Real life applications and examples of this can be extracted from the data collected while observing group interactions. By way of example, the scene is set at Michelangelo 's Italian restaurant in Noblesville, …show more content…
In this case, it was gender roles that were in question. Candace West and Don Zimmerman explain common gender roles among heterosexual couples in ‘Doing Gender’ by saying, “Even though size, strength, and age tend to be normally distributed among females and males (with considerable overlap between them), selective pairing ensures couples in which boys and men are visibly bigger, stronger, and older (if not "wiser") than the girls and women with whom they are paired.” When analysing this, it is clear that it is extremely common and therefore expected that the male should be the more dominant, strong figure in the relationship. However, these specific findings contradict said evidence; the female in this situation is obviously the dominant figure in the relationship. There were several times that she clearly asserted her dominance over her male companion. For instance, she was usually the one communicating with the waitress when they needed things such as refills, etc; the male rarely spoke except when ordering. She also managed to assert her dominance when they received their food by not only ordering a new salad for her companion when his was gone, but by taking his silverware and eating off of his plate on several different occasions. She is also physically larger than her husband, therefore contradicting almost every part of the gender role she was given as a