Baby doll voice in a grown woman is so disturbing I tend to categorize these women as of questionably sanity. It sends a signal of something being not quite right about a person. Maybe I'm prejudiced because it creeps me out, I wonder if they did a study comparing baby voiced women to normal women.
I replied:
It's sad, but simultaneously off-putting.
It had never really occurred to me before I wrote that reply yesterday, but when you really think about it, what exactly is a woman trying to accomplish with that voice? (I'm not talking about women with naturally squeaky little voices, only those with whom it's an affectation.) If she thinks that by sounding like a little girl she's going to be more attractive to you, what she's implying is that, at heart, you're a child molester.
And women who speak in an effusively syrupy-sweet voice, which often overlaps with baby doll/sex kitten voice, are almost guaranteed to be the opposite.
Whenever I hear that voice, I just assume there's a viper lurking inside.
Update, three days later: I realized, after being given several examples of women who speak that way, that I was overstating the case; they're not all vipers. I should have said, when you hear a voice like that, it's anybody's guess as to who's behind it.
Update, three days later: I realized, after being given several examples of women who speak that way, that I was overstating the case; they're not all vipers. I should have said, when you hear a voice like that, it's anybody's guess as to who's behind it.
Posts
17 comments:
I don't know what you mean. Can you link me to any videos or clips of this 'baby doll' voice? I've tried to search by myself, but I can't find it.
- Gethin
Gethin --
Here's a clip of Marilyn Monroe on Youtube, she comes on at around 4:30 of the video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L05TYBXwU3A
And here's Melanie Griffith, starting at around 45 seconds of this clip:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fyxle2XfAwM
I really wanted to contribute to this intriguing discussion intelligently, but I feel I can only do that if I have practical experience of the subject at hand... and when it comes down to it, personally I have not ever known a woman who did that, so... I can't in all honesty extrapolate...
As a sort of semi-tangential contribution, then, I will say, based on personal experience, that women can affect a younger-sounding voice out of a fear of growing old and sounding like old hags. Which, as we know, gives a woman an EXPIRED label on the dating market. For a woman like Jackie Kennedy, I am sure that was the ultimate defeat.
Ambivalent Misanthrope --
When Gethin asked me for an example of a woman who affected that sex kitten/baby talk voice, and I gave him Marilyn Monroe and Melanie Griffith, I realized I had exaggerated when I said there's a viper inside. There's not, necessarily. It's just that of the grown women I've known who've affected that sugar pie voice, they presented completely false faces, and could turn on you in an instant. One was, I think, a borderline personality, though I didn't know her well enough to say.
You make a good point about older women wanting to appear younger. The thing about Jackie, though, was she never had to worry about that since she was Jackie Kennedy. The public -- and the media -- never grew tired of her, and remained fascinated with her right up until her death in 1994, at age 63.
I think this is kind of similar to what they are recently calling the "Indie girl voice" In some female singers. When I heard this song by K. Flay it made me think of that baby doll voice.
https://youtu.be/zfwFGQM4D1E
Smallberries Worldwide --
Yes, that's it, though for the first 45 seconds she sounds sort of tough, then goes into more of the little girl thing after that; and she also seems to have sort of an ethnic affectation (white girl trying to sound sort of black), although I suppose that's common with rap artists.
When I was talking of women who use this voice, though, I wasn't referring to women who put it on for the recording of a song, or temporarily as a sort of joke, but of women who use it most of the time, as their persona.
Gringott12 --
Birdie mentioned in a comment on the previous post on baby doll voices that a number of commenters had speculated that this kind of voice is caused by some emotional trauma early on, which fits with your story. And as I said in the post, I usually hear faint echoes of abandonment issues as well. It's as if the emotional development (and voice development) stop when the parent leaves.
Georgia Engel who played Georgette on the Marry Tyler Moore Show. Her character was Ted Baxter's girlfriend, then wife. She has the baby doll voice.
- birdie
Birdie --
Yes, she did. But was that just for the role, or did she speak that way in real life, too?
That's her actual voice. I watched some YouTube interviews with her. She comes across as a genuinely nice lady. I am wondering whether for whatever reason, some women just end up having girlish sounding voices. Maybe, the vocal chords fail to mature. Who knows.
- birdie
Birdie --
Thank you. When I started writing that post, I was thinking more in terms of sex kitten voices, somehow it morphed into little girl voices. I think I'll put an update on the post, say I overstated my case.
I give credit where it's due. This name was listed on the Data Lounge website. When I looked the actress up, I was like, oh yes, I remember her. Her character, Georgette, had kind of a sex kittenish type voice.
- birdie
You can add Kathy Ireland to the list. Someone mentioned her on some forum. I watched an interview with Arsenio Hall on YouTube. She sounds like a girl. Kathy was very pretty in the early 90's.
- birdie
Birdie --
I remember her, big SI model. Went on to become a successful businesswoman, as I recall. I always thought she was overrated, looks-wise.
Kathy Ireland had a paper route when she was 11 years old. My twin sister, best friend, and I had paper routes at around the same age in a suburb of Cleveland, OH. Today, I get nervous thinking about that job, getting up around 5:30 a.m., walking to the street corner where the papers were piled high, then delivered them solo. Today, it would be unsafe. Angels must have been around us.
- birdie
Birdie --
I never had one, but I knew a bunch of kids who had them when I was young. I agree, much less safe today. Back then they were delivered by kids on bicycles, these days by men in cars.
We delivered the papers on foot, in a middle class to upper middle class neighborhood. I had a gay couple on my route - they had a house overlooking Lake Erie. That was my first time seeing a couple living together who obviously gay. We had these routes just for the fun of it. You saw raccoons at that time of the morning.
- birdie
Post a Comment