In the essay "Sex, Lies and conversation" written by Deborah Tannen examines the differences between two very unlike genders, male and female. The main idea of the article is that men and women are on different levels of communication, and that is the reason why marriages fall apart and then lead to divorce.
Tannen supports these main ideas by stating a few facts about these two genders. Tannen starts the essay off by saying about a few adults both male and female sitting around in a living room talking about a topic. Two of the members of the room are a married couple. The male of the marriage is talking away to the other members of the room, while his wife is sitting there not saying a word. The husband then states, "She's the talker of the family." Everyone in the room has a good laugh. Tannen then states that male are more likely to talk if he is in public, then if he is just at home with his wife. On the other hand his wife is more likely to talk when she is at home, other than when she is in public. This can lead to some very huge problems in the communication department of a marriage. The next area that Tannen examines children when they are growing up. Children seem to tend to play with members of the same gender than ones of the opposite one. They probably find it a lot easier to play with someone that is more like them. Since boys will spend most of their time with other boys they tend to start to act like their friends. They have almost their own language with each other. They can go through many ideas very quickly, like a stream of consciousness. Boys will tend not look at each other also while they are talking. Girls on the other hand, still like to play with girls, but they, when they are talking, tend to stick on the same subject for a while. Plus they also look at each other while they are talking to each other. Men also tend to look away at their wives when they are talking to them.
