How Gender Affects Interpersonal Communication

Floyd discusses the many ways that gender affects interpersonal communication. Pick 2 interpersonal relationships (one with a man and one with a woman) – describe how you communicate differently based on the gender of the other person and your gender as well.

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.

I have an aversion to males, so I have very few
We met over sharing our (negative) opinions of an extracurricular we were both in. We got coffee and let loose about how we felt being in this activity, where we felt it was going and that smoothly led into talking about a problem she was having in another friendship. I was happy to listen. Our communication is mostly expressive talk, with very little of it being instrumental talk. For example, when deciding to hang out, it is usually heavy with messages showing a want for time spent together because of how we value one another’s friendship. After that is established, making plans takes very little time or energy. Once we are together, the task or activity at hand is often forgotten altogether as we talk. In conversation, there is little to no interrupting and a lot of validations. We are very affectionate towards one another, sometimes verbally but mostly nonverbally with things like hugging and pats on the back and things like that. In this relationship, it seems that our similar values and emphases strengthen and enhance the