Do women really talk like 12-year-old girls?

Actress Lake Bell insists there is vocal 'pandemic' of adults talking in 'baby' voices

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By Daily Mail Reporter

From Valley Girls to the Kardashians, young women are often mocked for the way they talk.

And Lake Bell, best known for her role in the 2009 movie, It's Complicated, believes that young women everywhere have caught chronic 'sexy baby vocal virus'.

'It's like a speech pattern that includes uptalking and fry, so it's this amalgamation of really unsavory sounds that many young women have adopted. It's a pandemic, in my opinion,' the 34-year-old told NPR.

The actress, who wrote, directed and stars in the upcoming film, In A World, says she is worried that women are hurting their careers by talking like 'little girls'.

'I grew up thinking a female voice and sound should sound sophisticated and sexy, a la Lauren Bacall or Anne Bancroft or Faye Dunaway, you know.

'Not a 12-year-old little girl that is submissive to the male species.

'I can't have people around me that speak that way,' she admitted.

Whether it is uptalk (pronouncing statements as if they were questions), or the incessant use of 'like' as a conversation filler, vocal trends associated with young women are often seen as markers of immaturity or stupidity.

But some believe women also change their voices, often subconsciously, to sound less threatening or domineering.

'I hear women do it on the street when they are talking to a man they want to quickly placate,' wrote Huffington Post blogger Kate Fridkis.

'I heard one of my college roommates use it every night on the phone with her boyfriend. Girls and women slip into it so naturally, and then out of again, on a daily basis.'

Carmen Fought, a professor of linguistics at Pitzer College in Claremont, California, told the New York Times: 'If women do something like uptalk or vocal fry, it’s immediately interpreted as insecure, emotional or even stupid.

'The truth is this: Young women take linguistic features and use them as power tools for building relationships.'

Miss Bell, in In A World, plays Carol, a woman who wants be the voice behind movie trailers - and must overcome the fact that they are mostly male.

'I was always interested in the idea that the omniscient voice was always considered male,' Miss Bell told NPR.

'This sound that's telling you what to buy, what to think, how to feel about what bank to have, or what kind of car, or what movie to see -- so I thought it would be an interesting protagonist to have a female vocal coach who would sort of aspire to take on this world.'

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I have a soft voice personally, but you would never catch me talking babyish. Not even intimately, lol.

Do men LIKE that??

 

I'm not a fan of baby-talk. I think it's creepy and incredibly unattractive.

 

When girls talk like that, my only reaction would be...

 

I'm on the fence with this one

 

Never heard a female do this...seems very annoying and I just dont get the point...

 

I don't like false images and this is another one. I also think it is patronizing.

 

I've heard many women do this and it drives me insane. I haven't heard so much of the baby talk thing as I have women changing the sound of their voice, to sound meek/timid...never understood why a woman would want to give off this impression though Maybe it's attractive to some men, but it's annoying as hell to listen to on my end!

 

to not scare the men away!

 

I've never altered my voice when speaking with a man, and I don't seem to scare them away! I honestly think women dumb themselves down by playing unnecessary games like this. It irks me.

 

And you've been a grown man for how long again? lol

 

Good God love...you act like people can't have an opinion if they haven't walked in someone's shoes. Tam's right...a grown man should not be intimidated by a woman using her regular voice. Women altering the pitch/tone of their voice when dealing with men is absurd and dishonest IMO. Be yourself...period.

 

First off who are you to say how a grown man should be? It may have nothing to do with intimidation just what they like. Just like some men like thin women tall women, big women etc there are guys who like that baby voice shit. If a man likes something and a woman is willing to comply good for them. No one is saying you have to do it are they?

 

Why not just let people live their lives grandma Clampet :smt091
If two adults are ok with that dynamic then let them be. There's no deceit going on. Its like women who like grown ass men who speak in hood venacular, I don't like it but then again I don't have to.
Btw I appreciate your restraint :freehug:

 

This is my opinion of why I think women do it. This does not mean that men are actually scared away from tones of voices.

 

Talk with a deep voice like berry white and see how many men you get. lol

Tones of voices due count but often times women are not in the "my voice is so low that I sound like a man" section.

 

This shit is such a non issue though. No one is being taken advantage of or made to do something they don't want. Like I shouldn't have to be chivalrous to placate some woman's idea of old world traditions of manners especially in a time when we are suppose to be equals. However I do understand a lot of women like it and have no problem doing it.
Now kiss me and tell me I'm the king cause I just owned that ass baby :freehug: