This triggered memories from my student years in UK HE. Random selection (a thread):
•While studying a MA in performance, I was told by a director peer that I shouldn’t stay in the UK ‘because the way I sound means I’d only play taxi drivers’. He ‘would never cast’ me. (1/7) https://twitter.com/GuardianEdu/status/1319884209415024640

•And a drunk peer at a departmental party kept pointing at me while shouting that I was ‘so weird’ because I ‘sounded Australian’ (would love to but no, I don’t). (2/7)

•And as a doctoral student shortlisted for a teaching job, I used a Greek term with its Greek pronunciation during the interview. I learnt on the spot that it is pronounced a different way in the UK. Because the two UK academics interviewing me giggled for a while, (3/7)

then spoke the word in its ‘correct’ pronunciation, with exaggerated lip movements and all. They did not respond to the actual point I raised but, when addressing me for the rest of the interview, they kept speaking real-ly-slow-ly-and-clear-ly. (4/7)

•And during a key Ph.D. exam, a senior UK academic insisted that, while I had written my thesis on the cultural politics of voice training, for him it was all about ‘vocal style’ because we can choose how we adapt our voices and what training we undergo. (5/7)

As this article shows, we cannot choose how the listener perceives us, what types of violence their listening can exert or its long-lasting consequences on the voicer. (6/7)

For those that spoke up: thank you for raising a voice. All of us, your tutors, have a duty of care towards you – and this also involves examining how we listen to you.
We shouldn’t be failing you. (/thread)