Study 2 Question 2:

What reasons do males and females have for their perceptions of gendered language?


Question two could be addressed by different answers in the interview, but was particularly a focus of questions 11 and 12. Questions 11 and 12 were chosen because males and females rated these survey questions differently. Question 11 inquired about survey statement 38 "You sound like a little kid." The females marked this neutral (3) or feminine (2). Only two of the females in the neutral category chose neutral. The males had three feminine and one neutral answers, with the one neutral male choosing neutral. This question was rated higher (more masculine) by males than females who took the survey, however these eight participants' answers do not reflect this. Both Rick and Sam saw girls saying this. Zach choose neutral because he could see both his parents saying this, thus it was both (or neither) masculine nor feminine to him since he saw both sexes saying it. Alicia, Veronica, and Sarah saw this as neutral, Sarah saying "lots of people say this." Renée saw it as something she would say and Luglar did not see it as something males would say. This does not seem to suggest any differences between what the females and males chose.


Interview question 12 was based off of survey statement 39: "it's cool when people tell on each other." This was rated higher (more masculine) by females then males, by almost a point (females rated it at about 2.4 and males at 1.5). On the survey, seven of the eight people interviewed marked this neutral. The only non-neutral rating was by Renée (female varied) and she rated it masculine and said it was a "stupid thing a guy would say." Luglar did change her choice to masculine during the interview because "guys don't care if they tell. Girls would be nice about it." Sam, Alicia, and Zach saw the comment as applying equally well to both sexes. Rick and Sarah though the comment sounded immature and not appropriate for college students. Like the question one, these answers did not suggest any particular reason for females and males to rank some statements differently.


Study 2:

Participants | Procedure | Analysis and Results: Question 1, Question 2, Question 3, Question 4 | Discussion

 

By Jennifer L. Bowie