blog #19 Herring,Susan C., Deborah A. Johnson, and Tamra DiBenedetto. “Participation in Electronic Discourse in a 'Feminist' Field."

I agree with the statement that discussion online is more likely to be democratic than discussion offline. I think when you're online and not face to face you're more free and less intimidated to say what you want to say or get your point accross. In person, strong personalities usually dictate topics of discussion. You don't really have this problem online because because when you're online the physical intimidations like how one looks and sounds is taken out of the equation. Everyone is on an equal playing field and all that really counts online is one's opinion nothing else. This makes it a lot easier for someone to be themself and speak their mind.

blog #18 Guiller, Jane, and A. Durndell. "‘I Totally Agree with You’: Gender Interactions in Educational Online Discussion Groups."

This study echoes the same tune reflecting how the male and female sex when they are online and in person. The study found that the female participants were in agreement with their fellow classmates more often than the male participants were. And when the female participants did express their opinion, most of the time it was in agreement with their fellow classmates. The male participants on the other hand did the opposite. To me, this study just reassures me what I already know just from life experiences. Women tend to agree more and men tend to disagree more.

blog # 17 Gefen, David, and Catherine Ridings. “If You Spoke as She does, Sir, Instead of the Way You do: A Sociolinguistics Perspective of Gender Dif

This study just reassures me about my assumption that deep down inside women are much more passive and compassionate than men are. I think it is in our DNA, our core, this is who we are and it reflects when we communicate no matter what form we use. Years of evolution has made men what he is and women what she is. This is the perfect balance and I think it is the reason we are how we are. As stated in the study, not every man can be catagorized in the stereotypical image that men are but for the most part the majority of them can. Women, no matter where they are or what forms of communication they use they will always be more compassionate than men and will always search for something to have more meaning than just its tangible qualities.

blog #16 Johnson, Fern L., and Karren Young. "Gendered Voices in Children's Television Advertising."

Advertisers know exactly what to put on to catch the attention of kids. Now and days kids rely on tv and the internet for everything from pop culture to education. This leaves a gigantic door open for advertisers to get whatever message they want through. Although parents and teachers do their part in instructing young kids these days to do the correct thing, it's becoming more and more difficult because of our digital reliance on everything. I think in the future this problem will only be expanding. It'll be rare 20 years from now to see kids playing outside like we once did. This makes advertising on television and other forms of communication that much more effective.

Artz, Jeanne Munger, and Warren Pundy. “Gender Issues in Advertising.”

Boys and girl, men and women are attracted to different visuals. The marketing companies know this well and format their ads to draw as much attention towards that specific group as much as possible. With young girls they focus on showing the glamorous side as much as possible. With young boys they focus on action figures and very male dominant characters. All these advertising strategies are to draw as much attention as possible to their products. Advertising clearly is the reason on what sales and what doesnt sale.

blog #14 Martyna, Wendy. "Beyond the "He/Man" Approach: The Case for Nonsexist Language."

I think eventually our language will change enough to better reflect both sexes but as for now and the near future, not much will be done. I however do not believe there will ever come a time where our language will be completely nonsexist. The reason why I believe this is because the sexists in our language is a direct reflection of our history. To completely make it nonsexist will be to erase our entire history. Our language is a product of thousands of years of speech. Unless we completely come up with a different way to speak our language will always in some small way or form be sexist.

post #13 Henley, Nancy M. “Molehill or Mountain? What We Know and don't Know about Sex Bias in Language.”

I agree with Henley when she says that girls had to learn type II rule of masculine generic during their early school days while boys learned type I growing up. Girls do have to learn to differentiate things by sex and use the correct terminology while boys often to everything as he. I think this happens because in our society we view girls/women to be more proper therefore it is important that they refer to things correctly. Boys on the other hard are given the freedom to make mistakes and these mistakes in terminology made by boys are not corrected right away because society believes it is okay. I think language affects and reflects thoughts. They we speak says a lot about how we are as a society but it also reflects how we are as well. Our views, thoughts, and beleives are reflected through our speech.

BLOG #12 Cameron, Deborah. Chp. 6: "Making Changes: The Debate on Sexist Language."

I agree with Deborah in that we unconciously make these sexist remarks and that just because we unconciously do it doesn't mean it is okay. I think until we as a people become more educated on this issue it'll be kept under radar and only the few that care enough to do some digging will notice. I'm positive many Americans and people from other nations don't even notice how sexist our language is. Everyone has been taught to speak this way so unless you carefully disect word for word it's pretty hard to see how sexist our speech can be at times.

BLOG #11 Henley, Nancy. “This New Species that Seeks a New Language: On Sexism in Language and Language Change.”

I think language is influenced by social hiarchy and dominance. The article makes a good point about how men are always referenced before women. I think this has a lot to do with how the world is and how it works. It is a male dominated world, this can be applied to almost every species on earth therefore speech, actions, and behavior will reflect that. I also think everything has its particular role such as men being the hunters and protectors and women being the nurturers. Since the roles that men are associated with are usually viewed as more important, I think this is why when we reference something we always put men before women.

blog # 10 Tannen, Deborah. “The Relativity of Linguistic Strategies: Rethinking Power and Solidarity in Gender and Dominance.”

In my relationship with my girlfriend and other females in my life such as my mother and sisters, the one common time in which I am the subordinate in these relationships is when we're cooking or doing house chores. In the case of me and my girlfriend, the person I currently live with now, she's usually the boss when we are cleaning or cooking. This is one of the rare times where what she tells me to do gets done with little or no questions ask. I usually don't question her authority during these times because I know she performs these tasks more commonly than I do and therefore know better than me. We do however switch roles when it comes to her helping me get something assembled or when we're planning a trip somewhere. I'm usually much more decisive than she is and better with handling the finances of the trip so she usually does what I say in these situations.

blog #9 Holmes, Janet. "Complimenting--A Positive Politeness Strategy."

The examples here remind me of the treatment my older brother use to give me. Whenever he wanted to get under my skin or remind me that he was the older brother and therefore was superior to me he would make me do stupid little tasks like picking up after his dirty laundry or commanding me to grab him a beverage of his choice. He would always repay my acts of kindness with a sarcastic "thank you" as to say "haha sucker you do as I please." Like what Holmes talks about I think these compliments are more degrading than they are positive. I think guys are uncomfortable with giving or receiving compliments because thats seen as being polite and being polite is seen as not being manly. Thats why in the example Holmes gives about the rugby players they scold and call each other names to get hyped and bond. Showing your sensitive side to a man makes you less manly.

Blog #8 Tannen, Deborah. “Ethnic Style in Male-female Conversation.”

I think Deborah Tannen is right when she says that our language greatly reflects our ethnicity, they way we grew up and how our family communicates. Similar to the Greeks, I see my Hmong nephews and neices loosing their native language but not the way our conversations are spoken. I've also noticed that how someone grew up socially and economically shapes their way of speech as well. Kids from my neighborhood, which consisted of lower to middle class immigrants, spoke very differently than friends in school that were from wealthy neighborhoods. We're all speaking the same language, English, but it's almost like it is a different dialect. Certain words and sayings take on totally different meanings from one neighborhood to the other.

Blog #7 Fishman, Pamela. “Interaction: The Work Women Do.”

I agree with Pamela Fishman when she says that women work much harder than men during conversations between these two opposite sexs. Women try and initiate much more than men but often fail while men on the other hand hardly fail to bring up a talkable topic and hardly initiate conversations. She explains that this happens because women want to carry on conversations while men pretty much want to say what they have to say and thats it. Women also want to talk about much more things, many of which men do not care for. In my personal experience, when my girlfriend and I have conversations we often talk about what I bring up just because it's something that relates to both of us. Conversations that she initiates often has nothing to do with anything I know. It seems like the topics she brings up are more suited for her and another women. I think this may be another reason why Fishman found what she found.

Blog #6 Swann, Joan. "Talk Control: An Illustration from the Classroom of Problems in Analysing Male Dominance of Conversation."

I think talk in the classroom is dominated by males because males by nature are more aggressive than females. It is both a genetic and social statement that males are more talkative not only amongst others but in a classroom. Guys are taught at a young age to voice what they want while girls are taught to wait and they'll get what they want. This transfers over into the classroom and boys ask questions when they don't understand something or want something while girls stay normally stay quiet and try to figure things out on their own or wait for an answer. I don't this this applies to all males and females but for the most part guys are much more out spoken than females that's why there may seem to be a male dominance of coversations.

BLOG #5--Cooperation and Competition across Girls' Play Activities."

I agree with Marjorie that girls tend to not have a distinct leader rather they rotate positions. From personal experiences girls do exhibit the willingness to share power and rotate in hierarchy while boys keep whatever social status they are given. I think this happens because our society encourage girls to share and get along with one another while it is seen as being okay if boys don't get along. This is not to say that girls are not competitive but it is almost like their level of competiveness is a lot of notches below that of a boy. Since girls are taught to be and are seen to be a certain way I think they subconciously become that image we have of them.

Blog #4 Tannen, Deborah. "Talk in the Intimate Relationship: His and Hers."

Many of the opposite gender fear the phrase "let's talk" because that usually means that they've either done something wrong or something they won't agree with is about to take place. It is usually a heads up that something they won't completely agree with will take place.
Tennen's explainations make sense to me especially the one about the anniversary cake. Women are more emotional and base events, thoughts, and everything else on feelings while men on the other hand are think of things in a more practical term.
Women are more attuned to metamessages than men. They seem to want to connect everything to a feeling or a special moment. It's hard for them to just take something for what it is they always feel like there needs to be something deeper or there has to be a purpose to everything while men on the other hand see things for exactly what it is most of the time.

Blog #3 Maltz, Daniel N., and Ruth A. Borker. "A Cultural Approach to Male-Female Miscommunication."

I definitely had an "aha" moment reading this chapter. Thinking about it, girls do build relationships by sharing intimate secrets but also "break up" because those secrets were later told. I remember my sisters were best friends but that all ended my younger sister told my dad that my older sister had a boyfriend which was forbidden at the time.
I can relate to "men's speech" because after a hard long day of work or physical activity, it's always nice to just relax and joke around with friends. This however does not work with my girlfriend. If my girlfriend and I ever do something that is physically demanding or mentally demanding together I often time just want to relax and sleep while she on the other hand wants to reflect and talk about it. This is a reoccuring problem and I believe it has to do with exactly what this chapter states. Women often want to share everything while men are more laid back and don't really care too much about getting their feelings out there.

Blog #2 Gender and Sociolinguistic Variation

There were many different social groups during my highschool years. I think one of the biggest reasons why myself and my fellow classmates created/join these social groups were to have a sense of belonging and security. What I mean by security is, you always knew what you got if you hung around people who talk, look, and sound like you. These "friends" who were in the same social group enjoyed and shared the same activities as you making things less awkward. In highschool I think everyone's biggest worry was to just fit in and having and being in these social groups that made you talk and look a certain way made you fit in.

Blog #1 Yanyuwa: 'Men Speak One Way, Women Speak Another

I can personally identify with this article. Coming from a very traditional background and speaking another language besides english, I think the author does a great job describing the different ways in which men and women speak. In my native toungue, Hmong, we culturally have a couple of different ways in which one can speak as well. Like the Yanyuwa the Men in our culture have a different tone and certain words they would use during "meetings/debates" that both women and children would not. Also like the Yanyuwa the children of our culture's speech resembles more of the womens tone for the same reasons, because children are around the women more often. Unlike the Yanyuwa there is no initiation period where a boy must become a man. It is simply seen that when a boy starts looking like a man, he must start acting and talking like a man.