Why Do Gay Men Walk So Fast? | GQ

Contents:

• WHY DO GAY MEN WALK SO FAST?
• ISHOWSPEED GUS WHAT I’M GAY
• ISHOWSPEED GUS WHAT I’M GAY - MEME SOUND EFFECT BUTTON FOR SOUNDBOARD
• SPEED IM GAY - MEME SOUND EFFECT BUTTON FOR SOUNDBOARD
• I'M GAY SOUND
• IM GAY - MEME SOUND EFFECT BUTTON FOR SOUNDBOARD

WHY DO GAY MEN WALK SO FAST?

Growg up, people would often tell me that I “walked gay. ” I ed to wonr how puttg one foot ont of the other uld seem gay, but I heard so equently that I accepted as tth.

To fd out what else was gay, I looked to popular-culture, where I saw gay men mostly adherg to a fairly one-dimensnal set of stereotyp: fashnable, wty, effemate. Historilly, gay stereotyp have been even ls kd. Yet today’s gay men aren’t as reliant on reprentatns crafted by others, wh social media helpg to mocratize storytellg by providg a platform for people to share their experienc.

ISHOWSPEED GUS WHAT I’M GAY

Inevably, gay people beg active onle (Twter gays, I’m lookg at you) has ed new stereotyp to emerge. From “gays n’t drive” to “gays love iced ffee, ” new on seem to appear every day.

Earlier this year, Vice wrer Jam Greig attempted to fact-check the “new gay stereotyp. ” GQ wrer Alim Kheraj also vtigated the gay love of iced ffee.

Both found the accuracy of the new trop difficult to prove, but explored their plex and often ntradictory that sense, the new(ish) stereotype that “gay men walk fast” is no different. If “walkg gay” really is a thg, seems that many gay people perceive speed to be a part of that. On Twter, one person wr: “Straight people, look behd you, chanc are there's a gay person tryg to get past bee you're movg at an extremely glacial pace.

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” Others joke that gays n halve the journey time timate on most travel apps, or suggt that gay men walk fast “to flee the straights” bee “they learned to walk to the beat of ‘Womanizer’ by Brney Spears. To create “gay walkg lan” bee gay men supposedly walk so a fast walker, I’ve fely been there: that moment when you’re walkg through a public place, listeng to “Jump” by Madonna, and the (prumably heterosexual) public n’t seen to hurry up and get out of your way. But beyond my personal experience, and the admtedly pretty lazy humor of “gays walk fast” jok, is there any tth to the stereotype?

There’s never been a scientific study parg gay walkg speed wh straight men of a siar age and physil ndn. We know that gay men tend to gravate towards urban areas, where walkg is the flt travel method.

Gay men the Uned Kgdom, for example, are 30% ls likely to own a r when pared to the average populatn, ditg that they’re more acctomed to walkg.

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Confince ach Lisa Phillips says that a fear of homophobia strangers uld make gay men walk quickly. “If gay men feel self-nsc or fear attack, they uld walk quickly to get away om perceived risks orr to feel safe aga, ” she explas.

I'M GAY SOUND

”Sam, a 26-year-old gay man om London, agre wh this. “I lived Sydney for 20 years and there were a lot of nfint walkers Oxford Street, one of Sydney's gay areas, as this was a ‘safe’ area for people. Psychologist Ian MacRae agre that walkg speed and style n be affected by eher posive or negative emotns, but also says that gay men are statistilly predisposed to walkg fast.

So already younger men ci are the fastt walkers–perhaps gays jt have an edge on that? ”MacRae tells me that walkg fast might be a method for gay men to give a “visual cue” of their physil fns and attractivens, and that there’s a genred element to how we perceive sexualy that may fluence walkg speed.

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“People are much better at tellg male sexualy based on movement, like ‘walkg gay’ or ‘movg gay. ’ So gay men uppg the pace of their walkg also amplifi their sexualy.

Stttg, or walkg at a rapid pace, n be a way of displayg homosexualy safe spac.

”Regardls of whether gay men really do walk fast, there are psychologil reasons why many of want to embrace the ia that we do. I often worry that fdg some of the newer gay trop funny –mostly, if I’m hont, bee many of them apply to me– mak me sufferably self-absorbed.

”Benno Gammerl, a lecturer on Goldsmhs Universy’s MA Queer History London, thks that “gay’s walk fast” is rooted stereotyp of urban gay life. “Gay men om the untrysi have very specific stereotyp of urban gay men, ” he says.

“Velocy and petivens is a part of that: a sense of urban life beg quick, and that a gay man has to be quicker than all the rt.

”Gammerl explas that is no cince that someone like me feels reprented by the stereotyp and helps to spread them, bee young, urban-dwellg gay men are central to society’s mappg of what gay men are like. Among this domant group, the ia of “quickns” beg a sirable gay qualy go beyond physil speed. “In many gay bgraphi we see the ia that opportuni were missed youth, so gay adults don’t want to miss a thg.