The speech patterns at issue are described as sounding "like Minnie Mouse on helium",[1] or a "mousy squeak [with a] handful of gravel tossed across the very top of the register".
[2] Actress Lake Bell described the style as an amalgamation of "valley-girl voice" (characterized by "upspeak" and vocal fry) and high pitch.
Bell[3] and others have argued that the use of "sexy baby voice" demeans the speaker, who appears as a "submissive 12-year-old trying to be a sex object",[2] or that its use in film and television exploits contemporary culture's "fetish for adult sexuality wrapped in adolescent packages".
[4] Others questioned the purpose of critiquing the speech pattern, asserting that "picking at the vocal quirks of your own gender is just as much of a nuisance as harping on the bodies that belong to them".
[2] Phonetician Mark Liberman wrote that it was not clear that the discussion about "sexy baby voice" referred to a specific speech pattern rather than just "a long list of things about various female-associated vocal features that people don't like".