OUTSPOKEN

A radio personality, communications coach, and trained opera
singer convincingly argues that learning to use their voices properly will take
women surprisingly far.

In her debut book, grounded in her own experience and her work
with others, Peabody-winning communications specialist Rueckert makes her case
clearly and concisely, drawing on sound research without becoming bogged down
in it. The author begins by telling readers how to start from wherever they are
with their voice and make it bigger and better. Then she moves on to social and
business situations in which that voice might be suppressed. On the physical
level, Rueckert goes through the mechanics of the breathing process and advises
women not just to learn to breathe more fully (no Spanx), but to take up more
space, emulating the “manspreaders” who have taken up their fair share. She
considers the pros and cons of the politically fraught question of whether
women should modulate their voices to please others, and she suggests ways to
raise girls who are comfortable speaking out loud and in public. On the social
level, the author covers the many ways in which women are silenced by men
interrupting them and by the pressure to be “the good, quiet girl,” and she
offers techniques on how to avoid being interrupted and how to interrupt a
conversation—or monologue—successfully. Most of the chapters culminate with a
list of exercises—how to transcend “cubicle voice” by lying on your back with a
book the size of a “Nordic cooking compendium” on your belly and project:
“Don’t push from the throat but from the lower abdomen, the seat of vocal
power.” Rueckert’s own literary voice is encouraging, supportive, and cheerful,
and it’s hard to imagine anyone who wouldn’t benefit from her advice. In a sea
of self-help books for women, this one stands out both for its unique
perspective and its concrete recommendations.

A practical and fascinating guide to liberating the female voice
as a key to liberating the self.