Muted group theory

History In 1968, Edwin Ardener pointed out a phenomenon where anthropologists had difficulties reproducing models of the society from women's perspectives, if they (the models) do not conform to those generated by men. In 1971, Shirley Ardener cited instances from feminism movements to articulate how women as a muted group used body symbolism to justify their actions and arguments in her article "Sexual Insult and Female Militancy". In 1975, Shirley Ardener reprinted Edwin's paper "The Interpretation of Ritual,1972" and included her sexual insult text in the book "Perceiving Women", for which she wrote an intro. The technical problem is that although half of the population is female, ethnographers have neglected them in social anthropological studies. Ardener added that women were reportedly more difficult to access and interview, especially due to factors including "they giggle when young, snort when old, reject the question and the like." Ardener argued that men produce and control symbolic production in society. The technicality interlinks with the analytical aspect of the problem of women through the question: "[…] if the models of society made by most ethnographers tend to be models derived from the male portion of that society, how does the symbolic weight of the other mass of persons express itself?" They limited their research especially in the gender culture, whereas the Ardeners were applying MGT across different cultures. Inspired from Kramarae's pieces, scholars Anita Taylor and M.J. Hardman observed that the dominant language appears to dismiss concepts and values that are significant to women but not to men. Women and men that are of the same social rank are usually addressed by asymmetrical usages of first and last name (women are usually called by first name while men are by the last name); or associations of certain words with women are formed to maintain the social stereotype (sewing, cooking, house chores, etc.). In modern society, communication in virtual communities have contributed to the formation of relationships. "Before a woman can write exactly as she wishes to write, she has many difficulties to face. To begin with, there is a technical difficulty- so simple, apparently, in reality, so baffling,- that the very form of the sentence does not fit her. It is a sentence made by men," said Virginia Woolf. Key concepts Mutedness Mutedness occurs when individuals of a subordinate group struggle to fairly enunciate their thought processes, without the external pressure to assimilate to the dominant group's established language. Consequently, the loss of autonomy could lead to feeling overlooked, muffled, and invisible. Muted group The muted group or subordinated group is relative to the dominant group. The premise of MGT is that members of the marginalized group(s) would mute themselves without coercion, which is based on the fact that the silencing of muted group(s) is a socially shared phenomenon. According to Gerdrin, muting or silencing is a social phenomenon based on the tacit understanding that within a society there are dominant and non-dominant groups. Thus, the muting process presupposes a collective understanding of who is in power and who is not. The discrepancies in power result in the "oppressor" and "the oppressed." Kramarae points out that the muted group as "the oppressed" are people who don't have a "public recognized vocabulary" to express their experience. Their failure to articulate their ideas lead to their doubt about "the validity of their experience" and "the legitimacy of their feelings." Kramarae also addresses that gender, race, and class hierarchies, are factors where muted groups are supported by "political, educational, religious, legal, and media systems." Muted groups' lack of power usually keeps them at the margin of society. == The "muting" process ==

Muting methods Several scholars have researched and studied how the "muting" process occurs. According to West and Turner (2019), there are four methods that can cause muting: ridicule, ritual, control and harassment. Ridicule Houston and Kramarae postulate that ridicule has muted women, such as trivializing their opinions, ideas, concerns and censoring women's voices. Ritual Kramarae reasoned that women's voices can be censored by social rituals in institutions that embrace women's subservience. A typical example is wedding ceremony. Men's tactical method to interrupt particularly women during a conversation is a frequently used controlling form. Harassment In many public spaces, harassment can occur on the street, workplace, classrooms and even in digital contexts. It usually would be naturalized by men, and women's experiences and concerns about harassment would be ignored or despised in the context. Other than verbal communications mentioned above, nonverbal cues are also situated in the “muting” process such as demeanor, distribution of space, touch, eye contact, and visibility. Strategies of resistance According to Houston & Kramarae (1991) and Ezster Hargittai & Aaron Shaw (2015), the implementation of the following strategies can mitigate experiences in the "muting" process: • Name the silencing factors, whether it has been men or news agencies. == Kramarae's three assumptions ==

According to Cheris Kramarae, MGT makes three assumptions : Assumption #1 The different experiences caused by the division of labor result in the different perceptions that women and men hold towards the world Kramarae believes that women integrating men's language into their everyday lives is a disadvantage because women and men are vastly different and perceive the world differently. Kramarae also explains that men's control over language has produced an abundance of derogatory words for women and their speech patterns. In historical retrospect, prominent authors, theorists, politicians, news anchors and scientists have long dominated the market. Their prominence permits them to hand down the "facts" about society that women should know to be true. If masculinity, and their socially constructed language, are considered as unmarked forms, then any marked form must be analyzed through a translation process to actively communicate with others. == Applications ==

Contexts Marginalized groups in a given culture or society experience the muting process in social contexts including but not limited to: Mass media According to Kramarae, women have been prevented from having stage presence on mass media, misrepresented in history and locked out of the editorial publishing business until 1970. The predominance of male gatekeepers, who are defined as editors and other arbiters of a culture, determine which books, essays, poetry, plays, film scripts, etc. will appear in the mass media. In "The Status of Women in the U.S. Media 2014", The Women's Media Centre researchers explore the current status of women in the mass media industry. The report compiles 27,000 pieces of content among "20 of the most widely circulated, read, and viewed, and listened TV networks, newspapers, news wires, and online news in the United States." Although the Women's Media Centre study is U.S.-centric, marginalized groups are muted in other country's media landscapes as well. For example, Aparna Hebbani and Charise-Rose Wills explored how Muslim women have been muted in the Australian mass media sphere. Their study showed that women that wear a hijab or burqa are inaccurately and negatively connoted in Australian mass media. As Catharine MacKinnon (one of the leading voices in the feminist legal movement) suggests, the law perceives women similarly as men perceive women. Likewise to socially constructed language, the legal system has been created, defined, and interpreted mostly by men. Finley argues that there has been a recent interest in feminist jurisprudence and legal scholarship inspired by the law's failure to see that despite the legal removal of barriers, sexes are not socially equal. The workplace In 1940s America, women flooded the workplace while men were at war. Men's email language is characterized by opinions, facts, assertiveness. In contrast, women's email language consists of revealing personal information, references to emotion and using many adjectives. In a male-dominated workplace, women are perceived to be "the verbal minority". Organizations rarely encourage sexual harassment to be discussed openly and call for confidentiality when dealing with complaints. Subordinate groups are trusted less than white men in the workplace. Some researchers suggest to take an action-research approach to attain organizational gender equity by addressing "entrenched systems of power". They believe that "collaboration as both a principle and as a strategy is central in bringing about generative and organizational change." Action research involves researchers engaging as active participants in the study, continuously refining key variables and constantly implementing and evaluating new data. ''' Prentice studied the impact of the third party, i.e., candidates from non-major parties, in public debate. Stereotypical opinions like women as default caretakers of domestic business impose disadvantages on women, as they are thought to be incapable of being consistent with their work for family reasons. Branching more diverse language systems in academia can prevent the continual muting of marginalized groups. In the classroom, men and women use language to communicate in distinct mannerisms with other members of their gender. Women tend to bond with each other through the descriptive process of their problems, while men bond with each other using "playful insults" and "put downs." In classroom discussions, men tend to believe that they have to dominate the class discussion while women are typically muted in their seats. Houston argues that to properly create a positive educational reform for students, it can be helpful to update the curriculum and emphasize the importance of "woman-centered communication" education. Rape myths, men's athletics, and fraternity culture actively mute female students from speaking out, and eventually affects college administrators and students. Theology In the 1970s, feminists rejected all religions. This pertinent issue has been addressed in many well-known feminist texts, such as Kate Millett's Sexual Politics and Andrea Dworkin's Right-Wing Women, the second-wave feminism considered religion as an anti-women force founded by men to subordinate women. According to Sheila Jeffreys, "religion founds men's authority over women and makes resistance difficult, because fear of divine punishment keeps women in their place." == Other muted elements ==

According to MGT, marginalized groups' voices are muted because the individuals' factors do not synchronize with the standards set by dominant groups. These elements include but are not limited to: Language According to Kissack, male-dominated language has reigned avenues of communication. In corporate organizations, women are expected to use "female preferential" to mingle with their female peers. Muted group theory has "recognized that women's voices are muted in Western society so that their experiences are not fully represented in language and has argued that women's experiences merit linguistic recognition." Long argues that although socially constructed diction shapes society, she argues that women can bravely take up physical and political space to air their ideas. Sexuality LGBT groups are considered marginalized and muted in our society. The dominant groups who "hold privileged positions within society" have developed social norms that marginalize LGBT groups. Although LGBT individuals do not necessarily share the same identity, they share similar experiences of being marginalized by the dominant groups. LGBT individuals who have a mixed racial background are also cast under muted group theory. For instance, a writing and rhetoric student at Florida International University, a public Hispanic-serving institution said, "I'm half Latin and half Caucasian. I look more Caucasian than Latin. That in itself allows me certain rights and to be heard much louder than my Latino brethren. When people find out I'm gay when I'm trying to have my voice heard about anything related to politics or human rights, I am muted a bit." LGBT groups must adopt certain communication strategies to match the social norms to guarantee assimilation within the dominant culture. Race Gloria Ladson-Billings believes that "stories provide the necessary context for understanding, feeling, and interpreting" the voices of people of color who are muted within the dominant culture. Critical race theorists try to bring the marginalized group's viewpoint to the forefront through an encouragement of "naming one's own reality." In traditional pedagogical practices in the United States' educational institutions, critical race theorists argue that the official school curriculum is designed to maintain a "White supremacist master script." The muted group theory displays how others interpret marginalized groups and can silence Hispanic immigrants. The voices from other non-dominant groups are tampered, mastered and can only be heard through reshaping and translation to meet the dominant standard. Therefore, Lasdon-Billing argues that the curriculum should be race-neutral or colorblind, present people of color, and "presume a homogenized 'we' in a celebration of diversity." In "Muted lives: Older battered women", Carol Seaver discusses how sexist and ageist factors mute older women. According to Seaver and Ballard-Reisch's works, stereotypes can mute aging populations, such as the idea that the elderly are resistant to change. Brown claims that the silencing is a "rhetorical move" that excludes the elderly from queer theory and queerness from the field gerontology. The growing "anti-aging industry" sells the luxurious elderly woman as a model for womanhood. In turn, this strategic practice mutes older women who attempt to speak out about the money-grabbing tactic. By this logic, he says that those with intellectual disabilities are muted. Calvez's study examines the experiences of those with intellectual disabilities, with special attention to the fact these groups are often marginalized and silenced. Woodcock and Hitches state that increased stigmatization toward disadvantaged students' academic performances can be stereotyped as a result of their health condition rather than "an outcome of multiple marginalized identities". Many disabled groups are silenced by the dominant abled group that knowingly or unknowingly exclude them. The means of muting, ridicule, ritual, control, and harassment can all apply to disabled groups. Ableist language, such as use of the pejorative term "retard," can be used to ridicule disabled groups. However, disabled groups and abled allies can raise awareness about pejoratives' harm in their communities. == Extension ==

Although the muted group theory has been mainly developed as a feminist theory, it can also be applied to other silenced groups in society. Mark Orbe's perspective Mark Orbe, a communication theorist, has suggested that in the U.S. the dominant group consists of white, heterosexual, middle-class, males. Thus, groups that distinguish themselves from the dominant one in terms of race, age, gender, sexual orientation, and economic status can potentially be silenced or muted. A muted group theory framework exists within any society that includes asymmetrical power relationships. Kramarae's research on women and Orbe's work on African American men utilize this framework to dissect the communicative experiences of non dominant, or co-cultural, group members. Co-cultural communication Orbe regards "interactions among underrepresented and dominant group members" as co-cultural communication. Radhika Chopra's perspective Most researchers would consider men as the dominant group in MGT. However, scholars like Radhika Chopra asserted that men can also be part of a muted group when considering the nurturing fathers issue. Chopra pointed out that some discourse of mothering devalued father's presence as "an absence, in contrast with the hands-on vital involvement of the mother". In Chopra's "Invisible Men: Masculinity, Sexuality, and Male Domestic Labor", he discusses his concept of "gendering the veil" where Sirisha Indukuri male domestic workers must be perceived as a system that frames bodily styles, speech forms and the nonverbal language of gestures. He argues that men who are in the domestic labor system should not be muted based on their worksite."Employers congratulate themselves on servants who have successfully learned their place and only then extend to them the 'right' to be part of the family’s ritual calendar, though a worker's participation is initiated by the employer, not the worker. The move toward being part of the family depends on learning the rules of exclusion, permission, and prohibition." == Critiques ==

Edwin Ardener perceived that muted group theory had pragmatic and analytical potentials. Ardener constantly stated that muted group theory consisted of both women and men's lived experiences in his social anthropological studies. Deborah Tannen, the theorist that created Genderlect Theory, criticizes feminist scholars like Kramarae for assuming that men are trying to control women. Tannen acknowledges that differences in male and female communication styles sometimes lead to imbalances of power. She added that "bad feelings and imputation of bad motives or bad character can come about when there was no intention to dominate or to wield power". Both theorists believe muting is involved, but they see it from different standpoints. Carol Gilligan presented another reason concerning why women and men perceive "reality" differently. She posited that, instead of men presumably being the dominant sources of languages and voices, it is because women and men have different means of formulating their sense of "self". According to Gilligan, women's moral domain is more care-based, which means women perceive the reality based on the relations with others, whereas men forge their identity through separation, focusing on self-assessment and individual achievement. ==See also==