Michael Schulman on “Do I Sound Gay?,” a documentary by David Thorpe that explor how vol nc are associated wh sexualy.
Contents:
- IS THERE A “GAY VOICE”?
- WHAT'S THE LK BETWEEN HOMOSEXUALY AND HAVG A 'GAY VOICE'
- OF LISPS AND LGUISTICS: THE POWER OF THE GAY VOICE
- WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT A SEEMGLY FAKE DOCUMENT A GAY RIGHTS CASE
- A PROCLAMATN ON LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, TRANSGENR, QUEER, AND INTERSEX PRI MONTH, 2023
- THE GAY VOICE
- WHAT MEANS TO ‘SOUND GAY’
IS THERE A “GAY VOICE”?
* gay speech inflection *
Not long after Thorpe broke up wh his boyiend, he began thkg about the way he speaks, and the way other gay men speak, and why both sudnly bothered him so much.
”This is how he scrib the moment his documentary “Do I Sound Gay?, ” which opens this weekend at the IFC Center. He terviews gay public figur, cludg David Sedaris, Tim Gunn, Don Lemon, and Gee Takei, who have had to listen to themselv for a livg. He even asks people on the street if they thk he sounds gay.
WHAT'S THE LK BETWEEN HOMOSEXUALY AND HAVG A 'GAY VOICE'
Self-nsc about the way he speaks, David Thorpe has explored why some people his muny ‘sound gay’ and others don’t a new documentary. * gay speech inflection *
Gay adolcents, Thorpe pots out, often learn that the “tell” of their sexualy is their voic, even more so than physily—a limp wrist is easier to straighten out than an flectn. The world’s homophobia be ternalized homophobia.
OF LISPS AND LGUISTICS: THE POWER OF THE GAY VOICE
In 'Do I Sound Gay?', David Thorpe exam the myster orig of the "gay voice" while tryg—and failg—to rid himself of his own gayish flectn * gay speech inflection *
Even wh the gay datg muny (and gay porn), hyper-masculy is habually prized, so self-disgt gets easily turned back outward.
”Of urse, not all gay men have the same voice, or any “gay” voice: is a stereotype, after all. Thorpe talks to a straight iend who sounds “gay” (he grew up on an ashram, surround by women), and a gay iend who sounds “straight” (he has jock brothers). Did he choose to sound gay or did soundg gay choose him?
” (The gay “lisp” is a b of a misnomer, ually referrg to a sibilant “S. Obvly, the ncln—the film’s, and me—is to dissociate the “gay voice” om shame and reattach to pri, but isn’t so easy.
WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT A SEEMGLY FAKE DOCUMENT A GAY RIGHTS CASE
A supposed requt for a webse for a same-sex weddg played a mor role a major clash between ee speech and gay rights at the Supreme Court. * gay speech inflection *
“For many gay men, that’s the last vtige, that’s the last chunk of ternalized homophobia, is this hatred of how they sound, ” Dan Savage tells Thorpe.
One of the ways gay people tend to pensate, the film suggts, is to adopt the supercil speech patterns of the leisure class, i.
A PROCLAMATN ON LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, TRANSGENR, QUEER, AND INTERSEX PRI MONTH, 2023
What the way we talk says about gay pri and lgerg prejudice * gay speech inflection *
The CNN anchor Don Lemon tells Thorpe that he worked harr to ntralize his Southern black accent than his “gay” accent. (The phenomenon of gay whe men imatg black women’s speech is s own thorny subtegory. As gays and lbians ga cultural pal, helped along by equaly victori like the one jt hand down by the Supreme Court, “gay voice” will surely evolve, too.
THE GAY VOICE
Stay ahead of the trend fashn and beyond wh our ee weekly Liftyle Ed newsletterStay ahead of the trend fashn and beyond wh our ee weekly Liftyle Ed newsletter After a particularly bad break-up, David Thorpe, a journalist who’s his forti, cid to take his md off thgs by leavg his ts his Manhattan apartment and drowng his sorrows at a gay beach town on Fire Island. On the Friday-night tra journey he found himself surround by loud chatterg gay men. “I knew then that I had to get to the bottom of that feelg and to the importance of the voice as part of gay inty.
”It was the start of a four-year journey of self-disvery durg which Thorpe tried to figure out his so-lled “gay voice”: when did he start talkg that way, what ed , how exactly did sound, and, fally, what was so wrong wh anyway?
The rults n be seen his new documentary, Do I Sound Gay?, which featur terviews wh lguists, amics, fay and iends, as well as a number of high-profile personali, cludg David Sedaris and Dan Savage. A high-pched, lispg voice that go up at the end has been part of the gay male stereotype for years.
WHAT MEANS TO ‘SOUND GAY’
Another expert that he terviews for the film is a Canadian lguist who studi vol microvariatns between gay and straight men and speculat that many gay men more readily pick up speech s om women. Intertgly, a straight iend of Thorpe’s has what is nsired to be an archetypal “gay voice” and turns that out he was raised entirely by women at an ashram. A iend suggts that he was “advertisg” his homosexualy, havg kept a secret for so long.
When he was younger, Thorpe not, the only “gay voic” on televisn were those belongg to figur such as Liberace and Charl Nelson Reilly, the host of The Match Game. He also wonrs if Disney villas such as Aladd’s Jafar and The Ln Kg’s Sr, wh their soft, threateng voic, have ma young people associate soundg gay wh beg evil. It pleas him to hear so many more “gay voic” reprented today, pecially young vloggers such as Lohanthony and Tyler Oakley.