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
Contents:
- THIS IS WHY SOME MEN ‘SOUND GAY’ – EVEN IF THEY’RE NOT
- THE GAY VOICE
- WHO SOUNDS GAY?
- DO YOU SOUND GAY? WHAT OUR VOIC TELL – AND WHAT THEY DON’T
- A DOCUMENTARIAN WONRS: 'DO I SOUND GAY?'
- HOMOSEXUAL MEN WHO ‘SOUND GAY’ AL WH MORE DISCRIMATN, STUDY SAYS
- WHO SOUNDS ‘GAY’?
THIS IS WHY SOME MEN ‘SOUND GAY’ – EVEN IF THEY’RE NOT
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. * straight guys who sound gay *
Why do some gay men “sound” gay? After intifyg phoic characteristics that seem to make a man’s voice sound gay, their bt hunch is that some gay men may subnscly adopt certa female speech patterns. They want to know how men acquire this manner of speakg, and why – pecially when society so often stigmatiz those wh gay-soundg voic.
Rogers and Smyth are also explorg the stereotyp that gay men sound effemate and are regnized by the way they speak. They asked people to listen to rerdgs of 25 men, 17 of them gay. Perhaps fewer than half of gay men sound gay, says Rogers.
THE GAY VOICE
This short documentary explor the reasons that some men sound stereotypilly gay, whether they are or not. * straight guys who sound gay *
The straightt-soundg voice the study was fact a gay man, and the sixth gayt-soundg voice was a straight man.
Tle: Who Sounds “Gay“?
WHO SOUNDS GAY?
* straight guys who sound gay *
Summary: This short documentary explor one theory of why some people sound stereotypilly “gay. I’ve always wonred why some men sound gay and others don’t.
DO YOU SOUND GAY? WHAT OUR VOIC TELL – AND WHAT THEY DON’T
In a new documentary, a gay man tri to change the sound of his voice and wonrs why, exactly, he thks he should. * straight guys who sound gay *
To me Kris sounds gay and Matt sounds straight. The cleart most lady-like gay one. And ’s not so much that a kid who is gog to be gay later life is gog to say I want to sound like a woman, so much as a kid is intifyg here is a particular speaker, and here is a particular of that person’s speech that ptur what I fd so engagg about them and I’m gog to emulate that.
People want gay men to be like women and maybe they picked up on the fact that many of the characteristics of gay- soundg voic are feme characteristics but they’ve got all wrong. Bee a lot of those gay-soundg voic are om straight guys.
I knew I was gay when I was like 11. Do I have a gay voice?
A DOCUMENTARIAN WONRS: 'DO I SOUND GAY?'
Rearchers say homosexual men who believe their voice "sounds gay" nscly make an effort to be "more vigilant" social suatns. * straight guys who sound gay *
The big problem i have is when people assume I’m not [gay] and then I’m anx are they gog to say somethg stupid? In the end, if someone thks I’m gay, then they’re wrong...
CMV: Many straight men would sound like the stereotypil "gay voice" if they didn't force their voice the be eper. “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.
HOMOSEXUAL MEN WHO ‘SOUND GAY’ AL WH MORE DISCRIMATN, STUDY SAYS
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?
WHO SOUNDS ‘GAY’?
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. 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.