Communications in marriage is imperative. This is a logical conclusion, drawing as it does from the practical experience of trying to co-exist with anyone, let alone a marriage partner. Communications between marriage partners is encouraged in both "pop" cultural terms and serious studies, as evidenced by a random sampling of titles taken from the bibliography used in this essay: "Communication in Marriage," "Blocking Free Communication," "Communication: Key to Creative Closeness".
Asserting that communication is necessary in the marriage relationship, however, carries with it the implication that there are barriers to communication - and that there must be some conscious effort made to overcome those barriers in order for the marriage partners to communicate freely and effectively. One of the major barriers recognized with as much widespread truism as the "communications" imperative is the issue of gender differences. It will be the purpose of this essay to identify some of the aspects of the gender difference issue, then discuss them in terms of communication and, where applicable, the marriage relationship in general.
Most men and women seem unable to entertain the idea that the two sexes' differing perspectives on many issues can be equally valid.
In attempting to understand the role gender differences play in the marriage relationship, we are forced to explore kindred studies of the family. This is relatively virgin territory, for as counselor-social scientist John Bradshaw pointed out in his popular PBS documentary series Bradshaw On The Family, the concept of understanding families as systems is only 35-years-old, still in its revolutionary research stages:
Ronald (R. D.) Laing, the great existentialist psychotherapist, has suggested that the theory of family systems is in as much dramatic contrast to past theories as the work of Sigmund Freud was to the practice of imprisoning disturbed people in asylums. . ....