Gender Communication - Application Entry

Whale Rider (2002)

Whale Rider is an touching film that demonstrates the different concepts of gender communication. It is primarily about a New Zealand girl, named Paikea (which is actually the name of a legendary male) who has to live up to her grandfather’s high expectations. Her grandfather, Koro, was disappointed that his son had lost his newborn baby boy and was left with a girl. The baby boy was supposed to grow and prepare to become the new chief of their tribe. Also losing his wife, Koro’s son moved on with his life, left New Zealand, and traveled around Europe. He eventually came back to be reunited with Koro and Paikea.

Overtime Paikea gained knowledge of the fate that she was supposed to have. She does her best to be a strong and confident individual and prove her grandfather wrong when it comes to underestimating her. One day as Paikea was watching Koro try and fix an engine, Koro uses the metaphor of the twines making up the engines starting rope, to represent how the ancestors are strong and hold everything together for the Maori. Ironically, the rope breaks in Koro's hands, and he grumbles as he went off to find a new one. Meanwhile, Paikea picks up the rope, re-ties it, and starts the engine with it. She becomes enthusiastic about her accomplishment, but Koro came out and reprimanded her immediately, telling her “…Never do that again.” After that moment there was a look of disappointment on Paikea’s face as she must have expected words of praise from her grandfather.

As it may seem Paikea has a strong admiration for her loving but sometimes cold-hearted grandfather. She never gave up on showing how she has the potential to be a leader as her unknown twin brother could have been. She courageously mounted on a whale and somehow helped it build strength to go back into the ocean after being found lying sickly along the New Zealand shores. Her family and fellow tribe members were astonished to find her missing and instead in the ocean riding the whale in the cold weather and storm like the original Paikea, the first ancestor of the Maori people. This is like a “coming of age” moment as celebrated by Jewish males or at the debuts of young adult females. Though she ended up in the hospital, Koro eventually saw her as a “wise leader” after all that she has done to prove him wrong about her –from her chanting performance to her personal essay and of course, bravely turning into a whale rider.

Young Paikea demonstrated the need to have failures, determination, faith, and hope to be someone that others never thought you could actually be. This is similar to the story of Mulan, in which a once fragile Chinese daughter sacrificed her femininity to become a daring soldier to fight in a war because her father was too ill to do so. These young women put a lot of passion into what they are determined to accomplish in their life and show how there are other sides to the norms that we all abide today.

Gender Communication - Personal Entry

This past summer I applied for a paid internship for Hawaii Pacific Health. I was excited to be exposed to a professional healthcare environment and get paid for it. I distinctly recall prioritizing my department preferences to work for the in-patient pharmacy, the telemetry department, or with administration. After being part of the top 50 out of 200 applicants to be hired, I found out I was going to work in the Facility Management department at Kapi’olani Medical Center at Pali Momi.

“Wait… What department am I in again?” as I tried to verify that I heard correctly. “Facility Management.” In other words, I was put in a department in which I otherwise knew as maintenance… a job that I believe did not suit me well. I wondered how I got placed in such a random department, but I did my best to make the best of it.

The first day on the job came around and I was brought to my department, which turned out to be the hospital’s maintenance shop and security headquarters. I looked around and saw shelves and shelves of all sorts of tools and random parts for any hospital repair. Pretty much all the employees in the department were men in their uniform polos, dark slacks, with walkie-talkies, leather work boots, and their handy-dandy tool carts. The only other female was the secretary of my boss Cory, the Facilities Director. Then, there was me in my business casual outfit, heels, and a padfolio looking as professional as I can be, but I stood out like a sore thumb. The guys pretty told me that they could get a spare polo uniform and I could just wear jeans to work. Being somewhat of a girly-girl that I am I immediately thought why wasn’t a guy assigned to this department? Do they expect me to fix something here?

A couple weeks into the internship program I did a variety of projects. At first I stayed within my comfort zone and helped the secretary process work orders on the computer, file things, answer the phone, and organize the office. The guys in the shop jokingly picked on me wondering if I ever got bored of just sitting there in front of a computer screen. Eventually I decided to show the rest of the department that I am definitely not afraid to try something new or to learn how to fix something. Soon enough I was helping out with building a new locker for the dietician department, staining new wood benches, testing the fire pumps, and learning about circuits. I even helped the security check tags and move bodies from the hospital morgue. I learned the perks of being in Facility Management was being able to have the master key for anywhere in the hospital, knowing how to operate the alarms, knowing the secret hallways and shortcuts, and knowing the security guards got my back. (Haha.) On a more serious note, this department probably gave me an even better experience than I ever thought I would have as compared to the other departments that my new intern friends were working in.

I was still able to take some days off and be able to observe a surgery in the operation room, shadow RNs and pharmacy technicians, and learn about imaging and how to examine an MRI. However, I noticed when I went to these other departments people were always shocked to realize that I am originally work for the facility management department. Of course, society has demonstrated that sort of department is only meant for males. Nevertheless, I learned how to do a lot of practical things and become more “mechanically inclined.” I also learned how to work with the opposite gender and be able to accept their different ways of doing things. I can now impress a family member and a friend or two about things I learned through this internship and show that girls can succeed and benefit from working in that department too, which all in all was a humbling experience that I enjoyed.

Gender Communication - Definitional Entry

Gender communication has a lot to do with biological and psychological aspects. First and foremost, the words “sex” and “gender” cannot necessarily be used synonymously. One’s sex refers to their biological make-up in chromosomes, whereas gender is defined as “the social construction of masculinity and femininity.” To understand gender identity and development specific behaviors of males and females are thoroughly studied and compared to determine the correlation on how they perceive and present themselves as a male or female.

Based on a traditional perspective, it seemed significant for males and females to develop either masculine or feminine traits and have distinct communication behaviors. This of course led to gender stereotyping and sexism in which individuals are discriminated. Some of society’s norms grant that girls should not know more about cars than guys otherwise she is probably a lesbian or a tomboy because knowledge about cars is considered a more “manly” thing. The on the other hand, guys should not be running a pre-school, love interior designing, or do gardening because such activities are too feminine for a guy to be doing. These beliefs have developed overtime by all of us as a society. However, as time progresses, breakthroughs are being made and women are proving that “anything guys can do we can do too” whether it be in sports, construction, or even running a powerful business. Women are no longer being underestimated as much as they use to be back in the day and were only expected to be housewives while the men do all the hard labor. Also, today men can freely demonstrate their talents as amazing chefs, fashion designers, and practice other things that were not accepted when society emphasized being manly for a guy and being feminine for a woman.

An individual experiences gender development through different phases in their lifetime. Though when the individual is just born there are certain motor skills and verbal skills that he or she learns by means of the social learning theory. A male or female would gain knowledge through his or her own observations of a same-sex model within the household or through media. Their gender appropriate behaviors are reinforced by significant others in which any type of praise or punishment helps the individual lay out a foundation of their “gender” for the time being. The Freudian Identification theory later helps the individual be aware of their gender as “society would require of him or her as an adult.” It is believed that males have the fear of retaliation from a figure of higher authority whereas females have the fear of the loss of love. In a typical relationship, most males tend to dislike being confronted by their significant other and it is usually females who like to engage in a much more intimate discussion with their partners. According to a study by Gilligan for the moral voices theory, he concluded that masculinity is defined through separation (especially from their mothers) while femininity is defined through attachment. Females can maintain multiple relationships with girlfriends and boyfriends while males could only attain popular standing with everyone if they have good personal relationships with females. It is as if females are much more analytical of their relationships which tends to relate to the frequency of having “conflicts” and drama with others whereas males can live with individuation and move on with life. These beliefs and observations in behavior contribute to a much more wholesome understanding of gender communication.

Interpersonal Communication - Personal Entry

I would say that I have a pretty good relationship with my family, my friends, and God. In order to maintain such relationships I do rely on the top three behaviors according to Fehr (pg.258). These three behaviors include self-disclosure, supportiveness, and spending time together.
Self-disclosure is about being open with the other persons in the relationship. In particular, I believe the relationship that matters the most to me would be family. Back in high school, I came to realize how busy and also how busy the rest of my family became. Being that my sister and I were so caught up with school and my parents were caught up with work we no longer went out as a family as much as we used due to conflicting schedules. We used to have bigger family gatherings to grill at the beach or there are times when my parents, younger sister, and I would just go out to the movies or drive around the island and eat out at favorite local food places. Thinking back to my childhood, I noticed how I became so accustomed to being such a family-oriented person.
Tubbs and Moss as well as other theorists describe the family as a system. It is not necessarily about individuals who comprise a family but a whole group that rely on each other to be a system that practices effective communication which leads to a powerful and worthwhile relationship. I am definitely grateful for the family that I have regardless of how separated I may be from some of my relatives. I have relatives in the Philippines, in Canada, London, Dubai, California, and Nevada. Most of all, I am glad I have the parents that I have today because they were persistent in making sure that I strive to be a successful individual in life. Although there were times when I felt like my dad was being a little pushy about academics I eventually learned it was for my own benefit. I think a family is not only about being blood-related or related by law but it is about helping one another and in most cases a family can help a individual discover their own identity and their values.
I have learned to be proud of my Catholic faith, to feel humble about living in this generation and not having to go through the hardships my grandparents had back in the day, and I learned to be glad that I have two loving parents who are still together and a younger sister that looks up to me as a role model. To be in the presence of a caring family affected me in a positive way. There are times when I am sorry to hear when things are not going so well with my friends' families or if they have a great loss. Going back to the text it is quoted that "family systems not only remain the same, they also change, sometimes suddenly" and I am sure at this moment things are slowly shifting in my relationship with my family as I am away from home here in college and typing this very blog, while back home in Hawaii I am missing out on going to mass with my family and having our big Sunday breakfasts. :)

Interpersonal Communication - Application Entry

A Walk to Remember (2002). Starring Mandy Moore.


This movie is about a teenage girl named Jamie who has leukemia but does not reveal her sickness until she unexpectedly developed a relationship with a guy who she (and her reverend father) would have never thought that she would fall in love with, an aspect that falls under the third quadrant of the Johari Window. Her peers see her as the reverend's daughter who's too sweet and innocent with an old fashion taste. Since she has usually been picked on by the inner popular crowd she has some insecurities but tries not to let it get to her until she met Landon, a guy who is typically known as a punk. This teenage couple's relationship did not necessarily blossom until the two very different individuals disclosed more details about themselves with each other overtime. Landon was not aware that Jamie had a whole list of things she wanted to accomplish in life from being in two places at once to getting a tattoo. Then of course, Jamie did not know that Landon would develop the compassion to appreciate a girl like herself. The level of intimacy became much stronger after the Jamie and Landon felt a connection while performing for their high school play. Even though Landon no longer had to rehearse lines with Jamie, he became intrigued by Jamie's simplicity --a sense of attraction that got him. He changed from being a jerk that only cared about himself and his rugged reputation to becoming someone that actually cared for others and much less about what his friends thought about him being a religious girl. Throughout the course of the movie, the audience was able to perceive the transformation of each individual's Johari Window as their open arenas became broader and their relationship became stronger as they continued to go out together and most especially when Landon stayed by her side when Jamie had to stay in the hospital. The key to interpersonal communication is about being able to stay open and optimistic about things and for the individuals to support each other through tough times.

Interpersonal Communication - Definitional Entry

Interpersonal communication has various aspects that help define a relationship. A relationship can develop beginning with two individuals and the many roles that take part in being a relationship can vary. The relationship between two people can evolve as it becomes more and more exposed to society. A system becomes established as well as expectations, which determines if the relationship is socially appropriate.
The unwritten (implicit and explicit) rules about behavior proposed by society are also known norms. These rules provide guidelines on how people should act whether it is for being a considerate household guest to being an ideal significant other. Interestingly enough these norms come about due to disruptive power in which “one person has the power to keep the other from doing what he or she wants to do.” Regardless of whether a relationship seems mutual it will always have one or the other who acts as the more dominant person or in other words, each individual has a certain role. A role is set of norms that fit in a subclass within society. Depending on a person’s role in a relationship, he or she is likely to encounter contradiction with their conscious by experiencing interrole or intrarrole conflict. The difference is that interrole contradicts more than one role and the other contradicts just a single role.
Through dialectics of relationships, the tension that may come up between two people can either belong to one of three main categories: 1) autonomy/connection, 2) certainty/uncertainty, and 3) openness/closedness.
There are also four top assumptions which mainly recognizes contradictions as the basic “drivers” of change and vitality, change occurs in the stability of all social systems, “we are at once both actors and objects of our own actions,” and we can understand one thing only if we already have prior knowledge of another phenomena for comparison. Altogether, the categories help explain the reasons why certain individuals can be so attached to others while others rather be solo or how some people can be more outgoing than others who prefer to be more reserved.
In 1975, Miller and Steinberg are two researchers who came up with four important concepts that differ high quality from low quality relationships. Self-disclosure has a great deal with it and it ties in with the building of trust and personal reasons for disclosing only certain information. The Johari Window is a great model that helps visualize how much each of us exposes about ourselves. Other aspects that correlate with self-disclosure would also include level of intimacy and attachment styles. Whether it is a relationship between different genders, family members, or higher authority there are both reassuring and degrading statements that could affect the relationship. Nonetheless, one’s behavior should always be considered because it could either support or hurt another’s self value.
Knowing that norms establish “traditionally known” guidelines for appropriate behavior, different judgments can be made about different relationships. For example, one roommate could get a little too comfortable and end up getting into their roommate’s business or perhaps an employee talked back their boss. With the “norms” these situations are considered absurd. However, other people get to know each other and make their own rules for their relationship. The bases of human attraction consist of proximity (the convenience of someone’s close presence), similarity (having many things in common with each other), and situations (being able to empathize, dealing with anxiety, or reciprocating the likeness feeling). In addition to initiating an “attraction” there are also specific characteristics that are always taken into consideration. A relationship must have some sort of context, time constraints, information exchange, trust, affection, and control. When a person takes on a role in the relationship both must take turns contributing these characteristics, which would determine the outcome of their relationship. Especially when it comes down to a family, the family becomes a support system for each member and together they can build a stronger bond and have healthy, positive relationships that could surely last a lifetime because they have a different understanding with one another. A model that helps visualize the life cycle of relationships would be the staircase model of human relationships.
Maintaining relationships and breaking them takes some work. The theory of relationship disengagement discusses the different phases one must go through in order to end a personal relationship. The first phase is known as the intrapsychic phase, followed by the dyadic phase, the social phase, and then the grave dressing phase. On the other hand, to retain a long-term relationship it should include positivity, openness, assurance, network, and tasks. It will help keep the relationship striving and it would allow it to continuously develop hopefully into something even greater. Keeping ties with family and friends tend to benefit and individual and how he or she can perceive them self in society according to their interpersonal communication with others.

Tubbs, Stewart, and Sylvia Moss. Human Communication. 11th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2008.

History of Communication - Personal Entry

I see communication as an important aspect of being able to express myself and to be able to develop a mutual understanding with others. I realized that throughout my entire lifetime I have always utilized Aristotle’s rhetorical appeals: ethos, pathos, and logos, which are otherwise associated with credibility, argument, and emotion.

In high school, I was president of my school’s chapter of the Pacific and Asian Affairs Council (PAAC). One of the activities I participated in was a Global Vision Summit, in which other PAAC chapters from across the state gathered for a convention. At this convention we underwent a simulation that allowed each of us to be acting mayors, environmentalists, ordinary citizens, and business executives. I played the role of a concerned citizen who did not want windmills blocking my view of the beach out the window of my timeshare on the island of Maui. I recall trying to develop plausible reasoning for my statement. Of course, the “environmentalists” believed that the windmills are necessary in order to help Hawaii advance in the implementation of wind energy.

The acting “mayor of Maui” was the deciding the factor and facilitated the discussion in this simulation. For my argument, I had to have some credibility and as a citizen I was someone who contributed to Hawaii’s tourism. I had to be able to be convincing enough to possibly get rid of the windmills or to be able to have them relocated in order for me to be a satisfied individual. Also as a representative, I was also acting with the emotions of the unhappy tourists of Maui (pathos). In this simulation, I primarily targeted the cons having the windmills up regardless of whether it was better for the environment and for the state’s energy bill. Persuasion was key, regardless of how ridiculous my reasons may be. Without these rhetorical appeals I probably would not have been able to convince the “mayor” to move the windmills for the sake of maintaining the Maui tourism rates.

History of Communication - Application Entry

Legally Blonde: The Movie. (2001) Starring Reese Witherspoon.

Dating back to the fourth and fifth centuries B.C., the foundations of communication encompass the Truth, rhetorical appeal, and the five canons of rhetoric. Again, the five canons are invention, disposition, style, memory, and delivery. Legally Blonde is a movie that features a character named Elle Woods who ends up at Harvard University pursuing a career in law instead of originally being in pursuit of her ex-boyfriend. This particular scene focuses on a demonstration of the adversary system between two opposing parties.

Elle Woods makes a strong delivery as a lawyer for a renowned fitness model, Brooke Taylor. Elle not only defended herself as an underdog attorney but also helps expose the Truth from the suspect in question. Building up to this part of the movie, Elle took the time to gain Brooke’s trust and attain her alibi before connecting it with her prior knowledge of style and fashion in order to get a better sense of the suspects’ actions at the scene of the crime. The whole process carried out the five canons of rhetoric in which Elle invented key ideas involving necessary case information and evidence to support her argument, she then organized them to build up a momentum for an impromptu confession, she spoke in an eloquent matter, she recalled facts about proper perm maintenance, and delivered her argument with great confidence and determination to be an effective representative of the law.

History of Communication - Definitional Entry

Communication has always been an essential factor for human life. Humans constantly rely on communication in order to exchange ideas and to make decisions. Thanks to the ancient Greeks, their great knowledge of organizational ways led to the development of early, effective communication. The Athenians are credited for developing the adversary system and democracy. Both of which have been greatly implemented in much of today’s society. The adversary system is better known today as the judicial system and a democracy is a form of government that allows regular citizens to be able to vote and have a say in politics. Overtime, skilled individuals known as sophists helped broaden the “art” of communication. Sophists were teachers of rhetoric, persuasive public speaking. Corax, Protagoras, Gorgias, Hippias, and Isocrates were the names of some of the most influential sophists of their time, which was around fourth and fifth century B.C. Through these sophists ordinary citizens learned how to use communication in order to not only persuade but to also find the Truth, to be able to bargain, to argue, and to educate others, too. Generally, all sophists liked to focus to on arete, which calls for being an active participant in domestic, social, and political life.

Eventually, Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle became well known. Socrates and Aristotle viewed rhetoric in a positive light being that it was always useful when it came to making decisions and determining the Truth. In fact, it was Aristotle who believed that communication involves having a purpose, being able to categorize amongst three types of situations (forensic, deliberative, and epideictic oratory), and persuasion (with the appeals of ethos, logos, and pathos or credibility, argument, and emotion.) With these appeals were five skills: 1) invention (the ability to generate ideas); 2) disposition (the ability to organize ideas); 3) style (the ability to use language appropriately); 4) memory (the ability to remember facts and ideas); and 5) delivery (the ability to speak in a clear, strong voice). Altogether, these different factors helped comprise an effective communicator, well at least according to Aristotle. Nevertheless, Plato remained reserved about the concept and believed it was a form of deception because it is all part of the process of persuasion. Nevertheless, rhetoric became a solid foundation for the study of communication.

From Aristotle’s time to the 20^th century, communication continued to improve with the consideration of growing civilizations, differences, and opinions. When the Romans conquered Greece written knowledge immediately became translated so that it could make sense for their own people. Then thereafter the downfall of the Roman Empire, communication made its way through Christianity, the Moors, the Renaissance period, and to the beginning of Western Civilization. By the time it reached the Enlightenment, communication was also seen as a “science” as proposed by Francis Bacon and it allowed humans to “co-exist and reap the benefits of society” without interfering with an individual’s power to freely make their own decisions as viewed by John Locke, a philosopher at the time. As rhetoric expanded in England and the United States, elocution became more of a concept in demand because it was an art that allowed an individual to be able to properly present themselves in society and convey a message to to others. The overall definition of communication has come a long way but it has yet to be further-explored in a modern-day standpoint.

Dues, Michael & Brown, Mary (2004). Boxing Plato's Shadow: An Introduction to the Study of Human Communication. Boston: McGraw-Hill.

What is "communication" and what does it look like?

This illustration of "communication" incorporates a multitude of its aspects. First and foremost, communication requires both a sender and a receiver, which is shown with the woman and the man. With communication, people interact with one another and exchange a wide range of ideas, opinions, and messages and all of which can be done through different mediums (i.e., e-mail, regular mail, phones, etc.) We also live in a multicultural society (which is represented by the earth). Therefore, it is essential to be aware and respectful of other cultures. At the same time we must also avoid interference.