A Documentarian Wonrs: 'Do I Sound Gay?' : NPR

Contents:

• DO I SOUND GAY?
• DO I SOUND GAY?
• THIS IS WHY SOME MEN ‘SOUND GAY’ – EVEN IF THEY’RE NOT
• A DOCUMENTARIAN WONRS: 'DO I SOUND GAY?'
• DO YOU SOUND GAY? WHAT OUR VOIC TELL – AND WHAT THEY DON’T
• DO I SOUND GAY?
• DO I SOUND GAY?
• THE SUBTLE LANGUAGE OF SOUNDG GAY

DO I SOUND GAY?

"Charmg, wry, a pellg portra of ternalized homophobia and liberatn" — NPR. Catch the acclaimed documentary DO I SOUND GAY?

S., DO I SOUND GAY?

About the film: Is there such a thg as a "gay voice"? Why do some people "sound gay" but not others? Why is the "gay voice" a trigger for bullyg, even vlence?

DO I SOUND GAY?

DO I SOUND GAY?

Filmmaker David Thorpe (middle) explor whether there's such a thg as a "gay voice. In the wake of a bad breakup, journalist and gay activist David Thorpe did what many of do: He took tense ventory of his own flaws and securi, then stepped up one of them to a Thg. A good Thg, as turns out, whose end rult is the charmg documentary Do I Sound Gay?, which Thorpe wryly treats his anxieti about his "gay" voice as an exercise self-improvement, and wds up wh a pellg portra of ternalized homophobia and liberatn.

Thorpe adms that gog , he was "repelled" by a speech style that mak gay men sound like "brayg nni. Back South Carola's Bible Belt, where Thorpe grew up, relativ and childhood iends pot out that he didn't sound gay until he me out of the closet llege. Friends wh his tight-kn gay circle are more divid: Some nfs to hatg their lispg, anoidal voic; others own gayspeak wh varyg gre of fiance and jubilatn.

THIS IS WHY SOME MEN ‘SOUND GAY’ – EVEN IF THEY’RE NOT

Thorpe brgs lguists to ttify that there's ltle evince to support the argument that gay speech is nate. The explanatn that pleas him most is that gay speech has s origs ls blogy or nro-chemistry than early female fluence: Men who grow up mostly around women tend to mimic feme speech styl — which, Thorpe argu, would expla why some straight men sound gay, and why gays who grow up wh brothers often velop basso profundos.

A DOCUMENTARIAN WONRS: 'DO I SOUND GAY?'

Do I Sound Gay? Is very good on the way many gay men who were bullied as children have learned to turn the hatred of others ward, which helps expla s of gay hyper-masculy and ternal ostracism of effemate men. Takg his cue om the swellg ranks of gay celebri (among them Gee Takei, Margaret Cho and the effably funny and ndid David Sedaris) who are willg to speak on mera about liberatg themselv om their own fears, Thorpe realiz he's been askg the wrong qutns.

While he was by tryg to iron out his gay voice, New York State legalized gay marriage, and the film's release jt weeks after the Supreme Court legalized gay marriage across the natn. “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.

DO YOU SOUND GAY? WHAT OUR VOIC TELL – AND WHAT THEY DON’T

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”.

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.

They’re then asked to rate each one by perceived “gayns”. 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.

DO I SOUND GAY?

First: there is a style of speakg that people associate wh gay men. Send: not all gay men e , and some straight men do.

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. 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...

DO I SOUND GAY?

By the chatterg gay voic around me”. And here she is teachg David to sound ls gay.

“The tertg thg, though, was that David was the first person who me to me and was upont about beg gay.

THE SUBTLE LANGUAGE OF SOUNDG GAY

When dis, a subversive dance movement that spoke to black people and women and gays, broke through, was vilified by mastream rock lovers for beg ksch and plastic. If there are any lsons to be learned here, vol or otherwise, ’s surely that dis was ol, mp is fe and “soundg gay” is jt however gay people happen to sound. MenuWatchlistENFully supportedEnglish (Uned Stat)Partially supportedFrançais (Canada)Français (France)Dtsch (Dtschland)हिंदी (भारत)Italiano (Italia)Português (Brasil)Español (España)Español (Méxi)Do I Sound Gay?