The voices heard

Hi everyone, I was not actually planning to do a post about this topic, but the passing of Ruth Bader Ginsburg inspired me to discuss gender in voice.  Hope this provokes some thought:)

Voices are not just pretty sounds heard in music. They are often used for advocacy as well. While some voices are appreciated by the general public, others are criticized.

Some examples are Hillary Clinton, Jessica Grose, and Greta Thunberg, whose voices were criticized for reasons such as sounding too annoying, too young, and too emotional.

Isn’t it interesting that the reasons given were about how their voices sounded rather than what they were saying? I did try searching for examples of males being criticized for the way their voice sounded, but only found that the criticism feared by males were of their voices sounding “too gay“…

So do criticisms boil down to a voice being feminine? And is this femininity due to environmental reasons or societal expectations?

Some say that this difference in masculine and feminine vocal quality was written in nature when anatomically modern humans developed their vocal tracts after the Neanderthals split from the Denisovan, and pharyngeal cavities differed in size based on gender, thus varying pitches for mate selection. (Females voices generally have a higher pitch than males)

However, others state that vocal qualities were written by gender roles.  Feminine voices associated with care because of women’s roles as caregivers, and masculine voices associated with authority because of men’s roles as breadwinners.

Well they have. People of all genders have tried to make their voices sound more masculine to gain recognition and respect. The technique of making one’s voice sound deeper and huskier by speaking in a tone lower than one’s natural pitch is called vocal fry. However despite their intentions to appear stronger, women who use vocal fry are usually seen in a more negative light (less attractive, less educated, and less capable). Another technique that I am personally “guilty” of is upspeak, the tendency to end sentences with a higher pitch. I read on a Forbes article that “Men who do it may actually be perceived as having gravitas; young women who do it sound clueless.”

Am I really guilty of trying to be heard? Why is it that even though more men use vocal fry and other techniques to sound more masculine, women face more criticism?

Such double standards hurt everyone, our environment, and not just females! If the feminine voice is discredited, fewer women feel like their voices matter and we lose opinions and different perspectives that can help us save the environment. We can see this happen in the 2017 Millennial Impact Report where 65% of male participants believed that they could promote change, but only 41% of female participants felt so.

With only 10 more years till we surpass Earth’s biological capacity past the point of no return, every voice counts in environmental advocacy!

We need to start questioning if social norms truly validate who we are and we believe in. Can we only be heard if we comply, but ignored when we don’t?