Preview

Deborah Tannen Sex Lies And Conversation Analysis

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1012 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Deborah Tannen Sex Lies And Conversation Analysis
As the rate of divorces in the United States rises greatly per year, the question as to ‘why’ comes up. Which then brings many factors into perspective, but the factor of miscommunication comes up more frequently than others. As published in The Washington Post in 1990, Deborah Tannen discusses the factor of miscommunication in her article, “Sex, Lies, and Conversations:Why Is It So Hard for Men and Women to Talk to Each Other?”. In which she discusses how communication or the lack thereof can impact marriages for both men and women, as well as both men and women feel about conversation within a relationship.
Tannen explains that there is a new pattern that has been observed when it comes to couples discussing the problems within their
…show more content…
When growing up and interacting with others, boys and girls usually play with other children who are of the same gender. Showing that the a child’s development is based upon peer interactions which link to how they talk with their significant other (208). Men and women interpret the need of conversation differently as they are growing up, typically men stay more reserved towards their friends, where women are more likely to talk more openly. When women and men grow together in order to form relationships, the women will be more expecting of the man to be open and talkative when it comes to their conversations, whether they be in public or in the privacy of their own home. This stems back to how a woman is raised. Women are raised to not be afraid to express themselves, so because of this, a wife will expect “her husband to be a new and improved version of a best friend” (208). A sense of closeness is formed within a relationships, when conversations of importance are brought up. If that bond is not formed early on, the relationship could …show more content…
Which isn’t the case, but because men typically don’t express their feelings, but as Tannen explains, when a man explains his feelings it’s usually of a matter of importance. She also explains that when a boy tries to talk to someone about one of his problems he usually gets shot down where when a girl talks to one of her friends about her problems “the friend responded by asking probing questions and expressing agreement and understanding”(210). This brings back the idea that women expect men to be better best friends when it comes to them talking, but the men don’t get the same treatment when they go to talk about their problems.
According to Tannen men often get frustrated with the conversational tendencies of women. Tannen states, “Men who expect silent attention interpret a stream of listener noise as overreaction or impatience” (210). This can lead to arguments within the relationship, leading women to believe in disloyalty within the conversation if her significant other takes the time of “pointing out the other side of the argument” (210). Tannen also describes this matter as men taking a woman’s complaining for too literally which can lead into more

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Some research show that women engage in more relationship talks than men; they talk more about relationships in general and about the present relationship in particular. Men engage in more content talk; they talk more about things external to the relationship (Wood, 1994; Pearson, West, & Turner’ 1995).…

    • 215 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Women talk in order to stablish a relationship while men are more likely to do something to demonstrate their commitment. Women see communication as key. Therefore, they expect their husbands to be a better version of their best friends. Men tend to get distracted easily; whenever a man wants to listen to someone,…

    • 346 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Most divorced women cite poor communication as a major contributor to their divorces; few men even mention it as a factor. Tannen says this discrepancy in perception takes root in childhood and reflects the different roles played by verbal communication in men’s and women’s lives. What are some of the examples of this that Tannen presents in her article? Can you provide examples from your own…

    • 637 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Communication is a very important factor in human life. Without communication our lives would be dull because we wouldn't learn from each other or keep up with what is occurring around us every day. Men and women communicate in the same form, but each of them oppose in certain aspects of communication that may cause interference between both sexes. Why do we differ so much to often cause uncomfortable social situations between each other? This question is often answered by understanding simple social observations of both sexes as adults and as children.…

    • 726 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Laura Schlessinger sees women as the issue in relationships, author Deborah Tannen believes that both genders cause problems in relationships. Tannen shows all the research she conducted that allows the reader to infer that males and females are very different. Obviously males and females are raised differently, but it seems no one expected for that to affect their relationships. Tannen provides evidence that shows the different mindset of males and females when she explains, “For women, as for girls, intimacy is the fabric of relationships, and talk is the thread from which it is woven. Bonds between boys can be as intense as girls’, but they are based less on talking, more on doing things together” (1). Simply, boys and girls are wired differently. They have a different mindset about what is most important in a relationship. Because they each have a different way of thinking, it can often cause problems. Those problems are getting more difficult to solve. Both the male and female want to be right and not at fault for why they fought. That concept is easy to understand after reading, “Sex, Lies and Conversation,” because Tannen explains it thoroughly. In relationships, the male and female tend to find a flaw in their partner and use it against them in the argument. An example of this is given when Tannen stated, “Many of the psychological explanations that have become second nature may not be helpful, because they tend to blame either women (for not being assertive enough) or men (for not being in touch with their feelings)” (3). These flaws are used against the other person in an argument. Evidently, it is not only the female’s fault as to why the relationship is not working; it can also be the male’s…

    • 697 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    After reading the above article, I felt disappointment, and I do not agree. It is my opinion that my spouse and I communicate very well; I said to my spouse "I'm hot" (from the statement in the article). His response was what I expected, "Do you want me to turn on the AC,…

    • 612 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the age of puberty the communication once had from children to teens changes.As a teen, the male student naturally started hanging out with more males than females. This became the difference between male and female conversations. As males get older they bond more in experiences rather than conversations. Unlike their female counterparts who engage in conversation to bond. Females when communicating like to have others listen to the problem only, unlike males who like to talk about problems and give a solution to the problem rather than just listen to the problem. This is where the problem manifests for communication between male and female counterparts within the teenage…

    • 649 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Sex, Lies, and Conversation is a very interesting piece written by Deborah Tannen in which she discusses how men and women communicate in different ways, albeit with each other or with the opposite sex. She lists three different points which are, how contact is made in these conversations, how each other reacts to this contact, and we were all raised and taught differently in communication, determined by our sex. She drives home these points throughout her piece by using cold hard facts to support her claims.…

    • 86 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    You Just Don’t Understand Women and Men in Conversation by Deborah Tannen is basically an explanation on how women and men converse. Tannens main goal is to give advice to the different genders in order for them to avoid as much conflict as possible. Tannen’s main ideas are to explain how differently women and men react to each other’s way of being. It’s like they’re in their own little world while living in the same big world. Men tend to try to dominate situations and tend to always want to be at the top. Women do not tend to want to get into conflict but tend to show understanding. These big differences bring them into conflict. A Tannen explains, “What he wanted conflicted with what she wanted”. (40) Women and men are constantly clashing in opinions.…

    • 1042 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Baugh, E.J, & Humphries, D. (2010). Can we talk? improving couples ' communication1. Unpublished manuscript, Department of Psychology, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida. Retrieved from http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdffiles/fy/fy04400.pdf…

    • 881 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In this chapter, Floyd (2011) discusses the many ways that gender affects interpersonal relationships. He describes is as a “defining feature of our identity, shaping the way we think, look, and communicate” (p. 51). It is explained that each gender culture puts emphasis on different parts of the relationship. Women come to value communication and closeness, while men value taking part in activities together (Floyd, 2011, p. 57). This makes sense when I think about how I communicate with men versus with women.…

    • 635 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    A major disparity between men and women is their conversation goals. Women always want to share everything, but men do not. For instance, a woman likes voicing everything she thinks and how she feels. Moreover, the women like to tell story what happened in a day and she want her partners can feel and understand her story. In contrast, a man does not really want to share what is going on in his mind, except that the conversation is inevitable. In contrast, men do not want to share his…

    • 588 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    English

    • 2524 Words
    • 11 Pages

    talking is part of bonding, while males believe in bonding through doing things together. She…

    • 2524 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    What is the importance of communication? Communication is an important life skill that helps to people connect by building respect and trust; it can resolve differences in the environment. In Deborah Tannen’s essay “Sex, Lies and Conversations” she highlights the different styles of communication of man and woman. Tannen opens her essay with an anecdote that grabs the reader’s attention with her own personal experiences. Tannen discusses how men and women communicate with each other, how different the ways of communications for opposite sexes are, and how this can…

    • 1225 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    His Talk, Her Talk

    • 324 Words
    • 2 Pages

    It is no secret that men and women have marriage problems. A big source of that happens to be communication issues. Men tend to not be interested in what the women wants to talk about. Same goes with women, they may not be as interested in male conversations or men do not give as much detail as the women would like. That is why many are attending marriage counseling.…

    • 324 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays