Gaydar—Sendg Mixed Signals | Department of Lguistics | Universy of Colorado Boulr

Contents:

• GAYDAR—SENDG MIXED SIGNALS
• DISSECTG "GAYDAR": ACCURACY AND THE ROLE OF MASCULY-FEMY
• DISSECTG "GAYDAR": ACCURACY AND THE ROLE OF MASCULY-FEMY

GAYDAR—SENDG MIXED SIGNALS

Gaydar is a reified skill that nfirms the existence of a gay speech muny, but n terme a speaker's membership? Many people thk that they n regnize a gay man based on his speech. In other words, they believe that they have a gaydar.

However, as a gay man, I thk of gaydar not so much as a tool for intifyg one’s orientatn, but as a meang and discrimatory weapon ed to ntrast sexual and social differenc.

For my class project Language US Society, I wanted to qutn the nature of gaydar and trace s origs beyond jt the perceptn of the speaker.

DISSECTG "GAYDAR": ACCURACY AND THE ROLE OF MASCULY-FEMY

Essentially, gaydar is the abily to tect an dividual’s sexual orientatn. The key to unrstandg gaydar is the telemunitn ncept of “radar, ” which is fed as “a radtermatn system based on the parison of reference signals wh rad signals reflected or retransmted, om the posn to be termed” (ITU Rad Regulatns, 2013). Gaydar borrows the functns of receivg and parg signals and reifi the skill of intifyg sexual orientatn to an operatnal tool.

Hence, the technil fn of gaydar is a “system based on the parison of reference signals wh language reflected or retransmted, om the posn to be termed, ” where the posn to be termed ultimately translat to inty. Jt like a radar, an operatnal gaydar reli on the reference signals and the static background of the receiver. A historil example of this is what lguists ll the onted “s” sound that is typilly characterized as a lisp, also known as the “gay lisp” (Mack and Munson 2012).

Instead of intifyg the onted “s” as a lguistic variable, listeners equently thk of as an x of non-normative behavr such as a speech fect or homosexualy. This associatn between language and behavr puts speakers g this variable a double bd: they are perceived eher to have a speech fect or to be gay—wh both perceptns rryg negative nnotatns.

DISSECTG "GAYDAR": ACCURACY AND THE ROLE OF MASCULY-FEMY

Moreover, gaydar self is not a reliable system bee the stereotypil featur of gay speech n be cross-xil wh other social tegori. The exampl of the pluraly of meang one sound monstrate that gaydar is only an abstractn. It is not a perfect reference system to intify members of a gay speech muny.

Heteronormativy is the iology that driv many heterosexual men to be particularly aware of gay dory cu as they strive to protect their exprsns of masculy through their lguistic performanc. This iology is what prompted me to hi my “gay accent” as a child—I was tryg to f this ialized heteronormative mold, I was tryg to appear heterosexual, I was tryg to sound normal. Dpe beg an abstractn and an unreliable system, gaydar seems to be ditive of an sential distctn between speech muni.

In particular, s existence emphasiz that gay speakers the Uned Stat share certa lguistic variabl as a part of their lguistic repertoir. Ultimately, the lguistic repertoir that are symptomatic of a functng gaydar form the lguistic hab shared by members of the English-speakg gay speech muny.