In a new documentary, a gay man tri to change the sound of his voice and wonrs why, exactly, he thks he should.
Contents:
- A DOCUMENTARIAN WONRS: 'DO I SOUND GAY?'
- THIS IS WHY SOME MEN ‘SOUND GAY’ – EVEN IF THEY’RE NOT
- DO YOU SOUND GAY? WHAT OUR VOIC TELL – AND WHAT THEY DON’T
- WHAT'S THE LK BETWEEN HOMOSEXUALY AND HAVG A 'GAY VOICE'
- THE GAY VOICE
A DOCUMENTARIAN WONRS: 'DO I SOUND GAY?'
* why do i sound so 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.
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. * why do i sound so gay *
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. 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.
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.
DO YOU SOUND GAY? WHAT OUR VOIC TELL – AND WHAT THEY DON’T
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 * why do i sound so gay *
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. You haven’t – at least that moment, at that party – exhibed the mannerisms lked many people’s mds wh male homosexualy.
WHAT'S THE LK BETWEEN HOMOSEXUALY AND HAVG A 'GAY VOICE'
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.
THE GAY VOICE
His qut to unrstand why he talks the way he do is the subject of a new documentary, Do I Sound Gay?