Talking women, gossip women — sounds familiar, but still insulting. Do women really like to gossip? Is it bad to share information freely and openly? New research proves that the propensity for active social contacts has nothing to do with gender.
A small experiment: let’s imagine those who are busy with idle chatter or weaving intrigues … Our imagination will most likely draw two girlish silhouettes at a table or a circle of socialites, and not young men and socialites. Why is the «privilege» of spreading rumors and indulging in slander attributed to the fair sex?
“Such an attitude is a legacy and a reality of a patriarchal society,” explains psychologist Polina Soldatova. — It developed gradually, due to the fact that men and women communicated separately. Everything that was talked about in the «male half» was significant and important, and women’s conversations were regarded as empty and trivial. So society emphasized the difference between solid, intelligent men and narrow-minded women.
And at the same time it was reported that gossip means doing something not very worthy. But modern research refutes this opinion and shows that the ability to share information, exchange judgments and even opinions and rumors is a useful skill.
By discussing the news and the lives of others, we maintain social connections and strengthen trusting relationships, and by worrying about this, we satisfy emotional hunger. And we also increase self-esteem and learn the unspoken rules of behavior in public space.
Gender roles, like stereotypes about male and female behavior, appear only with age: children do not have such prejudices
Can any of the above be considered an exclusively female need? Unlikely. It has been proven that extroverts gossip more readily and more often than introverts, but the tendency to active social contacts is a personality trait, not gender. Also, much of the new data refutes the notion that women are more talkative than men, especially in informal settings. And yet there is a difference.
“In our society, a woman is assigned the role of being responsible for relationships,” continues Polina Soldatova. “And a number of studies show that women use gossip to connect, they are more willing to support third-party discussions than men. But this speaks more about how the learned stereotypes guide and limit us than about a real desire to behave this way.
Much of what we do to strengthen social bonds, we do out of a desire to live up to expectations. The same goes for gossip.» As evidence, Polina Soldatova cites the results of a recent study that found that children under adolescence informally communicate all together, they are not divided by gender.
Obviously, gender roles, as well as stereotypes about male and female behavior, appear only with age: children do not have such prejudices. This gives hope that as equality increases, we will be able to move away from the negative comparison of men and women.