The History and Controversy of Women using Tampons

Hi everyone. So I know this topic is a little weird, but my little sister wrote a paper about women using tampons and the history and violence surrounding this issue. A lot of the information I didn't even know and I was shocked by the violence many women experience in cultures where tampon use is not really accepted. Below are excerpts from my sisters paper and I'm curious if any of you have heard about this before...

While 70 percent of American women use tampons, only 100 million of the world's 1.7 billion menstruating women do. In Asia and Latin America, two of the most populous parts of the world, only 3 percent of all women use tampons.

[T]here is evidence of tampon use throughout history in a multitude of cultures. The oldest printed medical document, papyrus ebers, refers to the use of soft papyrus tampons by Egyptian women in the fifteenth century B.C. Roman women used wool tampons. Women in ancient Japan fashioned tampons out of paper, held them in place with a bandage, and changed them 10 to 12 times a day. Traditional Hawaiian women used the furry part of a native fern called hapu'u; and grasses, mosses and other plants are still used by women in parts of Asia and Africa.

Apparently, as time passed, tampons went underground. By the 1930s, when commercial tampons became available, some women were already making their own "out of surgical cotton, cutting strips to size and rolling them tightly for insertion, or they bought natural sea sponges at cosmetics or art supply stores and trimmed them into reusable tampons," Friedman writes. "But these women belonged to an exclusive margin of society; they tended to be actresses, athletes, or prostitutes--all dubious professions, in the eyes of 'respectable' women."

Tampons and other menstrual products continue to be controversial. The [London] Times Online ran a story on May 7, 2006 entitled "Celebrities Back Tampon Rebels of Zimbabwe," which tells of Thabitha Khumalo, who "has been arrested 22 times, tortured so badly that her front teeth were knocked into her nose and had an AK-47 thrust up her vagina until she bled." Her crime? Protesting the critical shortage of tampons and pads in Zimbabwe. When economic problems there caused tampon maker Johnson & Johnson to leave, the price of tampons skyrocketed. A box of twenty currently costs about $16 U.S. in a country where the minimum monthly wage is $32.

The article's author, Christina Lamb, tells us: So desperate is the situation that women are being forced to use rolled-up pieces of newspaper. Zimbabwe already has the world’s lowest life expectancy for women--34--and Khumalo believes these unhygienic practices could make it drop to as low as 20 because infections will make them more vulnerable to HIV. “It’s a time bomb,” she said. The shortage is forcing schoolgirls to stay at home when they start menstruating.

Violence Against Women

I began thinking back about our class discussion on violence against women after getting an email from my sister (it's listed below). It's sad that we live in a culture where women have to be repeatedly warned about these types of dangers and how unsafe it is for women to walk or be out alone at night, etc. As a kid (and still today) I remember thinking how unfair it was that my sisters and I were warned about what can happen to girls, but never heard anyone caution my brothers.

One instance distinctly stands out in my mind... it was early evening in the summertime and I had to drive (I was 16 at the time) to the pharmacy by our house. It took only about 3 minutes to drive there and about 8 minutes to walk so it was very close, in a good neighborhood, and I'd been there many times before at later hours than this. As it was, my dad just happened to be home that night and insisted that my younger brother go with me and implied it was for safety or 'just in case'. Now my independent streak was of course a little insulted by this, not to mention that my brother and I were not very close at the time and I found it rediculous that he was going because he was not only younger, but much, much smaller than me. Needless to say I was a little irritated that my dad insinuated that because I was a girl I needed a guy (even if he was younger and smaller apparently) for safety reasons. How sad that women in our society have these threats... and to think that ours is nothing compared to some other countries and cultures!!

I'd be very curious to hear if anyone else has experienced similar situations or if any guys feel that I'm off base here and that guys also have to be careful or get 'warnings' as they are growing up.

So here is the email that my sister sent me...

Because of recent abductions in daylight hours, refresh yourself of these things to do in an emergency situation... This is for you, and for you to share with your wife, your children, everyone you know. After reading these 9 crucial tips ,forward them to someone you care about. It never hurts to be careful in this crazy world we live in.
1 . Tip from Tae Kwon Do :The elbow is the strongest pointon your body. If you are close enough to use it, do!
2. Learned this from a tourist guidein New Orleans If a robber asks for your wallet and/or purse,DO NOT HAND IT TO HIM .Toss it away from you.... chances are that he is more interestedin your wallet and/or purse than you,and he will go for the wallet/purse.RUN LIKE MAD IN THE OTHER DIRECTION!
3. If you are ever thrown into the trunk of a car,kick out the back tail lights and stick your arm out the holeand start waving like crazy. The driver won't see you, but everybody else will.This has saved lives.
4. Women have a tendency to get into their carsafter shopping, eating, working, etc., and just sit(doing their checkbook, or making a list, etc. DON'T DO THIS!) The predator will be watching you, and thisis the perfect opportunity for him to get inon the passenger side, put a gun to your head,and tell you where to go. AS SOON AS YOU GET INTO YOUR CAR ,LOCK THE DOORS AND LEAVE. If someoneis in the car with a gun to your head DO NOT DRIVE OFF,repeat:DO NOT DRIVE OFF!Instead gun the engine and speed into anything, wrecking the car.Your Air Bag will save you. If the person is in the back seatthey will get the worst of it .As soon as the car crashes bail out and run. It is better than having them find your bodyin a remote location.
5 . A few notes about gettinginto your car in a parking lot, or parking garage: A.) Be aware:look around you, look into your car, at the passenger side floor ,and in the back seat B.) If you are parked next to a big van,enter your car from the passenger door .Most serial killers attack their victims by pulling them into their vans while the womenare attempting to get into their cars.C.) Look at the carparked on the driver's side of your vehicle,and the passenger side.. If a male is sitting alonein the seat nearest your car, you may want to walk backinto the mall, or work, and get aguard/policeman to walk you back out.IT IS ALWAYS BETTER TO BE SAFE THAN SORRY. (And better paranoid than dead.)
6. ALWAYS take the elevatorinstead of the stairs. (Stairwells are horrible places to be aloneand the perfect crime spot. This is especially true at NIGHT!)
7. If the predator has a gunand you are not under his control, ALWAYS RUN! The predator will only hit you (a running target)4 in 100 times; And even then,it most likely WILL NOT be a vital organ.RUN, Preferably in a zig -zag pattern!
8. As women, we are always tryingto be sympathetic: STOPIt may get you raped, or killed.Ted Bundy, the serial killer, was a good-looking,well educated man, who ALWAYS playedon the sympathies of unsuspecting women.He walked with a cane, or a limp, and oftenasked "for help" into his vehicle or with his vehicle,which is when he abducted his next victim.
9. Another Safety Point:Someone just told me that her friend hearda crying baby on her porch the night before last,and she called the police because it was lateand she thought it was weird. The police told her"Whatever you do, DO NOTopen the door." The lady then said that it sounded like the babyhad crawled near a window, and she was worriedthat it would crawl to the street and get run over.The policeman said, "We already have a unit on the way,whatever you do, DO NOT open the door."He told her that they think a serial killerhas a baby's cry recorded and uses it to coaxwomen out of their homes thinking that someonedropped off a baby He said they have not verified it,but have had several calls by women saying thatthey hear baby's cries outside their doorswhen they're home alone at night. Please pass this on and DO NOT open the doorfor a crying baby ---- This e-mail should probably be taken seriously becausethe Crying Baby theory was mentioned onAmerica 's Most Wanted this past Saturday when they profiledthe serial killer in Louisiana

Made of Honor

This Friday I saw the movie Made of Honor. It was a typical chick flick. Two great guys the girl has to decide between. The man that she is engaged to is Scottish. As they as getting ready for the wedding day there were many different tradtitions they went through the weekend before the wedding. One of them I found very interesting. The men had to go through a bunch of different strength tests. Who ever won the tests...won the girl. It seems like fun and games but that kind of stuff really does happen. Another thing I find funny is that it is always the man doing the work. It's the typical I'm a strong man...you're a weak woman...you need someone to help you and I'm strong. There were some other things in the movie I found interesting and had some gender connections to it.

The Politeness Theory

In general women are more polite than men especially in arguments and when seeking compliance. I guess I think this is true. My times when I have had a confrontation with a girl they are very polite and usually backdown or minimize the situation as much as possible. Being polite can be good but it can also be bad. It's good because people think of you as a nice person and you keep a good face making people like you more. It can also be very bad. You might not always get what you want because you are trying to be polite so you end up doing whatever the other person says to do...even if that's not what you want. There are some women who can remain polite while being aggressive. This is what our society is teaching our young women to be as they go out into the real world. They should stand by what they believe in while maintaining a positive out look on life and other's opinions.

Romantic Relationships

Julia woods talks about the different models of affection and needs of both men and women. She says men are more instrumental and women are more expressive. Men need autonomy and women need connection. With that we think that men aren't as "into" relationships as women. We also think of women being the more romantic ones. In another one of my communication classes we talked about how men are actually more romantic. They are the ones who do the romantic things like send the girl flowers or chololates. It also talked about how women are more satiflied with the romantic side of the relatioship than men. In a way this does make sense. When you think of Valentines day you think of the flowers and chololates usually both associated with being given to the women. What do men usually receive? Many times women have a hard time thinking of a gift for their man so they end up getting something that isn't as special for them. This isn't because they don't love them, it's because there is that general rule that the man should send the woman flowers and chocolates.

After that lessons I started to think more about what we had talked about that day. In the end I felt that women have more romantic hopes and men have more romantic reactions.

Do you think men or women are more romantic?

The Rules

A few days ago I was talking to my partner. We were talking about the rules, specially the rule on when to call back after the first date. I told them that we talked about how one of the rules was to wait about 5 days to call. They thought htis was crazy and I agreed. We both thought that the person would lose interest if or think that they lost interest if you waited that long to call. As we were sitting their we came up with our own set of rules. Since we're already together it was more so for those who are fresh to the dating scene. We thought if you really liked the person and wanted to hang out again, then you could call the next day or wait two days. Any longer than that and we think you're out of the game. If you had fun but want to remain friends, you should call with in the next week or so. If you had a horrible time then either delete them from your phone book or put them in the never call category.

Jealousy

The other day in one of my classes we were talking about jealousy. As we were going throught the powerpoints, one of the bullets said women use jealousy as a tool more than men. I thought this was interesting. Would we all use jealousy the same amount? Don't both genders have the same amount of jealousy? Apparently not. It said that women use it more time than men do in order to make the opposite "want you more." Women have more of a tendancy to make their man jealous. They do things like go on a date with someone else, say they're ok with something and then use that same situation against them later on, and let them know that they should be put number one in their life. Now I know there are some people who do this but I wouldn't say one gender over the other. What do you think?

Unpleasentness

Why is it that women need to please everyone, or when something that is causing controversy is talked about the topic is down played. it seems to me whenever I hear about situations as these, women try to act all nice nice when they are upset with the situation or actions of someone else. Women seem to not like confronting unpleasant situations. am i wrong or is this just my perspective?

Spring clothing choices

One thing that is hindering some women's communicative effectiveness is one aspect of their non-verbal communication--their choice of clothing. When the spring and summer seasons come along, the clothing choices for many women get more and more scandalous.

It is important to understand that people's impressions of women are not based soley on her verbal communication, but also on her nonverbal communication. Some people may interpret those short shorts as "I'm easy". You may think I am a chauvinistic pig for saying that, but think about it: Would you show up for a job interview in your pajamas? You need to dress for the impression that you want people to have of you, both in social and professional situations. The same can be said for men, but it is much less common for men to wear revealing clothing than takes away from his professionalism. So, in short, be mindful of what you wear. You are always communicating, wheather it is verbally with your speech or nonverbally with your gestures or clothing choices.

Gender Conflated everyday

I find myself constantly using generic wordage to describe things or ask questions. I find it very hard to be self-conscious about which gender specific descriptions are correct. What can i do to change and promote sensitive word usage to others. I want to be "politically correct" but also careful not to fall into what society believes to be ok. Is this a good goal or is it not that big of a deal? idk but one small thing at a time adds up.

HomeDepot

On March 6^th we talked in class about Passing and the 5 D’s…distancing, dodging, distracting, denial, deceiving. I had a teacher last semester who to the best of my understanding and past experiences was a lesbian. She once told a story about how her and her “friend” were at HomeDepot and she hit her head on something … and on and on… What I am getting at here is that she didn’t say her partner or anything and there was this catch in her voice when she said my “friend” I feel bad for the lady. It would suck to have to do that all the time. I hope there comes a point when she nolonger has to do that. Has any one else seen or even done something similar?

Levi Jeans

Has anyone seen the Levi jeans commercial where the guy pulls up his pants and a phonebooth pops up with an attractive women in it. So he pulls his pants down and then yanks them up and the girl and him walk off together? Well, have you seen the Levi Jeans commercial where the guy pulls up his pants and an attractive GUY pops up and the same process goes on for the remainder of the commercial except it's a guy. Here is the link to the youtube video. http://youtube.com/watch?v=bB90Vkyqrts The only TV station that I have seen the gay levi jeans commercial is Bravo. My opinion is that there is a different demographic of people that watch Bravo so that is why this commercial is on Bravo and not on the normal primetime television stations. Does anyone else have an opinion about it?

Marky Mark!

In class on the 22^nd we talked about women in the media and how Calvin Klein objectified women. Well are they glorifying Marky Mark of objectifying him too. I don’t mind looking at the add myself but I would have to say they seem to be playing the show it off game here. Who is this targeted to? Men so the can look like this. Women so they will buy it in hopes that their men will look like this. Or gay men because they want to see it, buy, and look like it…?

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLNgmIEBWFQUwcXHnRGw1PvCoHgWG3Evsd5QzUHMgkSE1poExOjAms7qjr-rx68IXNKif2L0BjFMjsRoIFWl25jEunODxBBgsUu7U4CL7bQBPwvtCJGFrZwspx8ksT75Hsjg3rmWPlmWHa/s1600-h/wahlberg.jpg

One Stall Rule

We all have heard about the nonverbal rule for men on how they are not supposed to stand next to another male when going to the bathroom. No one ever talks about why this is the way it is and why there has to be at least a stall between another man. It's never taught to a man that if there are three stalls and two are being used, you must wait until someone is done and then use their stall instead of the empty stall between them. Also, why is it that it is acceptable for women to go to the bathroom in groups, but when men go to the bathroom, they go alone? Why do we have different standards or rules for different genders when we all do the same exact thing in a restroom?

HUGS...

What is it with guys and hugs? Why is there this thing with shaking hands? Can a guy not hung another guy and have it be okay. What I hate the most are the situations where you don’t know if it’s a hug or a hand shake and you do the juggle and end up doing both awkwardly. I have this friend that loves getting hugs but I never knew this because he never said anything till just recently. He admitted wanting one but not saying anything because he felt uncomfortable. Why? Why has society deemed it not okay for guys to hug?

Please read: Final thought on women in the workplace

Women can be effective leaders; there are studies and real life application of that statement. The common beliefs found in society about the effectiveness of female leaders are completely unacceptable, and lacks any proof. Women need to have a bigger role in the professional environment, meaning higher-level managerial positions and effective polices to promote equal rights to promotions.

Women need to realize the expectations that peers and subordinates hold them too. If these expectations are not respected or breached, the leaders’ ability will become hindered. Equal respect and democratic leadership will enhance the leaders appeal, effectively increasing the ability of the group to accomplish goals. With gender education will come increased awareness and understanding of society’s pressures on gender expectations. This awareness will also decrease the negative feedback and will help eliminate the gap between perception and actual level of competency women face in the workplace. These ideals will need to be reinforced by policies and empowerment provided by male peers. With the enhanced understanding by both sexes, the workplace will become an equal opportunity for each individual to accomplish career goals and ambitions.

Ads on Facebook

Has anyone noticed yet that the ads on Facebook are now gender/sex specific. Facebook caught on. I was talking to a friend about it yesterday and she loudly proclaimed “yeah I always get adds fro music I like and shoes…what’s with that. I was wondering why.” Has anyone else noticed the on their Facebook account? I have.

Discrimination

The "Workplace Communication" study also highlights the glass ceiling found in organizations in the professional environment. Women seem only able to reach a certain point until their advancement slows due to the perceptions found in the media and common beliefs of society. When women harshly criticize each other and feel that men are stronger leaders, it is very difficult to advance because of all of the negative feedback. This discrimination seems to bypass gender lines and point to women being discriminated against by everyone not just men, as most may believe. It is important that women realize the negative forces against them. The ability to lead effectively starts with the confidence to continue pursuing positions of higher authority, responsibility and leadership. When the attitude and the increased awareness of the groups expectations female leaders will be better equipped to meet both the expectations of the group and the organization.

Donald Trump analysis

Workplace Communication article by Kinnick and Parton (2005), studied the show The Apprentice and the application of leadership and interpersonal skills to win tasks. The ability to effectively lead a team in a focused direction to meet a goal and has good leadership qualities, would makes good business managers. The study looked at the individual competitors and the analyzed their effectiveness according to Donald Trump. This study also analyzes the affects of the cultivation theory, a theory that explains the cumulative effects of mass media messages and how it shapes our views about what the world is like by providing constant and stable examples of a distorted made up reality and another study found exposure to stereotypic commercials spoiled woman’s aspirations in future leadership roles and woman who saw the gender stereotypic commercials tend to choose support roles rather than leadership roles in group situations (Kinnick & Parton, 2005.)

This study affirms the media effects theory that often misleads individuals by representing fictional perception of workplace norms, values and behavior, becoming the model for these individuals on how to act in real life. The study found that during the boardroom scenes that women were twice as likely to be criticized on interpersonal skills then men were, while men’s poor listening skills was the only interpersonal skill criticized. Both of these attributes are stereotypical of the genders, leading to the conclusion and affirming the shifting standards effect.

Small Group analysis

Democratic style of leadership was the most popular type of leadership, the type of leadership most men use as leaders. While women tended to pick an autocratic style of leadership. The style choice not only affected the morale of the group but also the competence rating of the leader. The article stated that men affirmed the belief of men being aggressive and women passive, and that women were most often the writers/secretary of the groups. The two conclusions from the small group analysis, seems to confirm the stereotypes that are believed by as a society, and doesn’t allow for abnormal gender roles.

Women given less credit than they deserve.

If women adopted masculine communication styles, it was found that they were even less likely to be listened to than if they followed traditional culture expectations. Though the expectations of women change when the activity is thought to be a feminine in nature, for example any social setting women are often expected to take the leadership role while in task oriented situations men are. Another interesting finding was that if a woman was, by definition, the leader of the group and a man contributed significantly, he was the perceived leader. Women would need to do all of the work to be considered as the leader (Winter, Neal & Waner, 2001.).............CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS? Its like we are shooting ourselves in the foot. Give credit where credit is due! seriously...

Society's way to conform

Winter, Neal and Waner (2001), attempted to look the specific differences in leadership and interpersonal communication styles and how to educate these differences into college business classes. This unique approach also attempts to educate society about the gap between the genders in order to graduate more informed leaders. Studies that we have reviewed earlier, stated the expectation-states theory as a large hurdle that segregates men and women into traditional roles and expectations, this study also recognizes that men are more likely to be selected as the leader in most situations and men also tend to participate more in a mixed group setting, than in a single gender group (Winter, Neal & Waner, 2001.) Women polled say that they feel more comfortable working for a man than for a woman, and men agree saying they feel uncomfortable working for women in a follow up questionnaire (Winter, Neal & Waner, 2001.)

The study concluded that women tend to strive more for affiliation than achievement, these different gender goals give separate approaches to meet their particular standard of achievement. Women choose to ignore gender expectations and strive to meet achievement goals, subtle discrimination and role conflict arise pressuring women to conform to society’s norms. These pressures can also be found in stereotypical attributes of women superior in teamwork, thus held to higher expectations than men in that area (Winter, Neal & Waner, 2001.)

"I want your bod"

On the April 22, we were talking about women in the media and how they are objectified and rendered powerless. The Axe body spray commercials are perfect examples of how women have no power of control when they are around a man wearing Axe body spray. Another ad that comes to my mind when talking about objectifying women and rendering them powerless are the ads for Bod body spray and how their motto is “Hot Fragrances for Men.” By going to http://iwantyourbod.com/bod_main.cfm?sem=google one can see the “powerless” women staring under their sunglasses at the “hot bod” of the man.

Ways for women to become an effective leader.

Female leaders’ groups were able to complete the task best when they were an appointed- expert leader. Just being an expert leader, female leaders find themselves lacking the ability to direct the group to use the information that the female leader was trained on or had the most information about. The large difference between these two groups was the male peers empowered the appointed leader and told the subordinates about the abilities of the leader and not the expert leader. When the women were credited by another male the group seemed to listen and she was influential in the groups’ answers to the task. The lack of creditability completely undermined the knowledge that the leader had, she would share the information she knew and the response was negative and ignored.

What kind of things add to negative attitudes towards women in the workplace?

Power based leadership seems to be the most effective way for women to break down the gender discrimination that might be found in groups. Even though women may have advanced knowledge in the area, the way women to share the information to the group dramatically affects the way the individuals will react to the information. Two contradicting methods of speech patterns that would affect the interpretation of the information she was adding to the discussion. First, the use of tag questions, which are associated with low status and secondly, interrupting group members, interpreted as talking down and being of higher status. Both of these types of speech patterns would confuse the discussion and the credibility, of the information that was being shared, and was discounted by the way it was presented to the group. This would also lead to frustrated and powerless leader, adding to the negative attitude directed toward her. Women who are suppose to be leaders of the group also usually become the secretary and consider herself as an equal in the group, often taking the back seat to other members of the group.

Can Women Change Communication Styles to Induce Acceptance?

Yoder, Schleicher and McDonald (1998) measured the effectiveness of a leader as an appointed or as an appointed empowered leader and distinguished the ability of a women’s leadership in a male dominated environment. The situation often found in masculine type of jobs is a small amount of women working in their nontraditional occupations. The study found men, in the same occupation as women, are seen as better enabled to complete tasks in which the organizations mostly consisted of men. Organizations that have less than 15% of woman, known as tokenism, are often plagued by enhanced performance pressure, role encapsulation and social isolation which encourage negative attitudes from co-workers directed toward the women in these types of organizations. This study wanted to explore and understand ways that women in these types of organizations can work effectively and with satisfaction. More women in these types of organizations will restrict their own roles, are often confronted by colleges on competence in their area of expertise and are discounted during manager performance evaluations.

This study measured the effectiveness of different types of leaders’ ability to control rather than be controlling (Yoder, Schleicher and McDonald, 1998.) In another study appointed women leaders were found not to be as effective as men, more so if the women was perceived to be put in charge due to her gender. The rating suffered greatly if the women also deviated from feminine norms (Yoder, Schleicher and McDonald, 1998.) It was also found that the women that are experts in their field enhanced their ability to lead effectively, especially if they were the most experienced member. When women had more information than the rest of the group, even in an all male group in a masculine occupation, the knowledge seemed to eliminate gender barriers and induce compliance by all members of either sex.

You want me to pay?

I made an observation last night at dinner when getting the check. I went out with my boyfriend and I was the one that wanted to go out to eat and take him out because he got a job. I intended on paying for the meal although he usually pays for everything. The waitress was an older lady and automatically handed him the bill. I took it and paid and she seemed almost mad at him like he did something wrong. This shows how traditional roles have changed over time with who pays. When you go out to eat with someone who pays? Is the guys still responsible most of the time??

INDEPENDENT do you know what that means?

This is part of a new rap song that is popular on the radio now. They spell out the word independent as it is used to describe a woman in the song. The woman has her own house, her own car, two jobs, cooks, and cleans her own house. I think this song is refreshing considering the songs we looked at in class. Finally a song that shows how a real woman lives that isn't an object in a rap video. Anyone else have any other examples??

What affects Woman’s competency ratings?

Sabine Koch (2005) found that competency ratings are directly correlated to gender. In a study women and men were rated by their competency and women were found to be more competent, but when measured against each other men were seen as more competent than women. This finding might be affected by the shifting standards effect that would affect how individuals are rated using target-related expectations, or the expectancy-based contrast effect (Koch, 2005.) It would be an explanation to the higher rating of woman by men than by woman. This study concluded that woman have a higher chance of lower self-esteem thus leading them to “leave the field” which is quitting their job (Koch, 2005.) With both negative attitudes and a low competency rating, women have a harder time in a stereotypical male position. Steps need to be taken to encourage the leadership of women, though expectancy-based contrast effect and shifting standards will continue to hinder women in leadership positions.

What affects women’s ability to lead an effective group?

In the article, “Evaluative Affect Display Toward Male and Female Leaders of Task-Oriented Groups” (Sabine Koch, 2005.) The study affirms that there is still a very small amount of women in upper management even though there is an increased amount of women in higher education positions. The study was used to measure data for the hypothesis: there will be more of negative feedback toward female authorities and higher competency rating for men than women. The study measured the negative feedback towards women than men, and found that, in general, women were significantly (almost two thirds) more negative towards woman than men, and men measured almost three times more negative towards women than men. This data provides an insight about the reactions toward women being in charge. Women in charge produced a more polarized group, while also receiving more negative feedback by subordinates than men do. This is interesting to find that both sex’s find it harder to work under a female than under a male leader.

How does Leadership pertain to Communication?

The article “Workplace Communication” by Kinnick and Parton, also contended that leadership is a communication process because it seeks to strengthen human relationships by increasing trust and understanding. The top communication skills included: interpersonal skills, basic communication including speaking and listening. Interpersonal communication skills are defined as the ability to work in teams, teach others, negotiate and work well with others from culturally diverse backgrounds (Luthans, 2008.) Both of these sources are used throughout the professional culture to define and adapt leadership definitions to their specific organization. Other important leadership skills included: social nearness, knowledge or professional experience, friendliness, group task supportiveness, cohesion, emotional balance and control, nuturant behavior and verbal fluency (Kinnick & Parton, 2005.) “Although a position as a manager gives the authority to accomplish certain tasks in the organization, this power doesn’t make a leader...it simply makes you the boss” (Luthans, 2008.) This quote represents the foundation of leadership, although the position can be handed out the individuals will need to believe and be motivated in order to accomplish anything.

OnStar, How can I help you?

“OnStar, How can I help you.” What a great thing we have in our mitts. Do we really know what else OnStar is used for. Oh…well let’s think about it for a second… Okay so my vehicle can be found anywhere at any time. I can be given guided directions meaning they can track my movement. This is the best thing ever for me the marketing consultant. I know where you go, when you go, and you’re demographic (from when you purchased the vehicle)

What happens to my OnStar when I am not in need of it, which is most of the time? Who has access to it and what is that information used for. Is this not hegemonic? OnStar is sold to me as this great thing! When I get into an accident I can be found and helped. Because I will be driving in the wilderness most of the time where no one will see me…Um not the case most of the time people are driving during the day and during rush hour at that. That’s right just in case all those other drives didn’t see you get side swiped OnStar is sending someone to assist you. If I am lost they can find me and tell me where to go…get a GPS does the same thing with out the invasion of your privacy. Oh yeah and they can find my vehicle when it gets stolen. You mean IF it gets stolen.

I am sorry but it really freaks me out how everyone has bought into this OnStar is such a great thing and it’s so helpful to us. Have you bought into the lie? Do you allow them to know where you are driving and when you are doing so? What intersections you go through so McDonalds now knows where to put its next location after is purchased the information from OnStar about you and millions of other people. I ask you to kept seeing OnStar as a great thing for you so I can make money off you by invading your privacy and selling that information once I start at OnStar and hegemonicly encourage you to believe it’s such a good thing for you, since you get lost, in accidents, and lock you keys in the car all the time.

Mighty Morpin Power Rangers

Almost everyone has seen the TV show “Power Rangers” that is aimed for children. The show dealt with six college aged friends who fight for the good of people, but did it really just deal with defeating enemies or saving the world? If one looks back at the original cast, one would see that: the “Black Ranger” was played by an African American, the “Pink Ranger” was played by a white woman, the “Red Ranger” was played by a man, the “Green Ranger” who was the most powerful and the leader of the Power Rangers, was played by a white man, the “Yellow Ranger” was played by an Asian woman, and the “Blue Ranger” was played by a man. By looking at the color of the Power Ranger and relating it towards the actor casted for the part, one can see that tokenism played a major role in casting for each Power Ranger. Subconsciously the children watching this show may associate the color pink with a women or the color blue with a man. Society has created a norm for what one should associate with certain things. Looking at the ethnicity of the actors casted for each color one can see that the color yellow was associated with an Asian person and that the color black was associated with an African American. When looking at the Power Rangers and finding a correlation between actor and color does tokenism come into play? As the series progressed the Green Ranger, played by a white man, turned into the White Ranger who became the all powerful Power Ranger. In society, white men are viewed as the superior over women and other races. Why is it that a children’s TV show portrays these ideas and makes it acceptable?

D&G is not exclusive when it comes to objectifying

All three of these images are bad. And all relate in a way, shape, form, or flat out directly to SEX!!! Dr. Lucas showed the third link in class on the 22^nd and commented on what it was saying and implying and showing rape and the objectification to women. But I don’t know if she has seen the other two yet. The first one shows the ever so wonderful objectification of a young (nude) male by an older and younger male. The scene looks as though sex was just had or is going to be had soon. The second link shows a similar ad with a bit more clothing yet still the same implications. So Dr. Lucas not to say one is worse than the other but Dolce & Gabbana is not excluding the objectification of men which I feel Dr. Lucas implied on the 22^nd.

How do you read the other two ads?

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_85xLdt_DXUA/Rf1aVRTqGdI/AAAAAAAAA_g/KYAuTOgsrqw/s1600-h/dolce_gabbana_ads4.jpg

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_85xLdt_DXUA/Rf1bEhTqGfI/AAAAAAAAA_w/JppyyCqngVc/s1600-h/dolce_gabbana_ads3.jpg

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_85xLdt_DXUA/Rf1bERTqGeI/AAAAAAAAA_o/2Kn9ENcf8xo/s1600-h/dolce1.1173701097

Pregnant women in YOUR workplace

I know we talked about being childless and childfree in class and how it affects both the person with kids and without the kids. We talked in class about how sometimes the people without kids are affected by the people with kids. I am starting to feel some reprocussions of people with kids in my workplace. I feel like I am almost discriminated against in some ways because I don't have kids. I know it's kind of how things work out sometimes, but it is annoying. Like I always work closing shifts so the mom's can be home to put the kids to bed. My boss is pregnant and we have to be careful of mood swings and tempers. I feel bad to be complaining about these things, but I feel like it's not fair to me on the other end of the spectrum having to deal with this. It's different when we are learning about this in class compared to actually living in the situation. Anyone else have stories about how they are childfree and feel pressure of pregnant women or mothers in your workplace?

Wonka...A glass ceiling

There was the post about the women at work and her asking about advancements and being laughed at when saying "yes I plan on having a family." But to look at the glass ceiling in a different light…if Willy Wonka was a women or if Charlie was a girl would they have gone out of the glass ceiling at the end of the movie. I mean come on the girls were out of the running early anyway. Yes the Augustus got cut first but that was because he had poor canter of gravity. What does it say that Wonka in the end chose a boy and that the glass ceiling didn’t affect Charlie’s rise to the top of the employment ladder.

Dennis Rodman in trouble again

I just signed on to check my email and I saw a cover story about Dennis Rodman in trouble with the law again. This time he has been arrested for allegedly hitting a woman and leaving her with bruises. His manager briefly stated that he grabbed her by the arm and that was the only reason why there was a bruise. Rodman was let out on $50,000 bail.

I continued to look because there was a side story on athletes in trouble with the law. So many of them were accounts of battery on women it was astounding to me.

My question is: is there a correlation here with athletes and domestic abuse? Are athletes using drugs that make them aggressive? Do they have too much stress and pressure placed upon them that they take it out on others? OR is this a true representation of how much women are truly battered, but only these stories make it to the news because they are about celebrities?

The other thing that really bothers me is that some of these athletes that are being arrested are role models for people... children and adults alike. Look at the messages going out to society about how to treat women.

How does everyone else feel on the topic of domestic abuse in correlation with celebrities?

Are girls more agressive?

Usually when we hear the word agressive we think the person is talking about men. In one of my communication classes we were talking about agressivness and how women can actually be more agressive. At first I was caught off guard. I was thinking about how men tend to be joking around with their buddies and sometimes make jabs that are to harsh and end up getting into a small fight. During this fight they become agressive with their actions. In class we were talking about how people are agressive with words. This is were women being more agressive come into play. As little girls grow up they are told to be kind and caring. They shouldn't raise their voices. If they are upset they need to be forgiving and should get mad. This gives girls little chances to let their feelings out. Boys on the other hand are told to let people know if they are upset or mad. It's ok for them to raise their voice. This continues through out boys and girls lives. Boys continue to let their feelings show while girls have to keep it to them self. Or do they?

As girls grow older they begin to have enemies with other girls. We see many girls get hurt feelings from other girls who go behind their best friends back. They talk about them in mean ways making others go against them as well. We don't usually see this with boys becauuse they let the person who the have a problem with know they have a problem with them. Girls go about it in another way and a more agressive about it.

We see these same kinds of action in the movie Mean Girls. There is a group of girls who are considered popular. Although they are a select group people for some reason most of the girls in the school look up to them and want to be them even though they realize they are horrible girls. These girls spread horrible rumors and get the other girls in bad positions. Now this is an exageration of what most high school girls are like but is that far off?
What do you think?
Are girls more agressive than boys?

Facebook In Reality

First take a look at this video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrlSkU0TFLs

Alright once you're done laughing, take into effect how facebook has shaped the way we communicate with eachother. I know its easy to look at, but honestly how has it changed the ways in which we've completely cut off the personal side of actually going and meeting new people...I know this is an extreme case. So i guess my short and 5 cent question of the day is, how has facebook shaped the way you or your friends look at communication.

Text Message Breakup

The famous Youtube video "Text Message Breakup" may seem hilarious and completely absurd, but what are the underlying issues dealing with the video? In the video, Kelly, the young woman, receives a text message from her boyfriend notifying her that their relationship has ended. After reading the text message, Kelly goes completely berserk and goes out on the town as a way to express her anger and aggression towards her boyfriend.

After watching the video I was completely appalled by the images being portrayed. First off, text messaging has become one of the most popular forms of communication for both males and females. Text messaging contains only the bare essentials for communication as it can be written one way, but can be interpreted a completely other way due to the fact that there is no verbal communication or ways to read off facial expressions. Has text messaging become a social norm and allows people to confront problems or issues in such way that it is completely not intimate? The video portrays the idea that it is socially acceptable for a man to break up with his girlfriend in a non-personal and downright cold way. Today’s society has made it acceptable and extremely easy for both men and women to confront problems without being face-to-face. Does society need to rethink the highly popular method of nonverbal communication?

The video also shows Kelly going completely berserk after reading the message and thus showing her outrage by going out on the town. Has it become socially acceptable for a woman to react to a breakup in a manner like this? Is it more acceptable for a woman to react this way more so than if a man would react to a breakup by yelling and screaming?

In Russia....Can you believe this?

In my comm class the other day, we looked at issues in other countries that we would find challenging. One of the issues was (this really happened to a girl from UNL)-- if you were a female worker in a hospital working in the obstetrics department and one day you helped deliver a baby girl. You ask the woman if there are any questions or concerns she has about raising a child. She whispers to the translator in a low voice. The translator tells you she already has four girls at home and is going to kill this baby girl to ensure she has a boy next time. The translator said the most common way to do this is by pouring hot soup down the baby's throat.

What would be you reaction?
What would you do in this situation?

Barbara Walters: I had affair with U.S. senator

Well this seemed like an interesting twist. An affluent high-profile media person that comes forward about an affair with a married person...and this high-profile media person was a woman this time. I am just curious how the women in the class feel about this. For most men, it's almost expected for high-profile male role models having moments of infidelity or moment/s of questionable act/s. Now years later after the fact, Barbara Walters, who is arguably a very strong female role model comes forth. In addition, there is another twist to this affair in that it crossed racial boundaries - she was having an affair with an African-American Senator. In my opinion, I could care less about who Barbara Walters or anyone else for that matter had an affair with (regardless of the race issue too). But, I am apparently in the minority since CNN felt this was news worthy. With that said, do you feel it's worth the continued press of successful people's lives made public when it's about scandalous affairs? Also, I am curious what opinions people in class have if this situation was reversed and it was someone like Peter Jennings having an affair with a woman in the Senate - would it make headlines and/or would it be an even bigger story?

Male Generic Language

I find this flaw really interesting. So a while back I was reading in my comm. 200 book, "Thinking through communication," (Trenholm, 2008) and i noticed a couple times the use of male generic language. I bookmarked these spots, and came back to them thinking this might be a great thing to address for the blog. One of the uses I saw appears in a section entitled, "Increasing Relational Skills... More Effective Self-Disclosure." In the opening portion of the section, Trenholm says Self-Disclosure happens when, "one person voluntarily tells another person things about himself which the other is unlikely to know from other sources." Well, maybe that's just a typo, but like I said this happens a few other times throughout the book. It's odd, but somehow discovering this gendered language brings me a little joy. Not becuase I agree with it, but rather I like seeing these authors make some mistakes, I think it instills some humility. Does anyone else find this in their readings?

Dad admits to raping daughter

Tenant: Incest dad's son entered cellar
Story Highlights
NEW: Former tenant says he saw Fritzl's son enter basement
NEW: Noises from basement explained away as a heater in a boiler room
Incest dad spent entire days and nights in cellar, sister-in-law tells newspaper
Josef Fritzl kept daughter imprisoned for 24 years; fathered her seven children
AMSTETTEN, Austria (CNN) -- A man who previously rented an apartment from a now-73-year-old man accused of holding his daughter captive in his cellar for 24 years said Thursday that he saw the man's son enter the off-limits basement.
Alfred Dubanowsky said he rented a ground-floor apartment at Josef Fritzl's home from 1995 through 2007. He said there was a verbal agreement between Fritzl and the house's tenants that they were not to enter the cellar or the garden or photograph the premises, or they would be kicked out.
Police said Monday that Fritzl also made clear to his wife and children that they were not allowed to go into the basement.
Fritzl has confessed to keeping his daughter Elisabeth in the basement for more than two decades, where he repeatedly raped her and fathered seven children with her, six of whom survived, police say.
Dubanowsky said he saw Fritzl's son, also named Josef Fritzl, enter the cellar. He also saw the elder Fritzl enter the basement frequently at night.
Once, when he asked to talk to the younger Fritzl, the older man said his son was working and "not to distract him," Dubanowsky told CNN's Frederik Pleitgen.
It was not clear whether the younger Fritzl went into the secret section of the cellar where police said the woman and children were kept or whether he knew of their captivity.
Dubanowsky said he heard strange noises coming from the cellar sometimes, but Fritzl told him it was coming from the heater in the home's boiler room.
The police investigation will examine whether any accomplices were involved in the case, but police spokesman Franz Polzer said there were "neither technical nor biological traces of any other person in cellar" other than Fritzl.
Meanwhile, Fritzl's sister-in-law said in an interview published Thursday that the man often spent many hours in the cellar and would sometimes stay there all night.
"Every day at 9 in the morning, Josef would go into the cellar," the woman, identified as Christine R., said in the article on the front page of Austria's Oesterreich newspaper.
"He said he was drawing engineering plans that he would sell to companies," said the woman, the sister of Fritzl's wife. "Often, he would stay there all night." She said his wife was not even allowed to bring him coffee.
Fritzl is alleged to have threatened to gas his prisoners if they harmed him or tried to escape, The Associated Press reported.
Austrian authorities said the imprisoned children, who for years had not seen the light of day, were slowly adapting to sunlight. Officials also debunked reports in a few British newspapers that some of the children could not walk or speak in sentences.
The story of the family's imprisonment began to unravel a week ago, when Elisabeth Fritzl's oldest daughter, Kerstin Fritzl, fell seriously ill with convulsions and was hospitalized.
The 19-year-old girl, who was locked in the basement along with her mother and two brothers, remains in an induced coma in an Amstetten clinic. She is suffering from a kidney ailment that worsened because she did not receive medial treatment sooner, authorities said.
"We cannot expect any dramatic changes in her condition in next few days," Dr. Albert Reiter said. "We will make every effort to help as best as we can; perhaps in a few weeks we hope some positive change for the better."
Fritzl had told his wife that Elisabeth, now 42, ran away from home at 18, police say.
The Fritzls adopted three of the children who Josef said were left on his doorstep as infants by his runaway daughter. Fritzl has confessed to incinerating the body of the infant that did not survive, according to police.
Fritzl has yet to be charged, but he can be held by police for 14 days without formal charges while the investigation is under way. That amount of time can be extended by a judge.
A spokesman for the prosecution, Gerhard Sedlacek, said Fritzl had stopped talking to police since making his initial confession. Investigators intend to begin questioning him again next week, Sedlacek said.
Austrian police spokesman Franz Polzer said the investigation would probably last a couple of months. Police plan to interview at least 100 people who lived in the same apartment building as the Fritzls over the past 24 years.
Authorities are looking into reports that Fritzl may have had a rape conviction in the 1960s but have no information because criminal records are expunged after a certain number of years under Austrian law.
However, Polzer denied reports that authorities were looking into Fritzl's ties to the unsolved murder of a young woman more than 20 years ago.
During the time Fritzl owned a hotel and restaurant at a lake in Austria, a woman was found murdered at the other end of that lake, Polzer said.
Police are aware of the media reports and may investigate possible links in the future, but at this time, Polzer said, there is no investigation.
On Sunday, Elisabeth and her two sons, ages 18 and 5, met the three children who were raised by Josef and Rosemarie Fritzl, unaware that their mother and siblings were kept prisoners in the basement.
"It is astonishing how easy it worked, that the children came together, and also it was astonishing how easy it happened that the grandmother and the mother came together," clinic director Berthold Kepplinger said Tuesday.
Authorities are looking into the possibility of giving new identities to the Fritzl family. District Governor Hans Heinz Lenze said Tuesday that the Fritzl name had been "muddied" by the case.
On Wednesday, a German tabloid released video of Fritzl laughing on a Thai beach and receiving a massage, apparently as his daughter and three of their children remained locked up in his basement.
The newspaper Bild posted the video on its Web site and said it was taken and provided to the newspaper by Fritzl's friend, a retiree from Munich.
Copyright 2008 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.

This is so digusting, at least he admit to doing this. If you were in his daughters shoes...would you have tried to escape??

Teacher Removed From Classroom after Allowing Children to Fight

In Philadelphia, Tonia Brown is accused of teaching violence in her classroom. In a cell phone video obtained by Action News, two Martha Washington Elementary students are seen trading punches. Fellow classmates sit on their desks and cheer. The video shows Tonia Brown, the teacher, standing back and watching the two students exchanging punches, she waits awhile before she finally steps in to break it up. Brown has been removed from her special education classroom. Action News interviewed one of the 12 year old students who was involved in the fight and he claims that fighting is a regular thing in that classroom. "When the kids fight, they're allowed to fight," he said. "The kids moved their desks back and they were cheering us to keep fighting." Attorney Jill Fischer said according to her clients, "there were a number of instances where these fights were instigated by the teacher." Action News contacted the State Department of Education, trying to learn more about Tonia Brown's qualification. A spokesperson tells Action News Brown is not even certified to be a teacher.

This story was shocking to me! If you watch the video they highlight the teacher just standing in the background watching the kids fight. This just makes me sick to think that a teacher would allow such violent acts to happen in her classroom, and most of all do nothing about it!! When she was questioned about the case, she claimed that the kids were "role playing." What are these elementary children suppose to think when they have an adult role model telling them it's acceptable to fight? I think it is also questionable that the teacher was hired and wasn't even qualified for the position; that says a lot about this school district.

To view the story go to: http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=news/local&id=6114539

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan

I'm currently reading the (fiction) book Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See. Although the story is fiction it is a great example of the social construction of gender in different cultures. The book takes place in China in the 19th century. Snow Flower, the main character is considered beautiful not because of her personality or good looks but because her feet were properly bound and are very small. They call their bound feet "lilies". Click the link for pictures - but they are kind of gross so be prepared! The process of foot binding is extremely painful and the women who have their feet bound can hardly walk once they are fully shaped. What is more interesting is that the women are considered burdens on their families. Even after they are married, the women live with their own families until the first heir is born. Many things particularly related to the roles of women stunned me in this novel. The women are basically married into a family to become a sort of servant for their husbands family. In addition, they are not allowed to eat for 10 days before their wedding! This book was a great example of how gender is constructed by culture not by biology. What are some other extreme examples of gender construction - and by extreme I mean extremely different from what we know as masculine and feminine.

Mom-to-be Charged with DUI

In Tampa, Florida a 22 yr old woman who is 8 months pregnant was charged with a DUI on April 17th. She was seen swerving and crossing the center line while driving, so she was pulled over and given a field sobriety test. Police found marijuana in her car along with other drug paraphernalia. she failed the field sobriety test but refused a breathalyser and urine test. Police say there were obvious signs of impairment, so they took her back to the station. Tampa News did an interview with her at her house a few days after the incident and she still seemed really out of it and on something. This was her third offense for driving under the influence! She could face up to a year in prison. I think this is a really sad story; this woman is obviously irresponsible and yet she is going to be having a baby in about a month!! This story also angers me because I feel sorry for the kid she is going to have, she is not a responsible adult and may spend the first year of the baby's life in prison!

To see the video of her go to: http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/crime/2008/05/01/pkg.pregnant.woman.dui.baynews9

A Tendor Warrior

I'm reading this book "Tender Warrior", about men's purpose in life and their "role" as masculine characters. A recent passage i came across really stuck out as something that bothered me.
The book cites Gloria Steinem, a pioneer in the modern feminist movement, with her feelings about the progressive woman, "We are human beings first with minor differences from men that apply largely to the act of reproduction. The only functional difference between men and women is the woman's ability to give birth; a woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle." Granted, everyone is entitled to their own opinion and while I'm certainly not attacking Gloria on her idea of men and women, I do have my concerns. She makes her argument quite clear that women don't need men and men don't need women. If she really feels this way, she must be a lonely, needy person. Obviously no woman is required or chooses to be in a relationship with a man or vice versa, but I believe if you think about it in a worldly perspective, this notion is headed for a self-destructive path. My views originate from my spirituality and my biblical based ideas. I believe the reality of it is men and women experience life differently, women project a different "voice" then men as Carol Gilligan says. Women's existence has a greater sense of relationship and connectivity, while men value action and freedom. In scripture, God said, "It is not good for man to be alone." In fact she originates or was created out of man, and his need.

I'm guessing others have thoughts on this, if so please share.

Men are From Mars

So for another class I had to read the book, "Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus", and once I was finsihed I was quite frustrated with the book. My first criticism is that the author seems quite biased towards males. What I got out of the book is that women basically need to change the entire way they communicate so that the male doesn't get frustrated and go into his "cave". For those who haven't read it, the cave is a place where men go when they're stressed or frustrated to be alone, because they can solve their problems on their own. This book encourages the cave, telling women to just leave men alone, don't ask questions and wait until he's ready to come out of the cave. The only criticism the male population recieved in this book was that they need to stop trying to answer solve the problems of their significant other, and just listen. It seemed pretty unfair to me that females had to completely changed the way they requested things, asked for help, or offered constructive criticism, and the only change for males is to not help and just listen. I'm sure this stems into a report vs. rapport talk. But I was just wondering if anyone had read the book, and if so what they thought?

Saying "I Do"

I have been engaged for about one year now and will be getting married this summer. Throughout this year I have been asked one guestion rather frequently that I didn't expect. "Are you going to change your last name?" I just assumed that I would change my last name because that is what every other woman in my family has also done. I found it interesting the people that were asking me, for example my eye doctor, and a few people that I just had met. While I guess it has changed from what it was like in the past, I never really thought about this topic. I don't think that this naming practice in our situation is me submitting to my finance or even him having dominance. But I can see that times have changed and I would love to hear what everyone thinks!

PARENTAL ADVISORY

Parental Advisory (or lack there of) has been in the news a lot recently. We have seen Myley Cyrus in her questionable photo shoot with her dad (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nme291e44T8); Brooke Hogan getting a rub down by her dad (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZ1tesbm0Cs); or the obviously inappropriate parental relationship of Josef Fritzl who held his daughter captive for 24 years, raped and fathered children with her (http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/04/28/austria.cellar/index.html?iref=mpstoryview).

It may be a sad reality that there are just some bad (and extremely bad in some cases) parents out there. However, as the media has also pointed out recently that all of these parental decisions were considered inappropriate. With that said, even potential minor misunderstandings like Hulk Hogan simply rubbing tanning lotion on his daughter - at what point should a parent realize their actions may be considered inappropriate while at the same time be more aware of the situations they are putting their children in that may be considered inappropriate? In addition, while it may be true that both Billy Ray and Hulk are made to look like bad fathers - what about the mothers? Is this just another gendering spotlight in the media because bad fathers make for better press then mothers?

Affection

A while back in class we spent some time talking about gender in personal relationships. One focus was the kind of affection we've received from our fathers over the years. Most of us reported that our fathers showed us affection through supportive activies, e.g. doing favors, tasks etc... I indetify in much of same way, however growing up in a house where it was just my father and I, he did make the effort often times, and it was all i thought i really needed. Nevertheless, as I've gotten older I've developed a number a male-male relationships in which I experienced affection and intimacy in a more emotionally satisfying way. While I won't concede that I feel closer with these men than i do my father, I find it particularly strange that the performence oriented relationship I've always had with my father never really occured that much to me until this semester. thought that was all dads were really capable of. I know these masculine characteristics are often the nature of a fathers behavior, I've begun to realize a dad can still offer more. Researchers offer knowledge and enriching insight into this phenomenon. Can anyone else identify any of their relationships in that same way?