Monday, October 6, 2014

Sex and Gender in Oral and Written Language

When reading Jamieson all I could think about was sex and gender, and how essentially and sex can use either gender forms of communication in language.  The masculine being described as logical, task-orientated, strong, effective, and to the point while feminine characteristics of communication tend to be emotionally expressive, residing in the "heart", and soft in nature.  Any boundary made will be bounded over... I think.  So I began to imagine some type of spectrum containing the masculine and feminine qualities of communication on either side, and the particular combinations of the two in between to understand the usefulness its variations may produce for different social situations.  But there's a lot of culture out there stifling its potential.  Simple things as "boys don't cry", or "you throw like a girl".  

Another thing that grabbed my attention was the way in which sexes differ in the timbre of voice.  High pitched voices are feminine while lower voices are masculine.  I couldn't help but think of middle school band and how girls play the flute or clarinet, both softer spoken and higher pitched instruments, while boys play the tuba or trombone, low, loud and brassy (ALL GENERALIZATIONS).  However, there were some mixtures of sexes in the saxophones, trumpets, and french horns.  (There was one female trombonist and one male clarinetist).  What I find interesting here is that these particular instruments, some in which contain different voices of instrument such as the tenor sax compared to alto, have a wide range of voice and ability to change the shape of the sound from a high growl to a low soft wave (SAX).  Or from insane brightness and loudness (TRUMPETS) to small sustained whisper.  But what i guess i find even cooler is that music has an ability to portray emotions and/or stories through communication that can be easily identified as feminine or masculine, and the range at which any composer of any form of gender can express or show a wide range of emotion from the masculine or feminine.  Does this mean music is feminine in nature because it is expressive mostly, even if it is a war chant? It's also strange how "Ode to Joy" is played at some remarkable events in humanity whether they seem atrocious or beneficial to society.  



Just some thought...peace

1 comment:

  1. As I read Jamieson, many of my thoughts went to sex and gender, as well, and the stereotypes that have been attached to each. It was interesting, and somewhat frustrating, to see the difference between men and women and what is considered manly, and what is not.

    For writing and the use of imagery, using a feminine or masculine image holds so much power on how it will influence an audience based off of these stereotypes, that it makes me want to examine images more carefully.

    It's amazing how masculine and feminine "roles" or "stereotypes" can be found in almost anything, like the example you use in regards to music and how Wysocki used an ad to show such characteristics. You had some good thoughts when you talked about music and different types of instruments, and the question you asked about music being feminine caught my eye.

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