I am incredibly conscious of the way that I speak.
I teach dance at a local studio to four year olds. I know that when I am with my students my voice gets extra loud and peppy to try and keep their attention -- and when a friend comes to pick me up from work and hears me teaching, I am self-conscious that they had to hear my "teacher voice". When I lead meetings for College Democrats, I try to speak calmly and at a lower volume so that my cohorts take me seriously -- and I am constantly stressed, hoping that I am doing a good job. When I meet with local political leaders, who are predominately male, I get worried that my voice is too high-pitched and as such, they won't care what I have to say. This is just a small sampling but I am sure you all can also think of times in your own life where you have changed how you speak to fit the situation.
I promise I have a point to these anecdotes! It relates to the article I found this week relating to gender and speech called "From Upspeak to Vocal Fry: Are We 'Policing' Young Women's Voices?" by NPR.
In the article, it focuses on a female journalist who, after venturing into the world of podcasts, was criticized for the way that she sounded. In particular, listeners disliked her "upspeak" tendencies. The complaints got so bad that she eventually went to a voice coach in order to change the way she spoke in an attempt to placate the audience.
This opened up broader concerns about how women's voices are particularly targeted by those who dislike "upspeak" and vocal fry -- while ignoring the fact that men also use the same sounds. The linguist interviewed for the article, Penny Eckert, was angered by the fact that people try to hypocritically police women's voices. She wrote that she was particularly angry because, "the biggest users of vocal fry traditionally have been men, and it still is; men in the U.K., for instance. And it's considered kind of a sign of hyper-masculinity." Therefore, is it surprising that in a male-dominated society women have attempted to use their speech patterns to be taken seriously? It is a disheartening reality that women have to try and speak in ways to please others instead of being able to speak how they wish.
The final point from the article that really stuck with me was in the conclusion. Our journalist from the beginning of this tale decided to stop going to a voice coach. She explained that "I have started thinking of voice almost as the way I think about outfits. If I'm going for a job interview I'm going to wear a different outfit than when I'm out with my friends...now I do think of it a little bit more as these two separate things, whereas before I had zero awareness of it. And I don't know if that's necessarily a bad thing. I think it's just about wanting to change for yourself instead of feeling like you're being forced to change by external forces." Her way to deal with the negativity surrounding her voice was not to change it in all situations but instead to use different voices depending on the situation.
This opens up a whole can of worms that I wanted to ask you all about. What do you think of the idea of changing your voice to fit situations? Do you think that it is useful? Bad?
Furthermore, what do you think of the idea that society polices women's voices? Why does this happen? Do you think there is a way to change this in the future?
If you haven't, I highly recommend taking a look at the article as well.
I do the same thing. I have a cashier voice and a secretary voice. My cashier voice is higher pitched than my regular voice. I use it to sound aloof to rude customers. When I have had enough of rude customers my voice lowers. My secretary voice is even higher pitched especially on the phone. I cannot help it. I have tried. Often times old men hand the phone off to their wives because they cannot understand me. I feel partially judged, but if they cannot hear me then its not entirely their fault. Its a think that many women do, I have not noticed the men I work with doing it but now I will be watching. I wonder if they have phone voices or if that is a more feminine characteristic. Women are definitely judged by our voices, and maybe if we weren't judged so much we would not change them so much.
ReplyDeleteI totally relate to the phone voice problem! I am also a tad anxious about talking on the phone in general so I think my phone voice just represents my anxiety.
DeleteI have noticed my guy friends using different voices when they are on the phone -- usually it seems like they lower their voices when talking on it. It certainly does not help that phone communication distorts sound quality so much that hearing people on the phone is difficult in general!
I know I have asked my brother before about why he lowers his voice when he is on the phone but he was not even aware that he was doing it.
Like Morganne, when I worked in retail I definitely had a kind of cashier voice that sounded more enthusiastic than I was feeling. I also know that I speak differently in a sports setting than everywhere else. I change how demanding and aggressive-sounding I am, not to sound meaner, but to fit the setting of the physical training that is taking place (and how hard it is to do). I also speak differently to the young kids I babysit - obviously in the words I use, but also in my tone of voice. Anyway, all that to say it makes sense that humans speak in different tones and voices to each other depending on the context (it's helpful for social survival).
ReplyDeleteAdditionally, why do people think certain tones like "uptalk" are immature-sounding or annoying? Is it because we associate them with other things or is it the tones themselves?
Oh my goodness, the retail voice is so relatable. I used to be a barista at Starbucks and I would sound so enthusiastic about coffee (despite the fact that I do not drink it). After shifts, I think a lot of my exhaustion would just come from the false enthusiasm.
DeleteI would guess that society thinks that "uptalk" is annoying more for what it is associated with than the tone itself.
At least the article I based my post on made it seem like until women start adopting a speech pattern it is not maligned or super noticed. After women use it, then it gets critiqued by the masses. The problem is less the tone that who is using it.
First off, great job on writing this post, it was extremely interesting and well put together. As far as the idea of changing your voice to fit different situations, I think that happens with everybody, although to a much further extent with women. A man will change his voice slightly for a job interview, whereas a woman will do the same thing but also have to worry about whether the voice she chose is sufficient, something men almost never have to do. This plays into the idea that society controls women's voices, which I think is the main problem here. Many people (and by people I mean exclusively men...) refuse to believe that male dominated society controls the way a woman speaks. Meanwhile, I had conversations with the SAME EXACT people about the 2016 election, in which they stated Hillary Clintons voice as the main reason they despised her. They didn't care about her ideas, in fact I'm almost positive they hadn't heard what her ideas were, the voice was enough for them to hate her. Now, was the voice actually the problem, I think not. I think there's a lot of men out there who simply hate women getting positions of power in any situation, so when a woman walks into a job interview or a situation where she's speaking in front of people, many men already hate them, resulting in a search for ANYTHING to point to as a "legitimate" reason they dislike them as apposed to stating the truth, "I don't like that she's a woman in a position of power".
ReplyDeleteThank you, I really enjoyed writing it! I was excited to find an article that fit our gender discussions so aptly.
DeleteI agree that overwhelmingly it feels as if our male-dominated society refuses to acknowledge the effect it has over policing women's voices. You raise a really interesting point about the 2016 election -- there was a lot of sexism surrounding the campaign of Clinton. I had not heard that a reason some people did not like her was because of her voice, although I can't say I am surprised. I agree with you that I doubt her voice was actually the problem. Since we know that women's voices are majorly critiqued by society, women striving for positions of power in society are particularly targeted due to them trying to enter a realm that is male-dominated. They have to face impossible standards of how to speak and present themselves -- quite the uphill battle.
I think that it would be an interesting study to look at the convergence of opinions about women in positions of power and their voices.
I have found myself doing the same thing. During high school, I worked at an Italian restaurant. I worked as a hostess and my job was to greet people and seat them to their table. I would raise my voice to a higher pitch to sound “friendly”. Do I think that it was bad? No, I simply was trying to create a warm environment and wanted the customers to feel welcome. You may sound more sophisticated, but I think it is appropriate depending on the situation. Later on, I also worked at a children’s daycare. I found myself consonantly using a “baby” voice to stoop to their level. I think it just happens naturally, like motherese. I agree that women may alter their voice to the way society may want to hear it. Especially, if women are not taken as seriously because of the way they speak or represent themselves. I do think it is inevitable. People are always going to be shifting their voice to fit into situations. And society may be a factor.
ReplyDeleteThe idea of having different "voices" is definitely not confined to one gender. I know that I have several different voices depending on certain situations. I work at the writing center, so I definitely have a "writing center voice" which is staunchly different than that of my professional or casual voice. I think it's just human nature to have different "voices." Part of this, I think, is based on how we want to perceive us, like you brought up in your post. Our tone is indicative of how we wish to be perceived.
ReplyDeletevery interesting article! I absolutely agree.It reminded me of a time when I worked as a cashier in the subway.Many times customers complain about a problem with their cards.When i tried to solve the situation very politely they didn't seem to care and they continued in a very agressive attitude. One day, one of my male co-workers talked to him in very different terms and the customer seemed scared with his tone of voice and he calmed down. I told him I was impressed, and and i noticed that costumers tended to me more compliant when they talked to a man.I think they were afraid of their tone.they showed more respect for men than women, just because their pitch is lower!
ReplyDeleteI think that changing voices to fit situations is not only useful, but necessary. Different situations call for different kinds of voices--you wouldn't talk at a funeral the way you would at a football game! The problem, though, occurs when changing voices becomes having people think they should talk a different way to "better fit" one's personality. That is what I do not agree with, as it is toxic, and disrespectful. I think the policing occurs simply because women typically have a higher-pitched, easily distinguishable voice when compared to male's.
ReplyDeleteI agree that changing voices to fit a situation can be useful, as I discussed in my initial post.
DeleteI do think that it becomes problematic like you said when people try to change their voice to "better fit" their personality. In the article, I was sad when I was first reading it because the female journalist was trying to change how she always spoke just because people decided that they did not like how she sounded. At the end of the article when she decided to stop going to a voice coach I was relieved. I do not think people need to fundamentally change their speech patterns to fit society -- which is different than modifying tone for situations like when you're at work.
This article brought me to rethink about my own voice and how it changes based on where I am at, who I am with, or what I am doing. I started to think about my own social structures and how I do change my voice to be a more “even tone” in order to be at an “equal playing field”. I think it becomes a tool/technique that can help a person progress in their life without backlash of not conforming to societal standards of what authority is or looks like. On the other hand, it could be a negative copping mechanism that becomes a way to oppress those who do not fit into the societal norms. I believe society polices women’s voices by restricting their professional opportunities based off the sound of their voice. I noticed that this has happened to female professors I’ve had by the students, that almost seems as if it is carried out absentmindedly, and it’s almost like it has been conditioned into the young peoples mind in order to control the way a woman is to present herself when in a position of teaching higher education. This could be changed by having more representation within higher positions within the workforce/ educational field. The change would happen slow and could push for more acceptance of ones identity, or their voice, not be in equal importance b with their capability to fulfill a position within the higher educational system.
ReplyDeleteThis was a very fine and perceptive post, Kaylar. I like the way you proceed from personal experience to the literature we've read--which you expanded on your own initiative. Your questions elicited some terrific commentary, too!
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