At one point in our childhood we have all heard the phrase “if you don’t have something nice to say about someone don’t say it.” Well that’s what happens when someone gossips, at least the majority of the time. Gossip is generally associated with women throughout history. Although the word gossip is not gender specific your mind automatically puts it together with the word women. It is quite stereotypical, but is it true? The word gossip derives from godsib which was given to the godmother of a child at birth in the early times. Over time it was modified, and at one point in history it meant “a woman’s good friend.” In the 1500’s is where the modern word that we now know came from, and it meant “idle chatter and rumor.” The meaning of the word gossip is now the following “casual or unconstrained conversation or reports about other people, typically involving details that are not confirmed as being true.” The definition does not ever mention women or is gender associated so why do we associate it with females?
We tend to associate it with women because it is a psychological fact and is something that our mind automatically does without a reason. Maybe it is because we heard an adult mentioning it, or it's just a stereotypical part of society. If you ever ask a man if he gossips the fast and immediate response is “No!” That’s because they don’t generally realize that they do. When men gossip the story mainly involves themselves, yet what they don’t realize is that for stories to be interesting you have to talk not only about you, but about other people. So men generally will also speak about other people without realizing so. A study directed by the Social Issues Research Center (SIRC) found that men gossip as much as women do if not more, and their gossip is mainly through their cell phone which is even more ironic. The gossip topics vary, yet they are very similar. Women tend to gossip about appearance, likes and dislikes while men tend to gossip about achievements.
Personally I sometimes gossip without even realizing it, but the majority of the time it's just normal conversations with my friends. I mean our school is very small so rumors fly around very fast, so it's very common that in our daily life we hear a rumor about someone. Then pass it on to friends without even realizing it.
Do you tend to gossip without noticing it?
Was it surprising to find that men gossip as much as women?
Replies
As always, great topic choice and super job!
I feel like sometimes I do tend to gossip without noticing and then when/if I do notice I stop right away because I don't like it when people talk about me so I try not to do it to other people. I don't think it was surprising that men gossip as much as women. I think their way of gossip is just different honestly. I don't think men are as petty as women when it comes to gossip. I think women gossip about the smallest things and I feel like when men gossip they find something big and juicy to gossip about.
I think that most people are gossiping more than they think than when they think that they are having just having a normal everyday convesation. I think that if anything that they probaly both gossip more or women might gossip more than the men seem to do.
Yes for sure do the fact that we almost always do it without realizing so leads me to understand why men and women do it equally.
I think that everybody gossips withoit noticing it, especially in small towns people all know each other, so I might tend to do so unconsciously. I kind of knew that men gossip as much as women, it's just a stereotype that girls tend to do it more than boys and so everybody think it's like that.
Yes! Its always si surprising to me that in a small town everyone knows each other. Like I could ask one of my friends who is the stranger crossing the streets and she could tell their whole life story without missing a beat.
Sometimes I do gossip without noticing so. I don't do it often, since I like to leave people alone and have their own lives, but if I hear it from someone else, I don't tell anyone else about those rumors. It's no suprise to find men gossiping just as women. It's something everyone does without realizing. Women are more associated to it from their personalities and the way some act.
Yes! It is very important to not gossip bad about people cause we don't knwo if what we are saying could affect them and make them feel bad about themselves. We sometimes have to understand that people have their own lives and the last thing they want to hear is someone talking bad about them.
I don't think I do very much but I'm sure that I do from time to time but I usually try not to. it's not too surprising the find out that men gossip as much as women do because they do it's just part of human nature is to talk about each other and that means sometimes it's behind their back.
Yes same, I usually try to avoid doing so, but it can become a very difficult task. The more I thought about men gossiping the more I realized that they do it, but the way that they do it usually leads us to believe its not gossip.
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