The Effemate Voice trope as ed popular culture. A male character who is In Touch wh His Feme Si, Camp Gay, Camp Straight, androgyno lookg …
Contents:
- DO YOU SOUND GAY? WHAT OUR VOIC TELL – AND WHAT THEY DON’T
- WHAT MEANS TO ‘SOUND GAY’
- WHY IS THAT SOME GAY MEN EMPLOY AN EFFEMATE VOICE?
- THIS IS WHY SOME MEN ‘SOUND GAY’ – EVEN IF THEY’RE NOT
- WHAT'S THE LK BETWEEN HOMOSEXUALY AND HAVG A 'GAY VOICE'
- THE GAY VOICE
DO YOU SOUND GAY? WHAT OUR VOIC TELL – AND WHAT THEY DON’T
We might thk we know what a gay person sounds like. But there are veats to the cliche — and ‘voice-shamg’ tells a lot more about our culture than do about the person speakg * gay camp voice *
“You don’t seem gay. I n’t easily pute what means to be gay if ’s not havg jt intified yourself wh that label. You haven’t – at least that moment, at that party – exhibed the mannerisms lked many people’s mds wh male homosexualy.
The notn you would be pleased to fd this out reveals an unthkg prejudice: how rehg is to meet a gay who don’t make a meal of .
Maybe I’m more “gay”.
WHAT MEANS TO ‘SOUND GAY’
What the way we talk says about gay pri and lgerg prejudice * gay camp voice *
Y, seemg gay – broadly speakg, beg mp – is a way of holdg onelf, a way of drsg, but ’s large part a way of speakg.
His qut to unrstand why he talks the way he do is the subject of a new documentary, Do I Sound Gay? Apart om anythg else, ’s not the prerve of gay men or even human begs.
WHY IS THAT SOME GAY MEN EMPLOY AN EFFEMATE VOICE?
* gay camp voice *
They’re then asked to rate each one by perceived “gayns”.
THIS IS WHY SOME MEN ‘SOUND GAY’ – EVEN IF THEY’RE NOT
This also appli to gay women and their employment of the mascule ton. * gay camp voice *
And y, the stretchg out of “sibilant” nsonants such as s and z (image Kenh Williams sayg “She sells sea shells on the sea shore” and you’re sort of there) what about gay women? There are a few theori knockg around as to why this might be: Arnold Zwicky, his mply tled 1994 paper Two Lavenr Issu for Lguists, suggts that: “For many lbians, what is most important is intifitn wh the muny of women – while for many gay men, what is most important is distancg themselv om straight men. First: there is a style of speakg that people associate wh gay men.
Send: not all gay men e , and some straight men do.
WHAT'S THE LK BETWEEN HOMOSEXUALY AND HAVG A 'GAY VOICE'
People wh stereotypilly high-pched or ‘mp’ voic n fd people assumg that they’re gay, acrdg to one Amerin film-maker - even if they aren’t. Likewise, men wh ep voic n fd themselv wrongly assumed to be beg straight. * gay camp voice *
Third: this style of speakg isn’t simply an importatn of “feme” quali to male speech, although that appears to be what a lot of people, we’re still left wh the qutn of why a gay male voice might emerge. But, lguistilly speakg, soundg gay is really no different om soundg street, soundg posh or soundg like a bro.
THE GAY VOICE
Bee gay men have long been stigmatised, the voice is often a source of shame. After a bad breakup, “I started to fd myself repelled by gay voic... By the chatterg gay voic around me”.