Voice tone and language are not the only forms of behavior that people use to influence others. In the article Sexy Baby Voice and Other Pitches, I discussed examples of how women in Western countries adapt their language.

The German media entrepreneur and human rights advocate Inge Bell described how she too only recognized her own socialization into such a voice and language when she began working as a radio reporter and learned voice training and professional speaking:

Girls and women unconsciously learn: I can get away with it better if I raise my voice. A high pitched voice stands for “well-behaved”, “harmless”, “innocent”, “girlish”, “harmless”.

It wasn’t until I started working as a journalist – initially as a radio reporter at Bayerischer Rundfunk in the 1990s – that I learned voice training and how to speak professionally. Since then, I’ve mostly spoken in my indifferent register, my natural, deeper voice – it doesn’t always work, because unfortunately the “old” socialization still kicks in from time to time.

Pitches in Japan

But it is not only in the western world that vocal pitches are adapted. High vocal pitches are even more pronounced in countries with large gender differences. In Japan, for example, where these differences are particularly pronounced, women speak differently and change their pitch depending on whether they are speaking to men and women and to men of different ranks. The difference to the voice pitch of Dutch women is striking.

Anime has also had an influence on Asian women, whose voices have become higher again since around 2000. Japanese music journalist and voice researcher Hiroko Yamazaki investigated this phenomenon and looked for the cause.

However, a survey of voices on the street showed that they became higher again from around 2000. As a social phenomenon, anime culture has evolved from subculture to mainstream, voice actors have become more popular, and high-pitched, girlish voices are increasingly being used in areas other than anime.

It was also around this time that these voices began to be consistently among the ‘favorite voices’. In the past, it would have been strange for an adult woman to have a so-called ‘anime voice’, but as such voices became more common and ubiquitous in the media, including television, it was thought that young women in particular were subconsciously inspired to speak in high-pitched voices.

sājiāo in China and South Korea

A female tactic from Asia that makes men feel more masculine is called sājiāo 撒娇. It is difficult to find an English term for this, but it can be described as “acting cute” or “behaving childishly”. Adult women (and occasionally men) stop in the street or on the sidewalk, cross their arms, stomp their feet and refuse to use their brains until the demand is met.

What looks bizarre to people in the West is considered part of the feminine character in China. In fact, it is expected, because if a woman does not perform a sājiāo from time to time, she might not be considered feminine enough by her peers. An appropriate sājiāo is meant to make the performing woman appear cute, adorable or worthy of protection, as children are usually allowed to do, and not to deliberately humiliate the recipient.

From a linguistic point of view, sā (撒) literally means “to express” or “to throw out and let go”, and jiāo (娇) means “lovely”, “charming”, “tender” or “pampering”.

I know sājiāo from my own experience. My Chinese girlfriend would occasionally change her voice to a higher pitch, pout and stand there defiantly when she wanted something. In some cases, this could even lead to outright tantrums, as happens with small children. Or she would act particularly cute, make big eyes and snuggle up. My South Korean girlfriend also occasionally increased her cuteness factor with big eyes and a high-pitched voice as soon as she wanted to get her own way. A quote from my Chinese ex-girlfriend probably describes it best:

I am bad, but in a cute way!

Asian (and admittedly also Western) men find this sexy. They are expected to spoil their wife, and sājiāo gives them the chance to fulfill her desire and show off their masculinity without much thought.

For example, a video shows a couple in a jewelry store and they seem to disagree about some pieces of jewelry. She goes full sājiāo, starts to blubber, pulls him by his pants and drops to the floor. While the discussion between the two continues and he seems to give in, she gets up again and shows him the piece of jewelry she wants, which he then has the sales clerk wrap up.

The surprising thing for Western eyes: no one bats an eyelid, it seems to be an absolutely normal procedure for everyone when buying jewelry.

In South Korea, the term gwiyomi 귀요미 or gwiyeomi 귀여미 is used, which comes from 귀엽다 “to be sweet” (etymologically “to be valuable” 貴엽다), which is roughly equivalent to the Japanese kawaii かわいい and the Chinese sājiāo 撒娇.

These tactics are rather unknown in the West, which is why I was initially puzzled by them. I never really knew how to deal with these situations and had the feeling that my Chinese and South Korean friends at the time were behaving more ironically. Although – wait a minute! – I always gave in and she got her way.

Conclusion

Hiroko Yamazaki is critical of this development and believes it is not conducive to achieving social equality between men and women:

The voices of children, both humans and animals, are high-pitched. This is because their bodies are small and their vocal cords and vocal tracts are short. In other words, a high-pitched voice indicates that the organism is still young and immature. In some anime, the voices of female characters are immature, indicating weakness and childhood, while only their bodies are portrayed as sexually mature. Of course, not all anime productions are like this, but if this is the kind of image of women that is being aimed for, then I think we should be aware of our portrayal of women.