http://www.maryrobinettekowal.com/journal/cross-gender-voices/ The daily journal of a puppeteer and SF writer. Wed, 28 Jul 2010 23:49:39 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 http://www.maryrobinettekowal.com/journal/cross-gender-voices/comment-page-1/#comment-12380 Mary Robinette Kowal Tue, 31 Jul 2007 00:17:45 +0000 http://www.maryrobinettekowal.com/journal/cross-gender-voices/#comment-12380 I rather suspect that you have not spent time around true Southern belles. I rather suspect that you have not spent time around true Southern belles.

]]> http://www.maryrobinettekowal.com/journal/cross-gender-voices/comment-page-1/#comment-12367 David Loftus Mon, 30 Jul 2007 18:04:47 +0000 http://www.maryrobinettekowal.com/journal/cross-gender-voices/#comment-12367 Heh. Many many years ago, when I was doing volunteer reading for the Massachusetts Association for the Blind's recording studio, I accepted the assignment to record John Jakes's massive Civil War novel _North and South_. Since this involved a considerable time and materials commitment for the studio, they had a blind woman "vet" the recording as I went along. She seemed largely approving of my work (although at that time I did not know the proper pronunciation of LeHigh, Pennsylvania). Anyway, she did complain about some of my women's voices, saying they sounded too high and artificial, though "later they got better." I felt she had not noticed the early voices were mostly Southern belles, whom I thought of as "female impersonators," while the later, "better" voices tended to be Northern heroines, to whom I assigned relatively lower, stronger alto voices. Has anyone noticed how artificially high and squeaky many Japanese girls' voices are, especially when men are around? Why anyone would find this sexy is beyond me. Heh. Many many years ago, when I was doing volunteer reading for the Massachusetts Association for the Blind’s recording studio, I accepted the assignment to record John Jakes’s massive Civil War novel _North and South_. Since this involved a considerable time and materials commitment for the studio, they had a blind woman “vet” the recording as I went along. She seemed largely approving of my work (although at that time I did not know the proper pronunciation of LeHigh, Pennsylvania). Anyway, she did complain about some of my women’s voices, saying they sounded too high and artificial, though “later they got better.” I felt she had not noticed the early voices were mostly Southern belles, whom I thought of as “female impersonators,” while the later, “better” voices tended to be Northern heroines, to whom I assigned relatively lower, stronger alto voices. Has anyone noticed how artificially high and squeaky many Japanese girls’ voices are, especially when men are around? Why anyone would find this sexy is beyond me.

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