Men vs. Women

Gender communication is communication about and between men and women (Ivy, 2012). It is studied because it is provocative, popularized, pervasive, problematic and unpredictable. Gender communication is provocative because many people are interested in how individuals communicate with others and how they are responded to, popularized because it is a huge topic in today’s culture, pervasive because the communication occurs 24/7 among men and women, problematic meaning that gender communication is complicated, and unpredictable since society’s rules and norms have changed and continue to change (Ivy, 2012).

Media today is a major part of society. It is the main source to which many people get their information from. This shows that many people can be persuaded by media in different ways. Specifically, the presidential election is a major topic right now until November when everyone votes for our next presidential candidate. The election is even more interesting than usual because a man and a woman are competing against each other to win presidency. When we look at gender communication, Clinton and Trump display many aspects to what we are studying especially since they are so different and they do not like each other.

My media object I will be focusing on is the reaction of the United States when Hillary Clinton became ill and had pneumonia. Hillary Clinton, candidate for United States president, became ill recently with pneumonia and decided not to disclose the information to America. However, a video was uploaded by CNN that showed Clinton collapsing and needing assistance into her car after the 911 ceremony that she attended at Ground Zero in New York. The reaction to her collapsing was tremendous because no one knew that she was seriously ill before her collapse. She still then decided to lie and tell everyone that just became “overheated” because of the New York heat and humidity that day. The doctor did soon disclose that she had pneumonia, is improving her health and will be better soon.

She did not want to tell anyone that she was ill mainly because she is a woman and does not want to seem weak. This is a serious problem to how men and women are viewed in society. “As the weaker sex, which is only true as concerns upper-body muscle mass (about 40 percent less) and significantly less testosterone (hence less invading, marauding and pillaging), women tend to hide anything that might suggest “weaker sex.” (Parker, 2016). We then think what would happen if Donald Trump became ill? Would the United States think of him as weak just because he is ill with pneumonia? Probably not the same way as Hillary Clinton since he is a man.

This shows how society views men and women today; women are still perceived as weaker. Hillary Clinton should not have to hide the fact that she got pneumonia just because she was afraid of what other people thought about her. “Clinton aides have ample reason to be careful on the subject of her health: Political opponents on the right have spread a variety of conspiracy theories insinuating that she is physically unfit for the presidency, and Mr. Trump has fanned those theories, repeatedly questioning her “stamina.” (Chozick & Healy, 2016). Yet, the reactions to Clinton becoming ill emphasize why she would want to hide this information.

The major factor of this incident is that Hillary Clinton is a woman. Since everyone sees her as weaker just because of her sex, they immediately begin to question her ability to handle becoming a president. They believe that her health will take a toll on her and she will not be able to become president. While people may think this if Donald Trump became ill, I believe there would less speculation if he could handle presidency since he was a man. “Some claimed that Clinton was gravely ill and unfit to be president” (Chozick & Healy, 2016). This quote shows two things. One that running for president is very hard because you will get a lot of flack and mean comments from people who do not support you; and two, Trumps supporters are trying to show that she is not fit to be president because she is weak. Everyone becomes ill at points of their life and I am sure running for presidency takes a toll on the body, so stating that illnesses causes a person to be unfit for a job is not right.

I believe this perfect example to how society reacts when a woman becomes ill shows what needs to be changed. Even though society still may always view woman as weaker than men, things can change. There have been major steps in the right direction toward equality between men and women, however, it does not always change the thoughts of individuals. By this I mean, even though actions may be changed in society such as a woman being president, thoughts may not be changed toward women being president of the United States. I think we are not at the point where we need to work on the thoughts of everybody and how they think about men and women. This is where gender communication comes into play. There will always be differences between thoughts of men and women and how they communicate, however, there is also always room for improvement. Society’s norms and thoughts limit women in the way the do things and what they do and that is something that can be changed. We can change the way women are viewed in society and especially media.

References:

Chozick, Amy & Healy, Patrick. (September 12, 2016). Hillary Clinton is Set Back by Decision to Keep Illness Secret. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/13/us/hillary-clinton-pneumonia.html?_r=0

Colarossi, Sean. (September 12, 2016). Trump Supporters’ Response to Clinton’s Illness Only Validates Her “Deplorable” Comment. Politicususa. Retrieved from http://www.politicususa.com/2016/09/12/trump-supporters-spent-weekend-vindicating-clintons-deplorable-comment.html

Ivy, Diana K. (2012). GenderSpeak: Personal Effectiveness in Gender Communication. New Jersey: Pearson.

Parker, Kathleen. (September 13, 2016). Why did Clinton hide her pneumonia? Because she’s a woman. The Washington Post. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/why-did-clinton-hide-her-pneumonia-because-shes-a-woman/2016/09/13/e3e9f538-79cf-11e6-bd86-b7bbd53d2b5d_story.html?utm_term=.2983a1216e58

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8loUFXekII

#women #gender #media #communication #men