Why is there no "male" Siri option on Apple iPhone?

[QuatreHiead]

It has come to my attention earlier when talking with my mother who said she didn't understand this whole craze of having a phone talk back to you. She said that perhaps if the phone answered in a nice sexy male voice, like George Clooney's or something then perhaps she would be more inclined to understand. However, from her perspective Siri just seems annoying and unnecessary. “Why would you want to hear that mess?” was her basic response.

It got me to thinking, why do they have a female type voice for Siri?

Was it a male voice would sound too harsh? Especially if insulting you or giving you directions or suggestions. Was there some magical panel that chose Siri's voice from several other voices (male or female type)?

Is there a story behind Siri like GLaDOS in the Portal series as to where the voice comes from? That would be pretty fascinating.

 

[NewDCD]

I think it's what I'd like to call the "secretary syndrome". When you think about a secretary, you often think "female", right? I believe the role Siri is supposed to play is basically "virtual secretary", hence why her voice is only female: it's a matter of a stereotype so deeply ingrained into many cultures, that you do not think of it as inequality (even if it sorta is...).

 

[isao21]

I have actually wondered the same thing. I came to the conclusion that a female voice just seems more pleasant for both genders, opposed to a male voice. Apple also advertised Siri as a assistant, the stereotypical assistant would be a female.

 

[NewDCD]

I have actually wondered the same thing. I came to the conclusion that a female voice just seems more pleasant for both genders, opposed to a male voice. Apple also advertised Siri as a assistant, the stereotypical assistant would be a female.

Yeah, pretty much my sentiments exactly, here.

 

[Creaky]

They probably thought a female voice would be more appealing, not a fan of who Siri sounds at the moment though.

 

[QuatreHiead]

Yeah, pretty much my sentiments exactly, here.

Yea, that is more than likely the case. It is quite a shame however, because that is not always necessarily so. I mean look at the assistants in most of the shows like 30 Rock and then there was Just Shoot Me! who had the male desk assistant. Perhaps this is unfortunately not something that is getting better even though media has some examples. I suppose, the down side is these are also comedy examples, where in the idea is making the assistant male adds to the comedy.

 

[Epicfied]

I think everyone here nailed it. An assistant or secretary is generally visulized as a female.
Siri is suppose to be those roles in your phone, therefore should be female.

Personally, I think the Siri voice is annoying and I'm glad I don't have an Apple phone.
A male voice or other options for a voice would be nice.
But then again, that would take away a personal effect on the name "Siri".

 

[QuatreHiead]

I think everyone here nailed it. An assistant or secretary is generally visulized as a female.
Siri is suppose to be those roles in your phone, therefore should be female.

Personally, I think the Siri voice is annoying and I'm glad I don't have an Apple phone.
A male voice or other options for a voice would be nice.
But then again, that would take away a personal effect on the name "Siri".

You do raise a very good point. A large part of the idea behind Siri for Apple was probably to create and name her for everyone. It is sort of a branding thing I suppose, in which case having every user choose and make their own Siri would take away fromt this. I do agree, it is quite annoying sometimes I would think.

Does anyone know if there is an option not to use the Siri function?

 

[techimom]

Does anyone know if there is an option not to use the Siri function?

Yes, you can turn her off. Siri has a submenu under general settings, where you can swich it off. Also, if you change the language to "English(United Kingdom)," Siri changes to a male voice. I didn't test out the other languages, but I remember reading that the UK Siri is male and I just confirmed it on my phone. I'm curious about why Apple designed it this way.

It's funny that Siri is one of the features that distinguishes the 4s from the 4 but it isn't all that useful. I used voice control on Android a year before and it worked better than Siri does.

 

[Epicfied]

You do raise a very good point. A large part of the idea behind Siri for Apple was probably to create and name her for everyone. It is sort of a branding thing I suppose, in which case having every user choose and make their own Siri would take away fromt this. I do agree, it is quite annoying sometimes I would think.

Does anyone know if there is an option not to use the Siri function?

I think they could easily make a Siri option so you have Siri or a way to change it to the male version but slightly change the name.
Does that make sense?

Also, I don't have an iPhone but I generally don't use any of the voice activated stuff offered on anything.

 

[youredthiswrong]

I think it's what I'd like to call the "secretary syndrome". When you think about a secretary, you often think "female", right? I believe the role Siri is supposed to play is basically "virtual secretary", hence why her voice is only female: it's a matter of a stereotype so deeply ingrained into many cultures, that you do not think of it as inequality (even if it sorta is...).

I thought the same thing exactly - Siri is supposed to be some kind of secretary, and it's a lot more common to be seen women and not men being secretaries (females, please don't take this to be the start of a sexism battle).

 

[Laura]

It has come to my attention earlier when talking with my mother who said she didn't understand this whole craze of having a phone talk back to you. She said that perhaps if the phone answered in a nice sexy male voice, like George Clooney's or something then perhaps she would be more inclined to understand. However, from her perspective Siri just seems annoying and unnecessary. “Why would you want to hear that mess?” was her basic response.

It got me to thinking, why do they have a female type voice for Siri?

Was it a male voice would sound too harsh? Especially if insulting you or giving you directions or suggestions. Was there some magical panel that chose Siri's voice from several other voices (male or female type)?

Is there a story behind Siri like GLaDOS in the Portal series as to where the voice comes from? That would be pretty fascinating.

Because we live in a harsh sexist world.

..I think

Now that I think about that I don't know why nobody ever asked the question before.