In the article from the National Post, Low marks keeping Canadian boys out of University: Study it talks about the differences between boys and girls in high school. Boys are not as hard working when it comes to homework, assignments and preparation for tests as girls are. Also, girls are the ones who frequently attend university after high school rather than boys who either go to college or take on trades such as plumbing or electrician. We can clearly identify the differences between both sexes and that their choices differ from one another.
This identification of differences between sexes does not only exist in high school but in everyday communication from one person to another. We have learned in class that communication is not solely based on speaking but our body movements, our interactions to one another, our confrontation and finally our response. Men and women speak very differently. Women tend to talk about problems where as men tend to ignore them and avoid confrontation. Also, differences could include the way men speak to their male friends and how women speak to their female friends. When males talk to their male friends, they often talk about sports and celebrities where as women talk to their female friends about their love life, problems that may occur, and gossip. Furthermore, our selection of words varies between high or low context, for example, in some cultures it is very inappropriate for women to use vulgarity such as cursing. However, if men were to speak in such a way, it wouldn’t change a person’s view of him.
Another distinction between men and women is their body movements such as their walk, stance and physical expressions. Women have more of a feminine walk because they walk with their hips and have their back straight, where as men are slouched and walk more relaxed. A persons’ stance is quite important, if you were to go to Wal-Mart or a grocery store you would see that the majority of the men stand with their back slouched and their head facing downwards and the women have their chest up and their head held high. Physical expressions would be considered hand gestures, the movement of the body when talking in front of an audience or to a family member or a friend.
We could go on stating the differences between men and women, but one thing we should question is how women and men are perceived on television and in movies? If we look at all the television shows we enjoy watching, we can observe that most of the women have the same attributes, such as: fashionable with nice and well kept hair. Men are always wearing casual clothing and most of them look just like an average Joe but with some extra charm.
Men and women are diverse from each other and a great portrayal of this could be shown through media such as advertisements, television shows, movies and even music. One show in particular that significantly identifies the media’s perception of girls and boys can be viewed in the following clip from The Disney Channel, Life with Derek.
Derek and Casey clearly have different mentalities, interests and clothing styles. I feel that this clip depicts a very obvious way that girls and boys, especially teenagers, can be different from one another. The way Derek and Casey communicate with their body and their choice of words show various ways of communication and that there are multiple ways of addressing issues. This episode also shows that Casey works extra hard to earn her high grades where as Derek could care less about failing a test and how it is accepted from his father since he “ never tried hard in high school”.
This can relate back to the article how girls in high school work hard and aim to go to university where not all the boys work as hard, and don’t try to go to university.
Life with Derek:
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