Nonverbal Gender Prescriptions

In Interpersonal Communications, one of our assignments was to violate a nonverbal gender prescription, and write about how we felt while doing this, as well as other people's responses to our behavior. While I was watching TV with my boyfriend, Jarrod, last weekend, he changed the channel to ESPN. I tried to argue that we should watch something that both of us want to watch, but I suddenly got interrupted with the typical, "Not now baby, the game is on". Jarrod did not notice the expression on my face when he said that, as well as the "body throwing" I did during the game that seemed to be so thrilling. At that moment, I had the perfect idea of what to do for this assignment. I was going to watch ESPN and become completely immersed with that channel.

Starting the morning off before I went to school, I turned on ESPN. I got to see highlight clips of the games that have happened in the past week. My roommate, Brooke, came downstairs to try and ask me where her jersey was for our game that night. Knowing I had to start my twenty-four hour experience, I purposefully ignored Brooke, making her very irritated with me. I wanted to tell her why I was ignoring her, but instead, I decided to wait until the experience was over. I felt that I would get better responses and results if I didn't tell her. When Brooke got irritated with me, I noticed that her cheery attitude soon became a quiet mood. She began rolling her eyes a lot, and stomping around the house. Seeing how something like that changed a mood in a split second showed me that communication is more than just words. Nonverbal actions are very important in all forms of relationships. Whether you are in the check out line at the grocery store communicating with the grocer, or coaching a sports team, nonverbal messages sometimes say more than words.

After school on Wednesday, we came home for a quick lunch before we had to go to practice. Again, I turned on the TV to channel 34, ESPN. As Brooke heard the sounds of a roaring crowd, cheerleaders, commentators, and loud whistles coming from the living room, she asked if we could watch something we both wanted to watch other than sports. On any normal day, I would've have been polite and figured out what we both agreed upon. However, for this the assignment to be successful, I had to keep up the twenty-four hour "gender change". Instead of asking her what she wanted to watch, at first I ignored her, and when she asked me again, I replied, "I'm sorry, did you say something?" By this time, Brooke was getting very upset with me, and I could tell in her facial expressions as well as her lack of verbal communication with me the rest of the lunch break, or practice. Being ignored by anyone is not a pleasant feeling, and especially with someone you are close with. My boyfriend for example is a sports fanatic. Trying to have a conversation with him when ESPN or any other sports program is on is nearly impossible. I know how Brooke was feeling when I was ignoring her and blowing her off through past experience. The nonverbal messages that I perceived from Brooke were that she was upset and offended with me. Hey body language and facial expressions towards me were not normal for our daily lives together, making it apparent that my gender prescription had been filled.

Before our game later that day, a few teammates came over