This document discusses gender roles and communication within families. It defines family broadly and notes families are organized by gender. The "perfect nuclear family" is a myth consisting of married heterosexual parents filling traditional gender roles. Friendships and dating also follow gender scripts. While families are diverse, conservative politicians claim the nuclear family is declining. The document examines how parents shape their child's gender identity and the acceptance of same-sex parents and transgender children.

1. GENDER
COMMUNICATION IN
SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS
PROJECT: FAMILY
By Ross Johnson

2. What is a family?
 Researchers say family can be a challenge to
define in a specific term.
 Leading us to believe that there are multiple types
of family structures

3. Family Defined
 “any group of people united by ties of marriage, blood,
or adoption, or any sexually expressive relationship, in
which (1) the adults cooperate financially for their mutual
support, (2) the people are committed to one another in
an intimate interpersonal relationship, (3) the members
see their individual identities as importantly attached to
the group, and (4) the group has an identity of its own.”
 The foundation of family shapes the norms of gender/sex, sexual
orientation, race, ethnicity, and class.

4. Family and Gender
 “Families and gender are so intertwined that it is
impossible to understand one without reference to the
other. Families are not merely influenced by gender;
rather, families are organized by gender.” (p. 143)

5. The “Perfect Family” aka Nuclear
Family
 Does not exist, historians are not sure when
this myth triumphed but…
 Consists of heterosexual parents playing the
masculine and feminine roles that society has
placed on them acting as a self-supporting,
independent unit that is legally married.
 Masculine roles = wage earner
 Female roles = homemaker

6. Friendship
 In heterosexual relationships, friendship is seen as a
threat if one is platonic friends with the opposite sex,
although this is mostly relevant in U.S. culture, it is
rapidly changing.
 A friendship does not receive any ceremonial
celebration.

7. Dating
 Gender role scripts is a pattern in dating relationships
when gender and dating are social constructions
enacted through communication. (p. 147)
 Most heavily studied on heterosexual relationships.
 When on a date, women look for personality and men
look for physical attractiveness.
 Men should initiate sexual relations and women should
initiate relationship maintenance

8. U.S. Families on the decline?
 Researches say that the U.S. family is on a decline
since 1990
 Politicians have started this concept by using the term
“family values” referring to a nuclear family.
 Family values in this case refers to heterosexual married
couple with multiple children living under one roof with
conservative Christian principles
 The conservative politicians believe this is true because
of the increasing number of diversity within a family
structure.

9. Parent and Child
Communication
 Parents shape their child's gender identity
 Social learning theory suggests that children
learn by observing and imitating others
 When a child does something that their gender
is expected to do, they are rewarded but if they
do what is not expected they are punished.
 But…if a girl displays masculine qualities she is
usually rewarded or not discouraged but if a boy
displays feminine characteristics he is highly
discouraged.

10. Couple Communication
 In todays society more and more women work outside of
the home and earn a living, this started in the 1950’s.
 This balanced out the distribution of household work and
fathers being involved with their children greatly, but
women still take a majority of the household chores.

11. Same-Sex Parents
 It has been proven that there is no difference
in children who are raised in a homosexual
household versus heterosexual household
 More social acceptance of this type of
marriage is allowing for more and more
families to exist under a homosexual
household
 Children of gay/lesbian parents do not have
trouble with their gender identity anymore than
one would if having straight parents.

12. Raising Transgender/Transsexual
Children
 Some parents struggle very hard to comprehend the
gender identity of their child if different from the “norm”
but love can induce adaptation.
 They struggle with accepting and loving their child and
also protecting them from social rejection.
 When parents are involved with raising a transgender
child, they often learn a lot about themselves, leaving
them more open to diverse gender identities.

13.  Talking about gender and sexuality will not
only help families like us, families with a gay or
gender-variant child, It will free everyone from
having to think in such narrow ways. It will free
us all from fear.” (p. 163)