Communicating Gender Diversity

The purpose behind Communicating Gender Diversity: A Critical Approach is not to provide any final conclusions about communicating gender. Because gender is a constantly evolving concept, both in terms of individuals' gender identity development and the larger cultureÆs predominant notions of gender, such absolute claims are not possible. Instead, the intent is to better equip readers with tools with which they can examine, and make sense of, the intersections of communication and gender. The text covers the variety of ways in which communication of and about gender and sex enables and constrains people's intersectional identities. The authors believe people are social actors and, as such, create meaning through their symbolic interactions. Thus, the book's emphasis is not on how gender influences communication, but on how communication constitutes gender. They also believe that people are capable of being self-reflective about communication processes, and creative in generating new ways to play with symbols.