language myths

[xeriah]

For those who believe the old myth that women talk more than men, please refer to the following: the language myths

I have read about the social spheres that tend to dictate verbosity among men and women.  It's fricking annoying when someone who goes by hearsay tries to tell me that women talk more than men and argues with me on it.

It's... not...

Comments

[fl0werchylde]

Interesting article! I don't believe there's enough evidence at this point to say either way. Plus it may come down to semantics, or how you say it. Like "women talk more than men" vs. "talkative women are more common than talkative men" or something similar. I think the drive behind squashing the myth is feminism, and I don't know that going out of one's way to emphasize that men and women are the same in every way is the best approach for our advancement.

[xeriah]

That wasn't about proving them the same so much as that cultural myth suggests women are talkative. The joke is that women talk too much. I would argue the opposite. In my family it's certainly true and many women I know are not garrulous. It's dependant on context, education, culture, etc. It's extremely annoying to me to hear these jokes and for people to come up with "women talk more than men" as a tried and true fact when I've read research done in certain situations that suggest the very opposite.

silent stoic women, communicative nagging men

[black_vegetable]

That made me laugh. Because one of the things that my bf often brings up is that fact that he's 'the girl in the relationship' - and by that he means that he talks more, he badgers me for information, he is the one who keeps bringing issues up.

I don't know how indicative it is of the norm, but whenever there are generalisations, individual differences ge toverlooked.

Re: silent stoic women, communicative nagging men

[xeriah]

Men are extremely talkative, moreso than women in certain circumstances. Men also have been found to interrupt more. My thought is that they also listen less. No research there, just personal observation. But you know, your boyfriend, several men in the family, by far the males in my classes, they all talk more.