Thereare many different kinds of evidence that women and men are judged differently evenif they talk the same way. This tendency makes mischief in discussions ofwomen, men and power. If a linguistic strategy is used by a woman, it is seen aspowerless; if it is used by a man, it is scen as powerful. Often, the labeling of"women's language" as "powerless language" reflects theview of women's'behavior through the lens of men's. Because they arenot struggling to be one-up, women often find themselves framed asone-down. Any situation is ripe for misinterpretation because status and connections aredisplayed by the same moves. This ambiguity accounts for much misinterpretationby experts as well as nonexperts, by which women's ways of talking, utteredin a spirit of rapport are branded powerless. Nowhere is this inherentambiguity clearer than in a brief comment in a newspaper article in which couple, bothpsychologists, were jointly interviewed. The journalist asked them the meaning of"being very polite". The two experts responded simultaneously, giving differentanswers. The man said, "Subservience. "The woman said, "Sensitivity."Bothexperts were right, but each was describing the view of a differentgender. Expertsand nonexperts alike tend to see anything women do as evidence of powerlessness.The same newspaper article quotes another psychologis as sayings "A manmight ask a woman, 'Will you please go to the store?' where a woman might say, 'Gee,I really need a few things from the store, but I'm so tired,"The woman's style iscalled "covert", a term suggesting negative qualities like being "sneaky"and "underhanded". The reasons offered for this is power: The woman doesn't feel shehas a right to ask directly. Granted.women have lower status than men in our [American] society. But this is notnecessarily why they prefer not to make outright demands. The explanation fora woman's indirectness could just as well be her seeking connection. Ifyou get your way as a result of having demanded it, the payoff is satisfying interms of status: You're one-up because others are doing as you told them. But if youget your way because others happened to want the same thing, or because theyoffered freely, the payoff is rapport. You're neither one-up nor one-down buthappily connected to others whose wants are the same as yours. Furthermore, ifdirectness is understood by both parties, then there is nothing covert about it:That a reauest is being made is clear. Calling an indirect communicationcovert reflects the view of someone for whom the direct style seems"natural" and "logical"-a view more common among men.
The association of women's language with'powerlessness'shows ______.
A、men's attitude toward women's behavior
B、men's understanding of a linguistic strategy
C、women's weakness in using language skills
D、women's tendency to avoid men's linguistic strategies
【正确答案】：A
