Isn’t it great when science backs us up? The recent study from researchers at the
University of Miami and Duke University has led to a national conversation
since they found that vocal
fry may undermine the success of young women in the labor market.
The story has
rightly been covered by a host of women’s magazine as well as NPR, TIME and The
Atlantic, which hit the jackpot when it found a video clip of Zooey Deschanel,
the “new girl,” or shall we say, the “fry girl,” showcasing this verbal fashion
trend at its most irritating and ear-bending. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jknxy1zxens&feature=youtu.be
But, what about
boys and men; are they also riddled with verbal tics, up-speak and vocal
fry?
Betheny
Brookshire at Science Magazine reported that previous studies have looked at
vocal fry only in women, but this recent study in the online journal of PLOS
looked at men too and found that “while both men and women suffered from the
use of vocal fry, women suffered more.”
She was able to
point to one male offender, Ira Glass
of “This American Life.”
An unscientific
survey of my friends’ boys has revealed that they also are riddled with the “like
syndrome.” At a recent noisy Bar Mitzvah
celebration, a friend told me that her son drove her crazy saying “like,” “the
entire car ride over.” She was like, ready to strangle him!
GQ Magazine Reporter
Renee Dale’s recent story entitled, “I like, love you?” makes a hilarious case
that men are also part of this sociolinguistic scourge. She examines upspeak – when a would-be
statement ends
instead in a high-rising intonation and lands as a question. She says, “Male
upspeak is the scariest trend since man-leggings: Dudes are starting to sound
like extras from Clueless.” And,
Dale gives an example spoofing our political leaders.
Obama
to Putin: "We need you to, like, stop invading Ukraine?"
Putin
to Obama: "Um, I'd like to see you try and stop me?"
What
about other male verbal crutches? How
about all of the cursing? It’s no
surprise that boys and men interject curses into their speech to make them
sound powerful and cool – but is it F-ing necessary!? Some men I know can’t even get out a sentence
without a few F-bombs carelessly dropped.
According
to Speech-Language Pathologist Marci Macaluso, “Cursing says, ‘I speak your language. We're in the same club dude. It's tribal.”
And,
then there is the mumble factor, or lazy-lip syndrome. Check out this YouTube video
of two young men illustrating why men need to stop mumbling. They claim that
mumbling is a side-affect of social anxiety, especially when it comes to women
and dating. (Are we really that intimidating?).
It
starts early. A friend of mine is a 5th
grade English teacher. Her
explanation? “To lessen their accountability, boys mumble,
talk really fast, or qualify their ideas with, “what I mean is…”
So,
yes, boys and men do it too. They are
also guilty of the "likes," the upspeak, as well as their own verbal crutches
including cursing and mumbling. However,
are they judged as harshly as girls and young women?
According
to Lena Roy, young adult author and director of the Westchester branch of
Writopia Labs, “Although we
are gallantly striving towards breaking away from a patriarchal society, it's
still so much easier to dismiss girls and women because of vocal tics. In the
same breath, I think that lack of confidence is equal opportunity.”
What
do you think? Does a woman’s
success depend more on the sound of her voice than a man's?
