Siri, Alexa and the Google Assistant default female voices reinforce sexist notions that women are docile, servile, non-confrontational and easy to please, according to a new United Nations report. The report recommends genderless default voices so these female caricatures don’t discourage girls from pursuing careers in science, technology, engineering and math (S.T.E.M.).
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U.N. Says Siri Sexist: Digital Assistants Steer Girls Away from S.T.E.M.
Siri, Alexa and the Google Assistant default female voices reinforce sexist notions that women are docile, servile, non-confrontational and easy to please, according to a new United Nations report. The report recommends genderless default voices so these female caricatures don’t discourage girls from pursuing careers in science, technology, engineering and math (S.T.E.M.).
34 replies on “U.N. Says Siri Sexist: Digital Assistants Steer Girls Away from S.T.E.M.”
If all the voices were originally male, they’d be complaining that it was reinforcing the stereotype that technology was inherently male territory, that the voice was intimidating women out of STEM fields, and that we should be making all the voices female by default.
…and you know I’m right…
Such a simple solution. Don’t have a default voice. Ask the user during setup what he/she/it wants to use. But then the progressives would have one less thing to b**ch about, so I guess that’s not realistic.
My GPS app came with an obviously digital, pseudo-male voice. I had a hard time hearing it in the car, and when I did hear it, the digital nature of the voice was disconcerting. I went to settings and changed it to Realistic Female, English, UK. I now have no problems hearing it, and it no longer grates my nerves.
The left full-well-knows that their perverted social engineering is absurd but is an awesome weapon for the victim-hood warriors
I would like to point out that in places where gender equality is most vigorously enforced, such as Scandinavia, the differences in preferences between men and women are actually greater.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iy4vq8RdPGU
This makes me wonder what the women are like on here… do they have a more masculine mindset? I studied economics at university, still build lego, got an A in logic, compartmentalise like all get out (how do people cope otherwise?) prefer a stick shift truck, own an arsenal, and am writing a non fiction book on the Civil War. I also like a pretty dress, bake and constantly worry if my bum looks big in whatever I have on. (answer: yes) Oh and mood swings are a thing. Are BW women more male in their mindset? On a different tack, why can’t that Alexa thing have optional voices and be nameable? (I only got one a couple of weeks ago and am still figuring the thing out, mostly it’s a glorified cookie timer) I’d choose a slightly drunk Glaswegian named Jock for the weekends, my husband for when I’m ticked at him and want to order him around and be obnoxious, and I hate to say it, but I’d probably go for that Klavan fellow the rest of the time, cuz his voice is like honey. Seems to me this should be do-able.
Well, I am among the 14% of women on BW. I AM a STEM – before STEM became a calling card. My brain leans towards math and logic. My mother used to say she had a man’s brain (and loved talking with men, she could relate to them better than women, but maybe it was a way of bringing herself out of the motherhood mode and into the adult world).
I work in a STEM field, where the majority of them are engineers rather than scientists. Big difference in how they think… I am a Mathematician – about to be a retired one… – who has always had trouble with spacial things, being able to conceptualize things visually. I saw that as a weakness, but part of me, something I had no control over. I made the most of my strengths.
When I started, women were maybe 10-15% of the field, nowadays it’s 25-30%. I love seeing other women in the field, because they have that same kind of logical brain that I have. They have emotions, but don’t bring them into the equation of problem solving, they use them to relate to others in their team (human relations). But there are the other women that I find a little bit harder to relate to – the ones who say they never could get into math, but in reality use it in their daily lives.
I’m with Bill in that we should ENCOURAGE STEM but not push it, let’s not do quotas and diversity and all that other stuff… We’re at equity, let’s not strain beyond it!
Feminists would understand those intrinsic differences between men’s brains and women’s brains if they were not so skilled in crimestop. It’s the only explanation. They’ve trained their subconscious to beat those thoughts down before they can think them, because they are clearly sexist thoughts.
Here’s the Mark Grugor vid Bill was talking about. Guys pretty darn good.
https://youtu.be/3XjUFYxSxDk
Yup. You beat me to posting it.
My students struggle to write 5 paragraph essays, but UNESCO drones came up with 195 PAGES of drivel that’s basically a transcript of Bunco night with boxed moscato on tap.
Can we defund the UN now?
I work w/ a woman from Boston. But I learned our industry working in Los Angeles. I get so tired of her East-Coast Union’splainin’ to me.
IIRC, female pilots were more responsive to an automated female voice than male as well.
It’s the same thought process that leads to saying that if someone, some country, et al, is rich it’s because they took wealth away from someone poor. ‘If men are a larger portion of tech jobs it must be that they somehow took them from women.’
I had two women in my computer science track at the University about 20 years ago. They also liked shooting old computer monitors with shotguns. I think they were atypical.
I also thought the female voices were picked as the default because the higher pitch of the voices made them more easily understood. I can just see some African American voice being criticized as “too white” as well, since that’s happened, so there really isn’t any way to win. Patrick Moran pointed that out – isn’t isn’t because “you’re wrong” but that you’re not on their side, so they have to cut you down and demand danegeld (or Sharpton-gold these days).
This seems an offshoot of the generic leftist problem of making everyone into a cog of the Great Machine of the State. Men and women must be the same. Identity politics tries to make all latinos the same, whether they’re from Mexico 100 years ago when it became Texas, from Cuba 60 years ago fleeing Castro or as Sarah Hoyt, from Portugal and only “hispanic” because she’s from a country with a latin based language. All blacks have to be the same, no matter if they’re a central city school dropout or a world renown brain surgeon. Think the same, act the same, speak the same (but not the same as that other group! Everyone in their own boxes!).
It was highly ironic when Hillary re-used the old Apple add “Think Different” from 1984 in her campaign, when she wanted just the opposite.
Just a bit surprised no one has yet mentioned Jordan Peterson. Canadian Researcher/author/etc. He has a few useful charts and numerous YT videos on the subject of women in STEM. The first shows that even in the MOST Egalitarian societies (think Scandinavia)when given a “choice” (read “no Bias” preventing entry) women still tend towards nurturing professions.
https://researchdigest.files.wordpress.com/2018/03/screenshot-2018-03-14-08-41-461.png?w=845
To Bill’s “Danger Quotient” this chart is useful:
https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-HuV6OM1G-1I/Wj6N6RrW5qI/AAAAAAAA1aM/ewpwphz7amIMHqxhzIUTM9M64PU8TnZuwCLcBGAs/s640/MostDangerousJobs.png
Their logic ties you up and rapes you.
do-do-do-doo
What logic? Where?!
I have a different take on this.
I think that it does not matter which you would choose to be the default voice. They will ALWAYS have a problem with it. Not because there is a problem with it.
They want to exert authority over you and are trying to find ANY excuse to convince you to acknowledge their authority over you.
This has nothing to do with “women being upset”. What they hell kind of woman has such catastrophically low self esteem that their life choices will be influenced by a damn toy?
Nope, Sorry, I don’t buy into the fact that women are sooooo stupid that they can’t make up their own mind on which career path will give them what they want in their own life.
You can have a lot of fun short circuiting a leftist by tricking them into arguing with themselves. 😀👍🏻
The analytics for the TSL FB page show that the members are 80% male, 19% female, and 1% other. So, Bill’s audience is pretty much a sausage fest across the board.
I am curious about the 1%, though! 1% of what? Hmm….
In more ways than one. I love a good bratwurst.
Finally! Some common sense representing women.
While we’re on the subject. I resent like hell that Bill, Scott and Steve are three men who presume to inform me on conservative politics. We women have political brains too, you know. Why are there only men in these videos? It’s sending the signal that women aren’t capable of critical thought.
To that end, I am going to start a petition right here on BWDC that one, two, or all three of the hosts must dress in drag while filming. Only then will I feel represented, and not demeaned by man culture.
You with me, sisters?
I completely agree. Can we get Tammy Bruce on this network?
LOL! I appreciate each of the 3 individual men involved, but it wouldn’t hurt to have a woman… do like Tammy Bruce…
Good for you, Bill! Only married two or three years and you’ve already figured it out. My husband and I have been married almost 42 years, and he still tries to tell me how to solve my problem when I complain/whine/whimper/whatever it is we gals do!
Get him a copy of Men Are from Mars. 🙂
Men’s brains vs Women’s brains by Mark Gungor. It will keep you laughing. He tells truths wrapped in outstanding comedy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=814eR5K7KD8
Love Mark Gungor! I was going to leave a comment recommending him, bit you beat me to it.
I watched that men’s brains/women’s brains clip years ago… I bet it wouldn’t fly with the PC crowd today! But judging by the laughter from the audience (and from me, watching it), he was spot on…
My 7 year old daughter loves playing with dolls and stuffed animals, loves Disney princesses, but she also loves playing with Legos and figuring out how things are put together. Our school district has a world-class robotics program, which comes from its emphasis on STEM for all of the students 1st grade and up. She desperately wants to get into it when she is old enough, which I believe will be in 3rd grade. Why? Because my wife and I do not push her in any direction. We have let her figure it out for herself. She is much happier, and I believe will be much more successful, because we have taken that approach. She is learning more and more about it and becoming more and more excited about it because we have let her choose. What a novel concept.
It annoys me to no end how leftists can look at a bell curve, completely ignore it and say “Yeah, but see that outlier? That’s the real norm.” Sometimes things can be improved and you can shift the bell curve, other times the bell curve is where it’s at for a reason, but let’s not pretend that the outliers are the norm or that every bell curve should shift to the outlier because the outliers wish it were so.
I love busting bell curves.