• Whats_your_reasoning@lemmy.world
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    23 hours ago

    Not an accent, but my girlfriend absolutely raises the pitch of her voice on phone calls and when meeting strangers.

    I get it, I’ve noticed my own pitch changing based on circumstances. I (also a woman) raise my pitch with strangers too. It’s like a subconscious “please be kind to me” sort of thing. Yet with my family, which is mostly men/boys, my voice goes lower. I don’t think about it at the time, it just happens.

    • shalafi@lemmy.world
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      11 hours ago

      I automatically adjust my accent, intensity and vocabulary according to who I’m talking to. Not a thing I think about, but I started doing it when I was in tech support and customer service 20-30 years ago. Same kinda defensive thing, “Hey! I’m just like you and I’m on your side!”

      Never thought about women pitching their voices higher. I’ve experienced that, makes all the sense in the world!

      • bluesheep@sh.itjust.works
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        10 hours ago

        I used to have weekly band practice in a more rural part of our country, one I grew up in but don’t live anymore. Every week when I got home from practice it took me a day to lose my old accent again lol

      • Whats_your_reasoning@lemmy.world
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        21 hours ago

        Haha, I do think the “raising pitch around strangers” thing is a sort of protective behavior. Like a cuteness reflex of sorts, trying to show that I mean no harm and hope none will come to me. That’s what I figure, at least. I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of women subconsciously do the same thing.

        Around family, I’m not sure. It’s possible it’s a throwback to being a kid and being told my voice was “whiny.” Or it could be a side-effect of the deeper voices around me being louder, so I talk that way to make my voice clearer in the mess. I wish I knew, but that’s what I reason it probably is.

        (I know you were probably joking, but autistic brains gonna autist.)