Galvin, K. M. (2006). Gender and Family Interaction: Dress Rehearsal for an Improvisation?. The SAGE Handbook of Gender and Communication (pp. 41-51). Thousand Oaks, California: SAGE Publications.
In 1983 Cahill theorized that children spend formative years in a dress rehearsal performing their impressions of roles such as boy, girl, man and woman. That theory is now irrelevant to culture because of differing socio-cultural values, adults are forced to improvise their lives.
Humans are not born with gender, rather it is a learned behavior passed on by elders. Men can posses feminine characteristics and women can possess masculine ones depending on individual goals, cultural structure and overall experiences.
The definition of ‘family’ is becoming more diverse over time, and conventional roles of mother and father are not present for observation in every household (single-parent families, gay/lesbian couples). Heterosexual parents tend to adhere to more traditional social roles for children, talking more to daughters about emotion and playing more aggressively with boys. Heterosexual fathers may distance themselves from sons who express different or gay qualities.
“As children are exposed to different family forms, they encounter multiple models and messages regarding gendered family life.”
The mother-daughter relationship is the primary forum for mutual care and support. A mother’s early nature to listen to her child’s opinions sets up the building blocks for a strong, communication- centered relationship through adolescence, while fathers tend to talk less with children and to focus more on activities. This can be attributed to the fact that males are traditionally socialized to see speech as a means to complete a task rather than a casual or bonding activity.
As families shift to a more co-parenting style than in the past, these ideas are evolving but still present in everyday family life.
-Submitted by Kaitlyn Kivi
No comments:
Post a Comment