All the world’s a stage. / And all the men and women merely players;… William Shakespeare
After preparing a delicious dinner featuring Mahi Mahi in Lemon Garlic Cream Sauce, seasoned fries, buttered corn, and cheesy biscuits, I settled onto my family room couch to watch the State of the Union address and the GOP response to it.
The staging of the SOTU is dictated by the Constitution, but the opposition party chooses the setting for the response.
Whoever told Alabama Senator Katie Britt to deliver the republican response from her kitchen and to wear a green dress reminiscent of the commander’s wife in The Handmaid’s Tale and to hang a cross around her neck announcing her alignment with Christian nationalism should be fired. If Katie Britt made those decisions herself, she deserves to have her short-lived political life exeunt stage right.
wife, Serena Joy.
However, for me the kitchen staging took upstage to Britt’s voice. This is likely because I taught speech—public speaking and rhetoric— over 30 years.
It’s also likely because I grew up in the Southern Baptist church, earned my undergrad degree from a Southern Baptist university and am well versed in the evangelical teachings that subjugate women to men.
From the moment Britt began speaking I recognized her vocal manner as Fundie Baby Voice.
Fundie Baby Voice has become a rhetorical marker of right-wing MAGA women who elevate patriarchy and diminish women through their child-like, breathy, high-pitched, vocal effects. It’s most common in the South where a sweet, seemingly kind vocal quality often masks dark intentions, such as reversing established Constitutional precedents.
When women speak like toddlers they signal to men they’re unserious people who will enable men in dismantling women’s right to bodily autonomy, including reproductive freedom. Fundie Baby Voice tells men women belong only in the kitchen.
Britt herself marginalized women in her speech, both through her choice of setting and through her words telling women their primary function is motherhood. Wesley and I believe there is no greater blessing in life than our children. Of course most mothers feel blessed by their children, but by framing her remarks around her children Britt signaled to viewers women who choose not to birth babies are of less value than mothers.
Fundamentalists, as well as other faiths steeped in patriarchy teach women their main function and purpose in life is becoming a mother.
I am a mother and grandmother, but I’ve never seen myself or motherhood as my only or even most important role in life.
And while Britt didn’t use the language Trump uses to vilify immigrants and migrants, she channeled his themes in her references to the DNA that put man on the moon.
We walk in the footsteps of pioneers who tamed the wild evokes the language of Indian removal and westward expansion that labeled Natives savages. The subtext here is the marginalization of POC.
Soon after Representative Mike Johnson was elevated to the speakership, he and his wife were interviewed on Fox. Jess Piper, founder of Dirt Road Democrats, and a Missourian who mounted an unsuccessful campaign for Congress that gained national attention, created a Tik-Tok video describing Fundie Baby Voice.
On Friday Piper published an extended analysis of Fundie Baby Voice on her substack, The View from Rural Missouri, in which she discusses Britt’s Fundie Baby Voice.
Importantly, I’m not talking about all women whose voices embody a high pitch, which is a significant number of women.
I’m taking to task women who effect their voices intentionally to give them a child-like quality they use to subjugate themselves and other women, a voice they use to hide their cruelty, a voice they have weaponized to keep women in the literal kitchen.
Our kitchens should be used as staging areas for meal preparation, dining, and socializing with friends and family. A kitchen is not the appropriate stage for a senator who expects families to see her as a serious political character to stage a speech.
The state of our union is not the kitchen.
Swirl & Swing 
This was an interesting piece to read. I had never heard of the concept of Fundie baby voice. Sometimes when I watch the news it feels like life is going backwards.
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I’ve never heard of Fundie baby voice, either. Thanks for sharing your perspective. I agree with your statement, “Of course most mothers feel blessed by their children, but by framing her remarks around her children Britt signaled to viewers women who choose not to birth babies are of less value than mothers.” I have chosen not to have children, but that doesn’t mean I’m less than someone else.
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Glenda, so much to say here. I know the voice, have heard it all my life, and can identify it in a heartbeat. But I never knew it had a name. It’s spot on, and the holier than thou tone reeks of a such a sickeningly sweet angelic little wife who, only by way of marriage and submission and not of her own merit, is in a place to missionize the “less fortunate,” ignoring the irony that she herself is one kitchen-bound broken vow away from welfare. Thank you for opening our eyes. And I also found it so clever that you began with yourself in the kitchen….cooking a delicious meal….and smiling with a more educated, discerning look to the world around you with eyes that see truth of matters. Brilliant!
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Glenda,
Such a powerful piece! I am sending a link around to share your words. the gains women have made throughout the years in dismantling a patriarchy are constantly in danger, no more urgently than in the current political climate. Bravo for stating the case so eloquently.
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Glenda, your post is persuasive and on-spot. Thanks for sharing the fundie baby voice TikTok video. I agree with everything you outline in this post. I just want to know when I can come over and eat in your kitchen. Your meal sounds amazing! Bravo for sharing your words of wisdom!
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That was a superb meal.
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“Whoever told Alabama Senator Katie Britt to deliver the republican response from her kitchen and to wear a green dress reminiscent of the commander’s wife in The Handmaid’s Tale and to hang a cross around her neck announcing her alignment with Christian nationalism should be fired. “
I had to repeat this line here. You grab our attention from the very get go and never release your hold – sensational post, Glenda! Check out Alexandra Petri’s satire column on this in Washington Post.
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Thank you so much for this! I wasn’t able to watch either the SOU or the follow-up. I first heard about this baby voice on a documentary featuring some of the Duggar daughters. (Shiny Happy People, I think, on Prime!) A high school friend of Michelle Duggar talks about how she used to be a cheerleader and now talks in that fake baby voice. I agree with you…this is a weird/worrisome choice of the Republican response!
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I have been somewhat schooled on Fundamentalism lately via Tia Levings’ social media posts and the aforementioned documentary, and it is absolutely frightening. My favorite sentence in your post: ” It’s most common in the South where a sweet, seemingly kind vocal quality often masks dark intentions, such as reversing established Constitutional precedents.” This entire piece could easily be submitted as a well-crafted op-ed.
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Wow, Glenda, I am going to (gag-gag) listen to a bit more of Britt’s response. It was really hard to watch the first time, but now I know a little more about what was up with her breathy voice. You are on fire. Thanks for shining lights in dark corners, my friend.
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I had never heard the name “Fundie Baby Voice” but boy do I recognize this. I’m really glad you posted about this; now I can better articulate why this drives me crazy. WTF? Seriously. I cannot believe this is where we are as a nation. Here’s hoping “exeunt stage right” will apply to more than just Britt.
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