Jennifer Tilly could also be added to this group (but surprisingly - with her, it doesn’t bother me).
VCNJ~
What a coincidence. Meghan Daum wrote a column about this phenomenon in Saturday’s LA Times. From the article, here’s good news:
So please, lower your pitch. We’ll all thank you.
I’m one of those who is instantly put off by the little-girl voice and vocal style. What kind of man would find this attractive? A closet pedophile? In my experience, it’s always manipulative. I’m not talking about women who have naturally high-pitched voices, but rather those who affect the vocal mannerisms of little girls. It really, really pisses me off.
There’s a woman in my law firm who does it constantly. As a result, I (and any number of people) simply refuse to interact with her any more than is absolutely necessary. She’s a pretty junior lawyer. She’s probably about 28 years old. I’ve seen her do it with the head of her department, and I know he doesn’t like it. Word in the firm is that she’s definitely not on the partner track, largely because those she works with think she’s pulling this shit to get out of work, or to get away with substandard work.
She adds to the repulsiveness of this habit by affecting little-girl hairstyles. Pigtails on each side of her head, or this ringlet thing she does sometimes. It’s awful. But it’s probably worked for her for years. Too bad she can’t see that it’s going to be her downfall now.
I saw her introduce a few movies on TCM. She seems to have had some coaching, and her voice is a lot more normal-sounding
You know, as God is my witness, I can’t think of a single woman I’ve ever known who did this. I’m sure I’m forgetting someone, but none come to mind.
Is it really THAT common? Is it maybe a regional thing?
Re: Jennifer Tilly
Although I think Jennifer Tilly is an able actress, it’s hard for me to get past the voice. It drives me crazy. And not in a good way.
Perhaps that’s why I’ve always thought her sister Meg is infinitely more attractive.
While I find the voice irritating as hell, is it any more my business that what odious perfume a woman wears or how strangely she dresses?
I have an ex who would always get a crush on any actress with that kind of voice. Even if she wasn’t pretty. I take this as evidence that I do not have much of a baby routine since he always made it clear that it wasn’t one of my qualities. I also have a friend who’s gay but claimed to have a big crush on Megan Mullally just because her voice drove him inexplicably wild with desire.
I really don’t point fingers because I get crushes on men with very deep voices. Last year I had a crush on a guy with a deep voice and we got together and as soon as we started to get close, he started to use a baby voice with me all the time. I lost my feelings for him since his voice was the main thing I found sexy about him. I have had more than one man in my life who’s enjoyed using the baby voice around me. Mama don’t like! It seems like the guys who do that also enjoy trying to provoke me into getting mad at them. The really weird thing is that I’ve had 4 major relationships in my life and 3 were with outwardly manly men and they all employed the baby voice and the one that didn’t was that guy I mentioned above who got crushes on actresses like Joey Lauren Adams. He was outwardly kind of passive and nerdy but he did not ever try to put me into the mommy role. So I really do not know what the story is with all that. My best friend is the most rugged and hairy outdoorsy guy you can think of but he often leaves me voicemails where he sounds exactly four years old complete with lisp and when I confront him about it he just basically giggles at me. I’ve never seen him act that way with anyone else. So I really don’t get it.
My girlfriend uses that voice in two situations: When she wants me to do something for her, and when she is telling a lie. If she uses that voice in a declarative sentence, it communicates “this statement is false” every bit as transparently as a rising inflection communicates “this is an interrogative.”
She is an infrequent liar, and so it always sticks out like a sore thumb. This frustrates the hell out of her, because she has never been able to sneak one past me. She attributes this to some sort of supernatural inuition on my part.
I’ve told her repeatedly how obvious it is when she lies, but never exactly why. I am still amazed that she can’t figure out what gives her away. (She’s not a stupid woman.)
It makes me wonder how clueless her former boyfriends must have been, though - since she seems to find my “intuition” a novel thing. Maybe she only has this quirk in English.
It isn’t any more your business than those other things - in fact it’s pretty much the same idea, at least to me, as odious perfume or bizarre dress: it can be actively annoying, and can cause me to think less of the woman in question.
It wasn’t worth getting used to, to learn to suck on some helium ?
My mother closes her eyes when she lies. She lies a lot and it is kinda odd to be talking to someone who just closes their eyes for the whole duration of a sentence. Her voice is normal though. (No, I’ve never told my mom either. I figure the family knows, she doesn’t need to)
“Thank you for calling Initech, how may I direct your call? JUST a moment!”
If she only talks that way to her cousin, it may be that that’s the language they have developed over the years. Like the way twins have their own shorthand.
It’s not an affectation I have* but I do have different voices depending on who I am talking to.
If she doesn’t do it in general, no biggie.
*Although my voice is thin and I sometimes worry that I sound childish.
language they have developed over the years? He met her last summer.
I’m an idiot. Somehow I read it as your sister and cousin. Sorry. :o
A lot of people I know who affect that baby-girl voice do a lot of voice-type work, much of it on the phone. They do it because they don’t like the sound of their voice as it’s carried by the phone or recording device, and they overcompensate by raising the pitch. Which is a shame because that’ll really cause damage to the vocal cords.
Robin
Heh. I compensate by talking really low and it comes out sounding only slightly less high and thin. :smack:
My wife accuses Lisa Loeb of having a baby-girl voice, but I don’t hear it. Sure, it’s a bit high pitched, but she doesn’t sound like, say, Jewel.
Me, I’m a dude with a naturally deep voice. I’m not trying to sound like a wrestler or something. When I worked in customer service I had to speak in a higher register and/or really loudly to be heard; my normal voice would get drowned out by line noise if it was bad enough. It definitely trashed my throat, and is one of several reasons why I don’t do that crap anymore. I still sometimes have a tendency to speak higher when I’m stressed, but I try to avoid that.
I actually met her when she was promoting Chasing Amy on the college circuit with one of those free preview shows. She said that her dream was to be a country singer, but that, “Obviously, with this voice that didn’t work out. I can’t do anything about it, this is the way I talk.” She regretted that the scene in the movie where she was singing was about the closest she would ever come to being a professional singer.
There are some indications that the link between high voices in women and mate selection is at least partially hard-wired and probably even a functional measure of attractiveness. Same is true of male voices, so it’s not a one-way street.
I find affected high voices to be annoying. It’s quite common here, as is baby talk. Hamasaki Ayumi, for example, has the vocal mannerisms of a five year old. Blech! Naturally high voices can be annoying, but they can also be a turn-on for me in the right situation. If there’s any indication it’s a con job, though, I’ve noticed that that kills part of the attraction effect. A girl with a naturally high voice who tries to go for a more throaty, husky voice, on the other hand <growl> I want to drag home and ravish animal-style.