Instructor Callaway
English 111
November 25, 2012
‘’Communication is Key’’ There are plenty of ways to make conversation but miscommunication is often perceived. Women should change their communication style because we’re often misunderstood, passive, and sensitive.
Women should change their communication because women tend to be more emotional. Men often use a woman’s emotional state as an advantage to make her feel misunderstood. According to Deborah Tannen she says “Had she realized he was going criticize her and not ask her to reciprocate, she would never have asked in the first place.’’(367) when women are in an emotional state of mind we tend to miscommunicate which causes us to be misunderstood.
There are plenty of ways to make conversation but miscommunication is often perceived. Women often come off as being too passive because a woman may have a high tolerance for frustration for a minimum of caring, and love. There are several different reasons why a woman can be labeled as passive. For instance, if a woman do not stand up for herself a man would label her as weak, and easy to run over. According to Deborah Tannen she says “If you’re not use to ritual fighting, you begin to hear criticism of your ideas as soon as they are formed.”(366) Being a woman in today’s society you have to have a voice, and let it be known what you will or will not stand for.
` There are plenty of ways to make conversation but miscommunication is often perceived. The way these women characters allow their emotions to dictate their reactions and decisions are beyond me. Women sometimes have very fragile feelings which make them sensitive due to hormones. Men do not understand how one little action or word can hurt a woman’s feelings. According to Deborah Tannen she said “Whether criticism is given straight or softened it is often a matter of convention.”(364) At the end of the day we as women have a nature to nurture which some men may take it as
Cited: Tannen, Deborah. “But What Do You Mean?” 1994. Back to the Lake. Ed. Thomas Cooley. 2nd Ed. New York: Norton, 2012 363-68 Print.