Marie Tessier, New York Times – The Upshot – October 27, 2016
Women’s voices are often missing and discounted in public affairs, even when they have seats at the tables of power. They speak less, make fewer motions and are more often subject to negative interruptions. Similar patterns prevail online.
Victoria Lambert, The Telegraph – October 9, 2016
The Democrat candidate’s vocals have emerged as a turn-off among voters and commentators. Her voice has been accused of many crimes: it is too shrill, too deep, too artificial, too enunciated. She is too Southern, not regional enough, falsely hokum when it suits. The voice is too loud, too irritating and – somewhat inevitably – too female.
Alexis Sobel Fitts, Washingtonian – September 25, 2016
The balloons hadn’t even begun to drop after Hillary Clinton’s speech at the Democratic National Convention this summer when pundits started scoring the way she sounded. There was Brit Hume of Fox News complaining about Clinton’s “not-so-attractive voice” and saying, “She tends to accelerate her delivery and speak louder and sterner.” There was New York Times columnist David Brooks demanding more “humanity” from the country’s first female presidential nominee: “She projects one emotional tone throughout, and it has a combative manner to it, and not a happy warrior manner.” Donald Trump himself took to Twitter to chastise Clinton’s “very average scream.”
Jennifer Jones, Washington Post – August 19, 2016
Political observers have probably spent more time dissecting Donald Trump’s speech patterns than any presidential candidate in recent history.Interest in the GOP nominee’s rhetorical tics has been, well, huge. But over the course of a 25-year career in politics, Hillary Clinton’s linguistic evolution has been just as noteworthy. My research finds that as the Democratic nominee moved from first lady to U.S. senator to secretary of state, she spoke in an increasingly masculine way. In talking more “like a man,” Clinton has conformed to prominent gender norms in American politics.
Anna North, New York Times – August 3, 2016
One of the many difficult tasks facing Hillary Clinton as the first female major-party nominee is that of captivating American audiences with her words. Her husband and President Obama have been very good at this, but if Mrs. Clinton wants a female example, she’ll find that the list of women famous for their political speeches is not very long.
Jay Newton-Small, TIME – July 29, 2016
Name a female leader who has soared rhetorically. Movie characters don’t count — though there are not too many of those either. When Americans want gravitas, baritone Morgan Freeman is the go to actor to play the President or, as he did tonight, narrate Clinton’s biographical video.
Emily Crockett, Vox – July 29, 2016
Hillary Clinton’s acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention was an emotional, historic moment for many. But some commentators also fixated on things like Clinton’s voice, or whether she was smiling.
Jonathan Chait, New York Magazine – July 28, 2016
If Truman had been the first woman president (a hypothetical that obviously requires setting aside the social dynamics that would have made such a thing impossible in 1948), we’d have called that criticism “gendered.” And harping on the intonation of female voices is a real phenomenon. On the other hand, some politicians are just not especially gifted speakers, and among that group, some are female.
Marina Fang, Huffington Post – April 14, 2016
Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) faced off Thursday in a debate in Brooklyn, New York, just five days before the state’s primary. As expected, things got heated. Also as expected, several prominent male political reporters and pundits criticized the former secretary of state’s voice.
Media Matters – April 12, 2016
WALLACE: And it’s a gender thing, right? I mean a man, Bernie Sanders barely has a voice and he screeches and there’s never any comment. You know, like I think he sounds like he’s about to lose it. But we never talk about it. She, you notice how she’s delivering. And just as a woman. And I love —