Communication and Gender Exam 2 Study Guide

Social Penetration Model

Explains how friendships develop through depth and breadth of communication

Depth (Social Penetration Model)

The degree of personal information shared

Breadth (Social Penetration Model)

The variety of topics discussed

Public Tier of Intimacy (Social Penetration Model)

Surface level details shared in public settings (Hobbies, Sports, etc)

Personal tier of Intimacy (Social Penetration Model)

Deeper level of sharing with trusted individuals, includes values, beliefs, and goals.

Intimate Tier of Intimacy (Social Penetration Model)

Deepest level of intimacy involving fears, emotional wounds, and your “shadow self”

Rawlin’s Relational Model

Outline describing the six stages of friendship development

Role-Limited Interaction (Rawlin’s Relational Model)

Interaction based on assigned roles (Meeting someone at a wedding and solely interacting because of the event)

Friendly Relations (Rawlin’s Relational Model)

Initial connection based on proximity or shared roles (chatting with a coworker during lunch break)

Moving Toward Friendship (Rawlin’s Relational Model)

Intentional efforts to develop a friendship (asking someone to hang out)

Nascent Friendship (Rawlin’s Relational Model)

Moving beyond formal roles; starting to share more personal information (talking about interests/values)

Stabilized Friendship (Rawlin’s Relational Model)

Established friendship with consistent contact, can easily pick up where you left off despite time apart (texting a friend weeks without contact and resuming as usual)

Waning Friendship (Rawlin’s Relational Model)

Friendship weakens due to distance, conflict, or changes in priorities (resistance to a friend’s offer or emotional distancing)

Knapp’s Relational Development Model

Staircase model describing the progression and decline of relationships, including friendship.

Coming Together (Knapp’s Relational Development Model)

Initiating, Experimenting, Intensifying, Integrating, Bonding

Coming Apart (Knapp’s Relational Development Model)

Differentiating, Circumscribing, Stagnating, Avoiding, Terminating

Modern Barriers to Friendship

Geographical mobility, parenting, workism, social fracture

Barriers to Heterosocial Friendships

Different communication styles between men and women, emotional intimacy variations, assumptions of romantic intentions

The Romantic Triad

A framework defining the three core qualities that make a relationship romantic

Intimacy (The Romantic Triad)

Sustained feelings of closeness and connection

Passion (The Romantic Triad)

Intense positive feelings of physical and emotional attraction (desire, affection, romantic longing)

Commitment (The Romantic Triad)

Expectation of permeance and dedication to the relationship

Heteronormativity

The assumption that people are automatically straight (EX: Disney movies portraying only heterosexual couples)

Male Gender roles in Romance

Provider, protector, and emotionally distant

Female Gender roles in Romance

Homemaker, nurturing, more emotionally expressive

Evolution of Romance

Heavy focus on heteronormativity shifts to a more diverse focus straying from heteronormativity

Friendship vs. Romantic Expectations

Men’s platonic connections are more limited by social norms, women are given more freedom for emotional intimacy in friendships.

Materialization of Identity

Identity materializes through an embodied engagement and connection with the environment (touching your hand, etc.)

Discourse and Identity Formation (Materialization of Identity)

The way we experience the world and define our identity is shaped by social norms and discourse (raising your hand before speaking, knowing not to be naked in public)

Disability and Social Constructions

Society assumes able bodies can navigate physical spaces creating barriers for disabled people (lack of ramps, not thinking of disability accessibility)

Non-Normative Sexuality

Sexual identities and behaviors that deviate from heterosexual, monogamous, and conventional norms (disabled people, LGBTQ, non-monogamous, etc.)

Disability Desexualization

Process of stripping away the identity of disabled individuals

Queering

Disrupting or challenging dominant norms and expectations around sexuality, gender, and disability

Normative Sexuality

Heterosexual, monogamous, mainstream, man-woman parternships.

Taboo/Non-Normative Sexuality

Hookup culture, fetishes/kings, homosexuality, polygamy

The Family: The Factor of Gendered People

The family is the factory where the gendered person is made. The family provides the most significant context for our knowledge and beliefs about sex and gender.

Nuclear Family

Traditional family model (mom, dad, two kids, dog, white picket fence, popularized in the 1950s)

Blended Family

Two people with children from previous relationships form a new family unit (Dog with a blog, Step Brothers)

Single-Parent/Primary Parent family

One parent raising children due to divorce, widowhood, or choice, more common depictions of family from the 90s onward

Boomerang Family

Adult children leave the home but return later due to financial instability or job issues

Multi-Generational Families

Cultural Phenomenon, grandparents, aunts, extended family live in the same household and share child-rearing responsibilities, most common in Hispanic and other collectivist cultures

Cohabiting Couples/Live-in Couples

Unmarried couples living together, may function like a family without legal marriage

Commuter Family

Family members live apart due to work or long distance obligations

Coercive Power (Power Dynamics in the Family)

Based on the belief in one’s ability to punish or harm (threatening discipline for disobedience)

Reward Power (Power Dynamics in the Family)

Based on the belief in the ability to reward (offering allowances for completed chores)

Legitimate Power (Power Dynamics in the Family)

Derived from formal authority or role (parental authority over child)

Expert Power (Power Dynamics in the Family)

Rooted in specialized knowledge (consulting parent with financial expertise for budgeting)

Referent Power (Power Dynamics in the Family)

Based on admiration and respect (children mimicking behavior of respected family members)

Cognitive Home Labor

Invisible mental work of planning, organizing, and managing household tasks (often disproportionately carried out by women)

Second Shift

In dual-income families, women often perform “second shift” of childcare and housework after their regular workday

Weaponized Incompetence

Feigning inability to avoid household responsibilities (“I don’t know how to cook” or “I can’t do dishes properly”)

Advantages to Nuclear Family Model

Clear interpersonal framework: shared family experiences, easy to communicate common references in media or daily life

Disadvantages to Nuclear Family Model

Exclusionary, rigid gender roles, and limited representation

Dress-Coding

Enforcement of specific clothing rules in schools which disproportionately affects girls and students of color reinforcing gender and racial biases

Clothing Restrictions

No skirts, facial hair, spaghetti straps, etc

Radicalized Dress Codes

Schools banning braids, dreadlocks, and afros targeting Black Students

Sexism in Dress-Coding

Girls more target for being “distracting”, Black and Hispanic girls policed more strictly, dress-coding removes students from class impacting their education

Hidden Curriculum

Unspoken norms, values, and expectations that schools teach, often reinforcing gender stereotypes

Hidden Curriculum (Girls)

Receive less feedback, called on less, lower expectations for achievement and leadership.

Hidden Curriculum (Boys)

Receive more attention and feedback, called on more, fewer dress codes, higher expectations for leadership and achievement

Impact of Gender Bias in STEM

Women’s work typically dismissed or stolen, promotes men as more capable leaders, limits perspectives

Title IX

Federal law preventing gender and sex-based discrimination in educational institutions receiving federal assistance. Initially intended to promote women participation in sports but later expanded to protect against sexual harassment on campus

White Feminist Rhetoric

Presents a facade of helping women while maintaining white supremacy

Biological Essentialism

Gender is dismissed as an ideology or illusion while biological sex is treated as objective and definitive

Glass Ceiling

Invisible barrier preventing women from advancing beyond a certain level in the workplace

Sticky Floor

Women often stuck in low-paying or low-mobility roles. Movement is horizontal rather than upward

Broken Ladder

Women may find the path to promotion broke or inaccessible

Impostor Syndrome

“I don’t belong here”, limits women’s confidence in negotiating salaries

Glass Escalator

Men entering feminine-coded roles are promoted faster than women, women in masculine-coded roles hit a glass ceiling limiting their upward mobility

Motherhood Penalty

Women earn less after having children due to time off or reduced availability, perceived as less committed to their careers

Fatherhood Bonus

Men earn more after becoming fathers because of viewed as needing more income to support families