Gender is claimed to be a fluid construct that is established through the use of language means and posture. However, old traditions and social norms often do not take into account the fact that males and females not necessarily have masculine or feminine manners of expression and behavioral patterns (Davis and Preves 80). Cultural norms, in that case, claim the appropriate stances for men and women as well as the types of language means used by people who have different gender identities. Thus, men tend to express power and authority through both their stances and the language they use (Kiesling 252). Kiesling explores the masculine discourse by giving the example of Pete, who is the head of the fraternity at Lee University. He observes the way Pete’s behavior and manner of expression change in different situations to see what language patterns are typical of the masculinity discourse.
When Pete is in the fraternity together with other males, he tends to demonstrate his authority through his posture and the use of language means. He constantly reminds that he is vice president of the fraternity, thus expressing his power and establishing hierarchy (Kiesling 256). He syntactically moves himself from the rest of the audience through the separation of pronouns, and both speaks and stands in a confrontational and boastful manner.
Pete’s behavior changes when he is around a girl with whom he once dated. First of all, he takes a paternalistic stance towards the girl, Jen (Kiesling 265). His speech becomes more articulate with singsong intonation typical of fathers speaking with their children. In that case, Peter presents himself as a person who is wise, unemotional and has more life experience than his interlocutor. Such changes in Pete’s manner of expression may be dictated by society’s attitude toward men and women since the former are considered to have more authority and knowledge than the latter.
Work Cited
Davis, Georgiann, and Sharon Preves. “Intersex and the Social Construction of Sex” Contexts, vol.16, no. 1, 2017, pp 80.
Kiesling, Scott R. “Now I gotta watch what I say”: Shifting Constructions of Masculinity in Discourse” Gender in Cross-cultural Perspective, Routledge, 2017, pp. 254-270.