Sophie - Presenting female: I'm Doing It Wrong...
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February 2020
 

Date: 2009-09-21 19:27
Security: Public
Mood:sad sad
Tags:my voice
Subject: Presenting female: I'm Doing It Wrong...

...but I wish I knew how. :(

For some time now I've been getting "sir"red wherever I go, even on the phone. I was at McDonald's today getting a meal, but my burger had to be made to order (I like my burgers plain, without cheese). When the burger was ready, one of the staff carried it through, and said to me "Here's your burger, sir."

It's been said to me that I should correct people when they do that, and I try to keep it in mind. But after thanking her, she turned away to clean a table too quickly and I didn't get the chance to say anything. Maybe I should have said "...madam." quickly before thanking her?

In any case, I was doing okay up to that point, but that made me feel depressed again and reminded me why I'm not going out very much. The trouble is, neither of my housemates are able to help me with this, and what I really need is someone who I trust to be able to tell me what's wrong with my looks, or my voice. People have done this, but I need reminding.

I think the main problem is my voice - so I've recorded an example of my voice and uploaded it. If you could, could you listen to it and tell me how it is, honestly?

I'd give you video too, but the only things I have that can do video right now are my mobile phone camera and my webcam, neither of which is particularly good. I'll get my regular camera back at some point from my parents' house and see what I can do.

Stacy pointed me to a spectrogram program that I haven't yet used but that I'm going to start using, which should help.

Thanks for reading. <3

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User: [personal profile] chasy
Date: 2009-09-22 16:51 (UTC)
Subject: (no subject)

feminist rant? i don't understand...

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Cesy
User: [personal profile] cesy
Date: 2009-09-22 17:12 (UTC)
Subject: (no subject)

It indicates uncertainty, and the need to phrase things softly so people don't get annoyed and hurt you. People with more privilege tend to do it less often, because they're less likely to feel a need to defend themselves pre-emptively. It's a habit I learnt in school - teachers will get offended if a child points out their mistakes, but will accept it if a child asks a question that makes their mistake obvious, and it still achieves the result of the mistake getting corrected.

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User: [personal profile] chasy
Date: 2009-09-22 17:21 (UTC)
Subject: (no subject)

oh how INTERESTING!! i didn't know that! wow.

see, cos i think i do the high-pitched thing at the end of sentences because i get excited. moreso than doing it to earn an affirmative.

it never even occurred to me that there could be a psychological reason for voice pitch! i love it! a whole new world has been opened up to me!

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