Im Not Really Like That, Am I? :: Men Women Female Male Macho Essays

I'm Not Really Like That, Am I? Once upon a time . . . Who am I kidding? It was yesterday. I was reading the article "I'll Explain It to You," by Deborah Tannen. Now I'm a male and I'll have to admit, I feel like I've been persecuted. She claims men can be macho, dominating, and self-centered with a woman during a conversation. I feel this is a horrible stereotype to give us. We don't really act like that. To prove my point I'll use a conversation I had with three other people: two girls and another guy. Now this conversation will clearly prove that we (men) aren't how Tannen describes us in her article. Before I describe the conversation, I should begin by talking about some of the situations that led up to it. For instance, I came up to the group of people wanting to speak to my friend. He wasn’t doing much of anything, besides sitting on a couch. So I sat down beside him and I started to have a conversation with him. Now I noticed that the two girls, who were sitting on the couch beside him, were attractive so I began to speak a little more openly. This encouraged the girls to join in (my plan was just starting). They became interested in what we were talking about and began to give their opinions on what we were discussing, which leads into the discussion . . . The topic of this conversation was relationships. When the girls became interested they asked, "What are you guys talking about?" My friend answered, "Women, and how they play with our minds." Now see, two guys can have a perfectly meaningful conversation without degrading anyone. Of course, I then asked one of them if she would like to play with my mind, but that just got us off track of the conversation. Oh, no! I just proved one of Tannen's point's by making a joke. Not only a senseless joke, but a macho joke. Tannen claims that men tend to tell more jokes than women during conversation. According to the article, telling jokes can be a way of negotiating status (266). The article also claims that because women do not care if they hold center stage in a group, they are less likely to use jokes as a form of getting their audience's attention. So, I guess by telling my flirtatious joke, I demonstrated how men like to hold control of a conversation.