The study investigated how two distinct perspectives apply to the role of gender in parents' memorials on The Compassionate Friends (TCF) electronic bulletin board; cyberspace as merely a mirror of societal gendered patterns of bereavement, and cyberspace as a medium or context in which societal gendered patterns of bereavement are neutralized. Data were evaluated to determine to what extent gender differences exist concerning instrumental versus intuitive styles of bereavement. Analytic categories used in assessing gender differences in parental bereavement style included the following: invoking spirituality, directing messages to the deceased, artistic expressions, and special powers accorded to the deceased. With some exceptions, the findings supported the perspective emphasizing the gender neutralizing aspects of cyberspace parental bereavement for the population studied.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
BabbieE. (1986). The practice of social research. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
2.
BantzC. (1993). Cultural diversity and group cross-cultural team research. Journal of Applied Communication Research, 21, 1–20.
3.
BaxterL., & BullisC. (1986). Turning points in developing romantic relationships. Human Communication Research, 12, 469–493.
4.
CorrC.NabeC., & CorrD. (2000). Death and dying, life and living (3rd ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning.
5.
BlandoJ.Graves-FerrickK. & GoeckeJ. (2004). Relationship differences in AIDS memorials. Omega: Journal of Death and Dying, 49, 27–42.
6.
de VriesB., & RutherfordJ. (2004). Memorializing loved ones on the worldwide web. Omega: Journal of Death and Dying, 49, 5–26.
7.
DonnellyW. J. (1986). The confetti generation: How the new communications technology is fragmenting America. New York: Henry Holt.
GoldenT. R. (1997). Swallowed by a snake: The gift of the masculine side of healing. Kesington, MD: Golden Healing Publishing.
10.
HofstedeG. (1980). Culture's consequences: Comparing values, behavior, institutions, and organizations across nations. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
11.
HastingsS.HooverJ., & MusambiraG. (2005). “In my heart for eternity”: Normalizing messages to the deceased. Storytelling, Self, Society, 1, 11–25.
12.
KlassD. (1988). Parental grief: Solace and resolution. New York: Springer.
13.
KrugerD., & NesseR. (2004). Sexual selection and the male: Female mortality ratio. [Electronic Version]. Evolutionary Psychology, 2, 66–85.
14.
MartinT., & DokaK. (2000). Men don't cry … women do. Philadelphia, PA: Brunner/Mazel.
15.
MossM. (2004). Grief on the Web. Omega: Journal of Death and Dying, 49, 77–81.
16.
NagerE., & de VriesB. (2004). Memorializing on the world wide web: Patterns of grief and attachment in adult daughters of deceased mothers. Omega: Journal of Death and Dying, 49, 43–56.
TarakeshwarN.HansenN.KochmanA., and SikkemaK. J. (2005). Gender, ethnicity and spiritual coping among bereaved HIV-positive individuals. Mental Health, Religion, & Culture, 8, 109–125.
24.
TollerP. W. (2005). Negotiation of dialectical contradictions by parents who have experienced the death of a child. Journal of Applied Communication Research, 33, 46–66.
25.
WitmerD., & KatzmanS. L. (1998). Smile when you say that: Graphic accents as gender markers in computer-mediated communication. In SudweeksF.McLaughlinM., & RafaeliS. (Eds.), Network and netplay: Virtual groups on the Internet (pp. 3–12). Menlo Park, CA: AAI Press.
26.
ZinnerE. (2000). Being a man about it: The marginalization of men in grief. Illness, Crisis, & Loss, 8, 181–188.
