The articles “He said she said” from Men’s Health (2009) and “Translating Men-Speak” from Women’s Health (2008) demonstrates the contrast in the approach of men and women magazine to tackle relationship problems. Right at the start, Men’s Health introduces the article in an authoritative tone by telling the readers that the article is the answer to perfecting their communication with women. Whereas in Women’s Health, the article starts off with a hint of acceptance of the flaws in men by referring to their behaviour as being cavemen-like. Both articles offered solutions to some of the common problems faced in relationships, however as the intended audience were different, the style and content of these solutions were directed according to the social stereotype of men and women. The expectations of gender dynamic are played out as the articles persuade the reader of the best course of action to be carried out by respective gender.
In Men’s Health, assumptions are rife as the article focus on addressing the temperamental nature of women. In somewhat of an instructional tone, the article advises men to confront the problem. This method of solving the problems seems to comply with John Gray’s observation that men tend to use less words as they are more direct in expressing their thoughts. Gray mentioned that men possess such great depth of understanding each other to the extent that communication was not needed to solve problems, and that is where women failed to understand men (Gray, 1992).The article did not bother to promote communication as a mean to resolve the problems. Rather they assume that as women are complicated with their usage of words, men need not consider their opinion in resolving the issues. In Women’s Health, the article offered remedy by translating men’s language through the addition of words, which appears to agree with what Men’s Health is indicating. The article emphasize on solving the issue through communication whereby they need to understand men before attempting to move on. The main difference between this and what was advocated in Men’s Health is that women are expected to resolve miscommunication together with men, and not just on their own account.
Both articles took an essentialist stand by laying out the fundamental differences in gender speak. However, unlike what was mentioned in Robin Lakeoff’s book about woman’s place and their language, women are portrayed to communicate differently from men because that is the nature of the way they talk. Lakeoff mentioned that women are restricted to using certain words when they speak because the male dominance in the society at that time does not allow them to use words that might (Lakeoff, 1975). This disparity in language use was clearly shown in Women’s Health and to a lesser extent Men’s Health. Yet both articles did not indicate that power dynamic has any influence over the difference in words usage. Despite that, both articles displayed hints of male dominance in the society as men are assumed to be capable of solving problems on their own, and that women have to resort to try to understand men in their own language before adjusting their course of action.
Despite the differences in the way the articles presented the solutions, both failed to acknowledge any fault in their respective gender but instead focus on the shortcomings of the other gender. They rely on the social stereotype of flaws in the other gender in order to relate to their readers. The miscommunication between genders was highlighted with the notion that men uses less words than women, hence they could not understand the need to express themselves with words and vice versa.
References:
Gray, J. (1992). Different languages. In Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus (pp. 51-92).
Lakeoff, R. (1975). In Language and woman's place (pp. 8-19).
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