my point is that the root of the problem is still the conservatives who use a woman’s soft/high voice as a way to convey a political and social position

I agree, but doesn’t reacting in opposition to their ill-conceived use of women’s natural voices, and perverting those voices for an agenda, implicitly assume some kind of superiority in softer voices w.r.t women? To me, it seems like saying “these women are putting on this front because softer voices are better on women”.

I disagree that softer voices are inherently better or more attractive in women, so it doesn’t convey any social or political stance to me that someone does this on purpose to themselves. To me, their use of this type of voice seems like a misguided attempt to box out trans women from a definition of femininity or womanhood, but all they’re really doing is policing themselves for conservative men. I don’t care if they want to be this way for their men! Being that way is not inherently attractive or desirable, and attacking it this way just makes it worse for women who have this type of voice naturally.

I don’t understand why people let conservative women define any standard or definition of femininity or womanhood. They’re not the arbiters of anything.

Yes! I am a small, AFAB femme looking person. You are absolutely correct- it's about taking something naturally feminine and exaggerating it to appeal to hierarchical power. It's been the only way to placate some people, throughout my life!

It's unfair to everyone, the same way telling AMAB kids to 'speak like a man or no one will respect you'. No one should require a deep voice to be respected.

We need to fix this ingrained issue of gender expression = ability.

We shouldn’t be judging people based on their voice. When we treat women with high pitched voices as potentially authoritative we take power away from the attempt to make it a sign of submission.

Yes! That’s an idea I fully support :)

but we also need to be aware that some women are pressured into looking and sounding smaller and more feminine in order to come off as more subservient to men.

I agree wholeheartedly, and I’ll add that a lot of the policies concerning women and reproductive rights and pregnancy/divorce cropping up in conservative states are very troubling. The conditioning of women to be subservient is part of it.

Have you seen the movie Mystic Pizza? It breaks my heart, but that’s the kind of life “sweet” women get saddled with when they learn that standing up for themselves is somehow not “good girl” behavior. I feel like there should be memes that subvert the whole “good girl” trope, like filing for divorce when you’re in an abusive relationship is a good girl behavior (as in good on you lol)