Naomi Wolf misses the point about 'vocal fry'. It's just an excuse not to listen to women

[niyad]

Naomi Wolf misses the point about 'vocal fry'. It's just an excuse not to listen to women

Let’s face it – it’s not women’s voices that are annoying, it’s the fact they’re speaking. Stop telling women how to speak and just listen to them.

‘When Naomi Wolf urges women to change their vocal patterns to regain their strength, she merely addressed a symptom.’ Photograph: viewpress Vp / Demotix/viewpress Vp/Demotix/Corbis



The first time I ever even noticed vocal fry was when someone was complaining about vocal fry. It was in an episode of the radio show This American Life. Apparently, listeners had been calling in to complain about about some of the younger female presenters’ speaking voices. Apparently, they were making a croaky sound when speaking. I had never even noticed it.

But since I heard about it, I’ve been paying attention, and I have observed as many young men doing it as young women. There is ample evidence that shows men do it too. But you’d never know that from all the moralising and hypothesising about young women and vocal fry.


Vocal fry is not a problem. It is merely another excuse to dismiss, ignore and marginalise women’s voices, both literally and figuratively. And it’s just the latest in a long history of finding excuses not to listen to what women, especially young women, say. The rejection of women’s literal voices is not a new phenomenon. Before vocal fry, there were complaints about overuse of the word “like”. Before that, there was upspeak. Even the mere sound of women’s voices is used as an excuse to dismiss women.

. . . .

All of this brings to mind Claudine Herrmann’s The Tongue Snatchers, which suggests that language itself is constructed in a way that marginalises women. It describes the two options usually available to women: to either be silent or to adopt the dominant language of men. But even when we adopt and adapt, there are always excuses not to listen, representing the no win situation women are faced with. When they speak with assertiveness, they’re bossy or aggressive, even “bitchy”. Vocal fry is merely the most recent excuse not to listen to women.

. . . .

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jul/28/naomi-wolf-misses-the-point-about-vocal-fry-its-just-an-excuse-not-to-listen-to-women

[Igel]

1. Vocal fry is like uptalk.

It's an affectation and it has a certain social stigma in some circles and a certain prestige in others. Like uptalk, it's not necessary and like uptalk it spread from a fairly well defined center. It often connotes group affiliation.

It pays to note that language isn't just a linguistic phenomenon, it's also a social one. Lots of DUers assume a Southern and certainly an Appalachian accent is a sign of poor education; "nukyular" is a byword for Bush II's stupidity (we'll leave aside that Carter often lapsed into that pronunciation--it's just colloquial Southern). Some first-dialect traits hang in there. I still have traces of Northern Cities vowel shift in my speech and probably will until I die. When I lived in the Southland and picked up uptalk and tried it out with friends and family from other parts of the country; it was amusing, to be honest, seeing how clear cut the judgments were even when people didn't know why they formed the judgments. Social judgments over group affiliations tend to be immediate and unconscious.

Nonetheless, when you boast your group affiliation you're going to be judged by the group you choose to affiliate yourself with. You go to the prom wearing a burqa when you're not usually seen wearing one, it sends a message. Disclaiming responsibility for the message is disingenuous. Or naive. It comes from belonging to human communities.

Under certain circumstances, you really have no control over creak and fry. If you relax your vocal folds enough because of low pulmonic pressure or because you're trying for too low a pitch, for instance. Some languages make use of creak extensively (and we sometimes substitute creak for glottal stops).

[niyad]

2. I had never heard of it before a mention on du some time back, nor have I ever heard anyone

speaking in that fashion.

[AnnieBW]

4. There's a woman that I work with that does this

She has a very high-pitched voice anyway, and she uptalks ALL OF THE TIME. It's very annoying, and (IMHO) makes her sound like either a child or a people-pleaser. I never really realized how grating that can be until she started to work with us. I don't want to say anything to her, but her tone is really getting on my nerves.

I hate to rag on this woman, because I'm sure that she's very smart and capable. But a lot of times, women aren't coached on how to speak professionally. Maybe her tone changes when she's more comfortable around her co-workers.

[backscatter712]

12. I really can't stand uptalking?

It makes every sentence sound like a question? And uptalking makes you sound like a bubblehead?

[PSPS]

3. I wonder if Erin Riley sees a sexist jesus in her morning toast.

[El Supremo]

5. Horseshit!

They have ruined the language. Watch these videos:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1181145

[dem in texas]

6. It's like chalk screeching on a blackboard

I noticed it, always in women, but did not know it was called "vocal fry" until I read an article about it. There is a local woman radio announcer who is the worst. I have never heard a man talk this way, but I am going to pay close attention and see if I do.

After I read about it and I understood that this was the weird way women were talking, I tried to talk that way too. It is easy to do, but that was my one and only effort, I will never, ever do that again.


I have been a woman boss and been called bossy and a bitch when I asserted by authority. So what. I never had anyone say it to my face. If they did, they'd got a lot more from me than "vocal fry".

[teenagebambam]

7. I'm a voice teacher

Vocal fry is very damaging to long term vocal health and is epidemic in both sexes, at least on college campuses.

[vanlassie]

8. I have been bothered a lot by young people who drop

The "T" sound from words.
Instead of: Mar-tin, they say: Mar-EN.
I think it is a result of hip hop chanting. I don't know. But it sounds terrible.

[ram2008]

11. It's not a conspiracy to keep women down; it's annoying

And men do it as well. Very common here in NY.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

13. It's basically Valley Girl talk

And it's been mocked for almost 40 years, but has had a reverse psychological effect on younger people who think it's cool. Kim Kardashian is a perfect example of it.

I love how Aubrey Plaza and June Diane Raphael mock it though......