Do Young Girls Try To Sound Girly ?

[Guest slntcandy]

For young boys, pre-puberty, they try to sound ~manly~ because they have this set image of what ~boys~ should sound like. Is that the same for girls? Do young girls feel the need to ~sound girly~ because they know that is what they are expected to sound like?

[Guest raydub]

thats kind of a tough question..and i dont think i can actually answer it. i didnt WANT to sound like a girl. heck, when i was young i didnt much care what i sounded like. i would have actually preferred to not have to talk at all for any reason.

just MY story.

Ray

[Guest slntcandy]

haha. I see.

I know that children voices are not that much different from one another until they realize their gender roles and begin to imitate the people around them. ( girls trying to sound like their mothers, boys trying to sound like daddy).

For boys, I know they mentally fight to sound like a MAN because its not socially acceptable for them to sound anything feminine. But for girls, I somewhat believe this pressure doesn't exist because I have a hard time imaging a girl with male-like voice trying to make herself sound feminine.

[Guest Rory]

I fail to see what possible reason you could have for asking such a question and understand even less why you chose to post it in the forum you did.

However, there are usually going to be a number people, who will change the way the act / sound, in order to fit a certain stereotype, because they feel it is expected of them, or because they believe people will see them in a different way. But not all boys (pre-pubescent or otherwise) are going to be 'mentally fighting' to sounds like a MAN, and this much is easy to see (or hear =P). How a person sounds is also affected by their personality, to a degree, and if a girl has a 'male-like voice' they are more than likely not going to to be the type of individual who wants to fit into a 'girly' stereotype.

So...Children up until about the age of 11-12...they all sound alike!? While some children may attempt to conform to what would be social stereotypes, this is definitely not the case for the majority. As for try to sound like the respective parents, that's more likely to be the case with much younger children.

Anyway, I just felt the need to address a few points.

Later

[Guest silverpetals]

i'm not sure about *try*, but social gender roles definitely affect childrens' voices, if that's what you're asking. basically, up till puberty girls and boys sound pretty much the same naturally, but as you've noticed most of them don't sound the same though. it's not always a conscious effort--obviously there are kids who really blatantly are trying, and it's kind of funny ^.^--but for most people it's just a slow subconscious shift into speaking like an older member of your gender, i think. i'm not really sure how it works with most transpeople, and i have no idea what my voice was like before puberty so i can't really say...

but, it's not so much that children "try", so much as their minds "try". hope that helped a little.

[Guest Jack Solomon]

Yours is something of a more complex question than it appears at first glance. I actually do believe this pressure exists (to appear more as a female-acting/speaking female, I assume you mean), its just not as readily visible as the pressure for children perceived as male and is less spoken of. Even some ftms, I'm sure, try to make themselves seem/sound like just another female - the pressure to conform (or to blend in with other kids to avoid conflict) is a powerful thing for many people.

My answer would be that while it does seem less typical overall (because in many cases it appears that a more masculine female can better blend into the woodworks at school and particularly in childhood), it certainly may occasionally happen where a female-bodied child tries to actively sound/act more like a girl.

And yes, I have heard of female-bodied children experiencing fear of being found out to be too masculine, or being picked out for being ungirl-like and socially humiliated for it. Or getting insulted by parents for being too masculine to the point where it is abuse. It seems rarer, but it does occur.

Also, for a transsexual I would consider it a different matter than what a girl would do. With a transsexual the behavior would be more complex in it's manifestation, and most likely would not just involve voice and how they sound.

As for regular female children, I have observed many girls trying to sound more girly or exaggerate their idea of female mannerisms so as to 'run with the crowd', so the speak. It can become very much a social habit that is just not very noticable.

Solomon