Language Myth: Women Talk Too Much (and 'Check your privilege')

[cinnabonbon]

I just like to talk about this, ironically enough. I am sure these two have been posted here before, but I wanted to hear what you think.

Perceptions and Implications

If social confidence explains the greater contributions of women in some social contexts, it is worth asking why girls in school tend to contribute less than boys. Why should they feel unconfident in the classroom? Here is the answer which one sixteen-year-old gave:

Sometimes I feel like saying that I disagree, that there are other ways of looking at it, but where would that get me? My teacher thinks I’m showing off, and the boys jeer. But if I pretend I don’t understand, it’s very different. The teacher is sympathetic and the boys are helpful. They really respond if they can show YOU how it is done, but there’s nothing but ‘aggro’ if you give any signs of showing THEM how it is done.

Talking in class is often perceived as ‘showing off’, especially if it is girl-talk. Until recently, girls have preferred to keep a low profile rather than attract negative attention.

Teachers are often unaware of the gender distribution of talk in their classrooms. They usually consider that they give equal amounts of attention to girls and boys, and it is only when they make a tape recording that they realize that boys are dominating the interactions.

The male tendency to dominate in some classes did not surprise us, since talkativeness studies in general have concluded that men dominate mixed discussion groups everywhere -- both within the classroom and beyond. What did surprise us was the degree to which male domination appeared to depend on gender demographics: when the teacher was male and the students in a particular class were predominantly male, then male students dominated the discussions. In none of the demographic circumstances studied did women students talk as much as men.

Why don't women students talk as much as men? One explanation is that women prove to be extremebly vulnerable to interruption. Numerous studies have demonstrated that in mixed-sex conversations, women are interrupted far more frequently than men are. This was remarkably visible in the Video Lab's sample: the comments of women students often were confined to "bursts" lasting only a few seconds, while male students typically kept on talking until they had finished. Moreover, once interrupted, women sometimes stayed out of the discussion for the remainder of the class hour. Thus there were considerably more one-time contributors among women than men.

http://www.pbs.org/speak/speech/prejudice/women/
http://isites.harvard.edu/fs/html/icb.topic58474/krupnick.html

As far as I'm concerned, this is the reason why "check your privilege" is a popular tool in certain conversations. In these discussions, women are known to tell men to stop dominating the discussion, and they do it by using that particular term. It has been abused, certainly, but most often it is used to keep a conversation on topic.

It allows women and other minorities to take back fifty percent (or even more!) of the conversation. It is also the reason why "check your privilege" has been so criticized by people who have been told to stop interrupting the conversation.

[redqueen]

1. What was the statistic about the perception of an even balance of the sexes in groups?

Was it something like a group made up of 20% women was perceived to be an even balance, and a group that is 50% women was perceived to be dominated by women?

We have a real problem. These imbalances aren't even consciously recognized.

[cinnabonbon]

2. I got the impression that it was even less, but I may be mixing statistics.

I agree that it's a huge problem.

Maybe that's why certain people seem to think that feminism is about women trying to get special rights over men. They can't help it, because subconsciously they think that a fifty/fifty spread is somehow female dominance.

[KitSileya]

3. It is even less.

For example, according to the Geena Davis Institute, in Hollywood, a crowd that is 17% women is seen as equal. 30%, and we're a majority. If you think about it, this can give us an enormous opportunity - let's make sure that we elect at least 30 female senators on our side, and the misogynistic repukes will automatically think we have a huge majority in the Senate!

[cinnabonbon]

4. Thank you so much.

I'm glad that my mind wasn't playing tricks on me. 17% is pitiably little, when you think about it.

let's make sure that we elect at least 30 female senators on our side, and the misogynistic repukes will automatically think we have a huge majority in the Senate!

I love the way you think!