The connection between "Speech Sounds" and sexism

    I think "Speech Sounds" has a connection to the modern problem of sexism: more specifically, on the idea that males are above females. "Speech Sounds" presents the idea of a world where the main character who is a woman, can speak, but the men around her cannot. This being enabled by a disease spreading around the world. This goes against the modern idea that male voices are drowning out female voices, creating a world led by men and where men have more advantage than women.

    While characteristics of the two genders are not left out, such as the male role of the aggressor and the female role of reliance on men for protection, the author subverts their roles of how they contribute to the world. In Speech Sounds, while Obsidian can read and Rye cannot, Rye can speak and Obsidian cannot, so Rye's voice is projected above that of Obsidian. This enables Rye to lead and puts Obsidian at the mercy of Rye's will. I found it interesting to see this in the story.

    I also noted that at the very end of the story, when Obsidian and the parents of the children are killed, Rye becomes the protector of the children. In the story, men are seen as the protectors, so Rye becoming a protector once again subverts the gender roles in the story. However, she is not protecting people her age; she is protecting children, which is seen as a female role in our world. What I think this section in the story is doing is explaining that empowering women does not require a complete subversion of the traditional gender roles, it is saying that women should be able to do more than what the traditional gender roles say they can do.

    I believe the main objective of "Speech Sounds" is to address sexism and challenge traditional gender roles. The author subverts a lot of traditional gender roles to visualize what a world would be like if they were subverted. The idea of the main male character in the story not being able to speak resonated especially with me. I recently saw a movie called The Assistant (written and directed by Kitty Green), where a woman is living her life as an abused assistant. She is silenced by the world around her and is punished whenever she tries to speak for herself. I found it interesting to see these two worlds that heavily contradict each other.