In 1990 Deborah Tannen penned the article "Sex, Lies, and Conversation- for the Washington Post. Tannen is currently a professor of linguistics at Georgetown University where she writes academic, as well as popular, articles on communication "or the lack of communication "between the male and female genders. Additional works authored by Tannen include, That's Not What I Meant! How Conversational Style Makes of Breaks Relationships (1986), You Just Don't Understand; Women and Men in Conversation (1990), and I Only Say This Because I love You; How the Way We Talk Can Make or Break Family Relationships throughout Our Lives (2001). Tannen's point of view in this article "Sex, Lies, and Conversation- seams to highlight that, fault falls on no one partner's head; it is up to both to research one another and come to the reality that each one's ways and means of communication are totally different form the other's. Tannen argues that if men and women can understand their differences, they can do more to please and appease their partner.
In her opening paragraph, Tannen tells of women's group meeting in a "suburban Virginia living room "a women's group that had invited men to join them- that she had participated in (Funk 351). What seemed to be the focus of attention at this meeting was one man, (ironically, since it was a women's group meeting) and his frequent comments, interruptions, and participation in the discussion(s). His wife sat timidly quiet beside him. Tannen commented on women's complaints that their partners do not talk to them, and this man that had been the "loud mouth- of the group promptly replied, "She's the talker in our family."" Obviously, this created a ruckus, for he was the one doing all the talking. This only supports the common opinion that men do more of the talking in public places, but most "clam up- at home.
Tannen paraphrases quotes from Sociologist Catherine Kohler Riessman form Riessman's book Divorce Talk, saying "most women interviewed "but only a few of the men "gave lack of communication as the reason for their divorces- (Funk 351).
