Men are From Mars!

In general, I feel that gender does have an effect on language and the way men and women talk differ. Two differences that I feel are particularly true are the differences in Quantity of talk and Self-disclosure. One point that our book brings up on table 4.5 that I have found to be particularly true is that "In friendly same-gender dyads, women prefer to spend time talking; men prefer to share activities such as sports and hobbies." I know that with my girlfriends, I am totally fine just meeting up to talk, usually over lunch or coffee, but the main activity is just talking. However, if I guy asks one of his other guy friends out to lunch to chat, this could be considered abnormal. Usually the talking is done at a sports game and at least with a few beers.

The second difference that I have found to be true with my interactions with men is they tend to self-disclose less, especially when not prompted to do so. Although I now realize that this is what their gender roles have taught them to do, I admittedly still get annoyed when something is bothering my boyfriend and he cannot for the life of him tell me what's wrong.