Ethics of Teaching Gender and Communication.

It is difficult to think about masculine and feminine behaviors without simultaneously conjuring the sex-trait and sex-role stereotypes that accompany these behaviors. Despite the fact that much has been written identifying other attributes that ought to be equally valued and encouraged in women's and men's communication ("empathy,""cooperation,""sensitivity,""effective listening," and "assertiveness"), a legacy of literature argues that using bi-polar terms to characterize men as "adventurous,""dominant""forceful,""independent,""masculine" and "strong-willed" and women "emotional,""passive,""dependent,""sentimental,""submissive,""feminine," and "nurturing" persists. If Michel Foucault can offer guidance in handling the general question of "standards for gendered behavior," it would seem that the first step would be to alter the power relations by denying the "dividing practices" which divide women from men, and second, when the practices can not be denied (childbirth is an example), denying that the practices are or ought to be reasons for power divisions. Scholars must break down the assumption that females hold the standard for intimate relationships and males the standard for public or professional relationships. Research that supports a rigid sense of male and female behavior, such as some recent research on conversational interruptions, is often deserving of scrutiny. In the classroom, professors must be ever vigilant of absolute gender categories as defined by the textbooks they use. (Contains 79 references.) (TB)