talk in preschool disputes , 1990 .