Since our entrance into the world of technology, the role of males and females in technology (most notably their voices) have always been a subject for debate. In our politically correct world, the debate has escalated with the introduction of Siri, the IPhone 4S's voice. It has sparked among people on the internet on if Siri is a symbolism of sexism within Apple. This blog will explore the role of gender and technology.
One common question among people is "why are female voices used for technology and not males?" The common response is that people just prefer the female voice to the male voice. Another reason why you hear female voices more because of the HAL 9000 from "2001: A Space Odyssey:"
One common question among people is "why are female voices used for technology and not males?" The common response is that people just prefer the female voice to the male voice. Another reason why you hear female voices more because of the HAL 9000 from "2001: A Space Odyssey:"
Image from: http://i1.ytimg.com/vi/HwBmPiOmEGQ/hqdefault.jpg
Now that's ****ing scary. I can see why a lot of corporations don't use male voices for products like GPSs or cell phones.
The question is: are female voiced products sexist? According to the CNN article about Social Subjectivity, it's not. The article says that people connect male voices to authority figures and people have to deal with authority figures at work everyday. They don't want to hear them in their car or on their phones.
Do I think that female voices being used over male voices is sexist? No. I think it offsets the male dominated world we still live in to this day. I'm not saying this is a "rights" thing or women are not authority figures. However, it does give women something over men at this point and that's communication. Women are good at communication and its good for a company's product.
No comments:
Post a Comment