Tannen is cultural anthropology 101 for a reason. I've read a few of her books, and she has some really valid points. A big thing that the above article fails to mention, though, is that there are other extenuating factors besides the stereotypical communication styles related to gender. If you look at introversion versus extroversion (which is in fact a chemical difference and not just acquired personality traits), there are additional issues - for example, if you put an extroverted man in a room with an introverted female, the woman is probably going to stop talking first, which in turn is a big reason that it's more socially acceptable for men to be introverts than it is for women.

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