Dear Grete,

Thanks for sharing your thoughts and experiences in such an interesting and
helpful post.  I'm not sure I can add much to the discussion at this point,
though I am following it with great interest.

But I do want to add a thought on writing.  Personally, I did not find your
writing style to be feminine, though I understand how it may be viewed s
such by Tannen's ideas.  To me, it is an engaging style, written in an
interesting and appropriate voice.  This style allows a person to explore
experience and ideas in a less dogmatic way, more open to questioning and
speculation.  This is valuable when dealing with difficult subjects.

There is a time and a place for other styles of writing, but I hope this
phdlist will become more of a place for exploration and diversity of
experiences and opinions than it perhaps as been in the past.  "We have much
to learn from each other and much to learn about design"-- I like to say
this at the end of my public talks.  Instead of attacking a view expressed
by someone, it is better to ask why the person said what they said--what can
I learn from this, even though I may disagree on first impression.  To me,
this is not feminine.  It is the true stance of inquiry.

It is wise to have a willing suspension of disbelief in these matters, since
we often learn more by listening carefully and even sympathetically.  Of
course, this does not mean that controversy is a bad thing.  Do you know
Dean Barnlund's article, "Communication:  The Context of Change"?  It was
written some time ago, but I ask my students read it because it says a lot
about human interaction--defensive behaviors in communication, the sources
of anxiety, and the value of differences of perspective and controversy as
we try to learn and grow.  I also ask my students to read Carl Rogers'
articles on ³Personal Thoughts on Teaching and Learning,² ³Significant
Learning: In Therapy and in Education,² and ³Dealing with Breakdowns in
Communication‹Interpersonal and Intergroup,² from his book On Becoming a
Person.  Again, a wise expression of the value of approaching communication
with care.

I find Tannen, Barnlund, and Rogers to be very helpful in understanding the
rhetorical dimensions of personal and social interaction.

Well, this post is already too long.  But I wanted to say something
substantive in response to your note.  I hope that this will not be regarded
as only a matter of gender but of good and effective communication--even
though we may talk about gender as an important topic for design.

Regards,

Richard

Richard Buchanan
Carnegie Mellon University




On 11/22/06 4:38 AM, "Grete Refsum" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Dear all,
> 
> 
> Thanks to Christena for clarifying that sex is a biological term, while
> gender is the achieved attribute, and leading us to sociolinguist Deborah
> Tannen.
> 
> Does gender matter in the field of design? The list discussion somehow upset
> me in a way that makes it important for me to share some private and
> professional experiences, as well as thinking a bit aloud.
> 
> 1. Private experience
> Before my daughter was born I was convinced that the difference between the
> sexes was basically due to cultural expectations. After her consequent
> rejections of her brother¹s playthings and clothes from the very beginning
> she had the possibility to object, my convictions have been permanently
> changed. I did make a final trial when she was 5: bought a pink play truck
> that she accepted to please me. Then, to celebrate the gift, she dressed up
> in her finest clothes and shoes, went to the playground in the garden, where
> she sat down and baked sand cakes that she orderly set on the back of the
> lorry, before she carefully rolled it out of the playing area and parked it
> under a tree, which she had defined as an oven. There she unloaded the cakes
> and ended the play with the lorry for ever.
> 
> After parking the lorry, she had her own girlish things without
> interference. Today, 20 years later, she is perceived by her fellow students
> as a tough tomboy that occasionally dresses up to become the queen of the
> ball. My problem as a mother is that although she is a brilliant student,
> she dislikes the university milieu in which she stays; it is too stressful,
> too competitive. No funding, no reward, not the best professors in the world
> in her field (they are there) will make her stay and take her doctorate if
> she does not thrive. Only people that treat her nicely can.
> 
> Deborah Tannen writes in her popular article ³The Feminine Technique: Men
> attack problems. Maybe women understand that there's a better way²:
> 
> Š many men find that their adrenaline gets going when someone challenges
> them, and it sharpens their minds: They think more clearly and get better
> ideas. But those who are not used to this mode of exploring ideas, including
> many women, react differently: They back off, feeling attacked, and they
> don't do their best thinking under those circumstances
> 
> (The Los Angeles Times, March 15, 2005
> http://www.georgetown.edu/faculty/tannend/latimes031505.html [downloaded
> 21.11.06]).
> 
> 
> 2. Personal professional feedback
> I have for 20 years produced artifacts meant for catechetical use and
> embellishment in church rooms. In the beginning my work was recognized as
> form. Surprisingly, I get recurrent positive response from female
> theologians that perceive my abstract Christian iconography as feminine. Why
> do they do that? My personal experience has been that I worked in a very
> masculine way, binding metal thread into transparent webs. When I started to
> build rather big structures in wire (the Cross/crucifix Series 1989-1994),
> my shoulders grew two sizes over five years of workout. The form was
> minimalist in black iron with or without a copper element.
> 
> Through the years this work has been exhibited and used several times and I
> have often introduced it with an artist talk. It was through these talks
> that I myself became aware of my feminine language. Underlying my work on
> the cross and crucifix forms lay my personal experiences, including that of
> physical pain, which for me was giving birth. I realized that I had thought
> of the crucifixion when I gave birth, and of giving birth when I made
> crucifix forms. Reflecting on my work together with an audience the birth
> metaphor became evident!
> 
> 
> 3. Thinking a bit aloud
> My husband happened to be a student member of the Board of Oslo School of
> Architecture in 1969. In his class there were only two women out of 30 and
> this inequality became a topic. Students were elected based on drawings;
> first those sent by post and second the performance during one week in the
> studio of the school. The teacher in drawing was a young artist, he had the
> solution saying: we can simply select 50 % of each sex! He declared that he
> could easily see which sex had made a drawing; if the school wanted 50 %
> women, he would choose them. It was no problem. From 1969 on, the number of
> men and women at OSA has been fairly even.
> 
> We who teach in art and design schools see the sex through the students¹
> contributions. 
> There are exceptions to the rule, but basically we do. Is this due to gender
> or sex?
> 
> Tannen indicates that the pattern of the Western Christian culture is not
> universal:
> 
> Chinese philosophy sees the universe in a precarious balance that must be
> maintained, leading to methods of investigation that focus more on
> integrating ideas and exploring relations among them rather than on opposing
> ideas and fighting over them (op.cit.).
> 
> I suggest we think of gender more in terms of culture than of sex. The
> gender is inculturated at least twofold: as sex brought up the place they
> live and through their education and profession. This means that I may have
> more in common with other designers regardless of gender than women in
> general. When this is said, I may have something in common with other female
> designers that I do not have with men. This has to do with shared
> experiences, of being the ³same tribe². Luckily there are exceptions to the
> rule both ways, and then the personal character adds to complicate the
> picture, some people we communicate and link better with than others.
> 
> 
> Conclusion
> I think there is a sex difference, which is inculturated the place you are
> brought up, which again is molded through your professional life. To ask for
> pointing out differences between the sexes may be one way of proving gender
> cultural codes. Another is to be open minded and taking it as a premise that
> the genders are not alike, we feel, think and act from various experiences,
> perspectives and aims. This does not mean that we should be monocultural, on
> the contrary, because we see things differently, we should ­ I dare say ­
> always work together!
> 
> My way of writing here is according to Tannen¹s text, typically feminine: I
> want to share my experiences with you ­ a positive audience. If I thought
> you were more negative, I would keep silent. I see the same pattern with my
> students, although there are exceptions to the rule, the female students
> speak about themselves and their experiences and feelings in their
> contribution whatever the task may be. Many of them tell me afterwards that
> writing ­ which is my field ­ that they initially feared, was not that bad
> becauseŠ, and then they are unable to say why. But I think it is the non
> competitive atmosphere that I create in my classes that makes them feel
> secure and overcome their shy- and nervousness.
> 
> Most women and many men think best in a caring and generous milieu. Why do
> more men than women write on this list? What kind of forum do women need to
> wish to participate in public discussions?
> 
> Does gender matter in the field of design? My answer is: yes it does.
> 
> Thanks to Chris Rusts¹ including attitude in the post on conferences, may be
> it has a component of gender in it. As researchers we may think about it.
> 
> And thanks again to Christena for good talks in Lisbon, and for sharing her
> knowledge with us.
> 
> 
> 
> Best wishes,
> 
> Grete Refsum
> 
> Dr. & sculptor
> Associate Professor
> Oslo National Academy of the Arts
> 
> <www.refsum.no>
>