Prejudices are inherent in all humans. Sometimes our prejudices are overt, sometimes covert; but they’re always there. Star Trek classic was about space travel in the 23rd century, ostensibly a few hundred years into the future, and while racial prejudice supposedly had been eliminated. certain vestiges of the 1960s remained glaringly obvious. Most women were depicted in subservient roles. And wore boots and miniskirts. The computer’s voice was a woman. Even in the 23rd century it was a man’s world.
Apple’s decidedly 21st century iPhone suffers from a similarly lingering perspective of women that is wholly subservient in nature. Siri. Yes, in iOS you can change Siri to a male voice, but who does that? Siri, iOS’s intelligent assistant is a female assistant.
Ditto for Amazon’s Alexa, Microsoft’s Cortana, and Google Now. All default to a female voice, ostensibly because females are representative of subservient roles in society, and having a male secretary somehow seems wrong.
The problem with Siri represented as a female is a combination of societal expectations, and males perpetuating those expectations, either with deliberate cause and justification, or as an oversight.
Siri is neither male nor female. Siri is a digital assistant and the voice capability merely adds a human persona to the feature and functions. But the default voice for all these digital assistants– Apple, Amazon, Google, and Microsoft– comes from executives and engineers and employees who are decidedly male; roughly 80-percent, on average, and that percentage goes much higher when only engineering and executive jobs are considered.
Does Siri, in a female voice, objectify women?
Yes.
Ditto for Amazon’s Alexa, Microsoft’s Cortana, and Google Now. That’s because women are objectified by society in general, and definitely so in the male dominated technology industry. Almost every such digital assistant you can buy that talks back to you does so with a female voice.
There are exceptions.
Siri has an option for a male voice. On the fiction side of the fence, Ironman’s assistant is a male. So was KITT from the old Knight Rider television show (there’s something about a female voice coming from a high powered car being driven by a macho TV star that probably wouldn’t have gone over so well). 2001 has come and gone and we’re no closer to space travel that Stanley Kubrick’s imagination, but at least the HAL of the future was a male voice.
Why does Siri default to a female voice? Expectations. Expectations of how things should be are embedded into our social mores, and when it comes to a technology company that wants to sell devices, even with computer generated systems that talk, there are two words to remember.
Sex sells.
John Lockwood says
For what it’s worth SAL9000 of 2010 i.e. the sequel to 2001 was a female voice.
Cal Worthington says
Of course, that’s an imaginary place in an imaginary future. Siri, Cortana, Google Now, et al, are here today and work pretty much like the 1950s.
SteveS says
Kate, I agree with the notion that the original Star Trek better represented society of the 60’s and did not treat men and women equally. However, notion that iPhones are sexist because Siri has a female voice is just bizarre. As you acknowledge, you can change the voice to male. Who does that? Nobody? Why? Did it ever occur to you that people (both male and female) generally find females voices more soothing?
Martin says
Obviously, you haven’t heard my wife’s voice. So much for that theory.
Peter says
As an amusing aside, I went to an Air Force lecture back in the late-80s when they were working on voice systems for fighter aircraft. There were lots of problems with ambient noise and the fact that it’s tough to speak slowly and clearly when in combat and pulling 3 or 4 Gs.
But in their various studies, one interesting point stood out: Fighter Pilots (predominantly male) will pay more attention to a female voice than a male voice. When I asked about female fighter pilots, I was told that there wasn’t any appreciable difference between a male or female voice.
So if I were constructing a voice system where I wanted to make sure people paid attention, I’d consider using a female voice. If my customer is a man, he will pay more attention and if my customer was a woman, it wouldn’t make any difference at all.
That said, I’ll admit that I want Apple to allow me to use Zarvox…
Viswakaram says
The female voice usually is used to invoke the image of a “MOTHER”. A mother is needed whether one is a male or a female!!!
There are quite a few women in powerful positions all over the World!
It is only in the good old USA and in Islamic Countries, that a female is treated as a “DOLL”!!!
percy says
India (Hindu) and Pakistan had women running the country many years ago. Not the good old U.S. of A.
Bill Morlitz says
The female computer voice in the newer “Star Trek” series & the movies up to her passing in 2009 was that of Majel Barrett, who married Gene Roddenberry in 1969. She was Christine Chapel, Dr. McCoy’s nurse who was hopelessly in love with Mr. Spoke on the original “Star Trek” and Lwaxana Troi, who was constantly after Cap’t. Jean Luc-Picard on the STNG series.