Is There a “Gay Voice”? | The New Yorker

Contents:

• THIS IS WHY SOME MEN ‘SOUND GAY’ – EVEN IF THEY’RE NOT
• ‘WHO SOUNDS GAY?’
• WANT TO GET RID OF YOUR 'GAY ACCENT'? THERE'S AN APP FOR THAT
• WHAT MEANS TO 'SOUND GAY'
• THE GAY VOICE
• IS THERE A “GAY VOICE”?
• WHAT MEANS TO ‘SOUND GAY’
• DO YOU SOUND GAY? WHAT OUR VOIC TELL – AND WHAT THEY DON’T
• WHAT DO IT MEAN TO SOUND GAY?
• "DO I SOUND GAY?"

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

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.

In the wake of the whole Newsweek gay actors thg, Details sought out the wisdom of longtime voice ach Bob Corff, who helps actors get rid of Gay what, exactly, is the difference between a straight male voice and a gay male voice?

‘WHO SOUNDS GAY?’

I don't want to offend anyone wh this qutn but seems like gay people (pecially men) some tim have a certa tonaly to their voice that is siar to other gay guys. Sorry if I sound homophobic or some sh, I am really not, but that's jt a qutn that crossed my md and I n't thk of a reasonable explanatn.

" It's a fascatg and nuanced film, which the filmmaker, David Thorpe, his feelgs about his voice to look at attus toward homosexualy.

WANT TO GET RID OF YOUR 'GAY ACCENT'? THERE'S AN APP FOR THAT

It rais a plited discsn about gay pri, lgerg homophobia, disguised misogyny, and the extent to which we all alter the image that we prent to the world. He rri out thoughtful nversatns wh his iends and proment gay and lbian figur — cludg Gee Takei, David Sedaris, Dan Savage, Margaret Cho and Don Lemon — about what means to "sound gay. In a study published 2003, Ron Smyth, a lguist at the Universy of Toronto, found that participants readily separated rerdgs of 25 diverse voic to those who "sound gay" and those who "sound straight.

" People picked up on featur of the gay stereotype — voic that were higher and more melod were more often labeled "gay. In another small study at the Universy of Hawaii, both gay and straight listeners were equally as likely to misclassify people as gay or straight. It turns out that what most people perceive as a stereotypil "gay voice" is jt a male voice that sounds more stereotypilly feme -- maly, higher pched and more melod.

Smyth and other rearchers say some men, both gay and straight, velop more feme voic bee they are fluenced by women when young.

WHAT MEANS TO 'SOUND GAY'

For gay men, adoptg what's lled "mp" -- a theatril gay accent, like an old-school starlet -- n be a way of embracg their inty.

Benjam Munson, who studi language and speech at the Universy of Mnota, found one study that gay men did e a slightly different pronunciatn than straight men.

However, the difference wasn't the stereotypil "gay voice, " but a tenncy to e a more ntemporary, pan-Amerin accent, rather than the old-fashned Mnota accent (as the movie "Fargo"). " shows that even men who are out and proud may still rry wh them some shame about havg a stereotypil "gay voice, " even if those feelgs are subnsc. Dan Savage, a gay activist and thor, argu the film that this is a natural nsequence of boys beg bullied for walkg and talkg a certa way when they are young.

THE GAY VOICE

"[B]ee we do still live a misogynist and sexist culture, people cricize men who are effemate, whether or not they are gay, " says Thorpse. "This is really an issue of genr that then be an issue of sexual orientatn that then be an issue of homophobia, " Thorpe said.

He grew up the Bible Belt the 1980s, when homosexualy was often nsired evil and the e of a new plague lled AIDS, Thorpe says.

IS THERE A “GAY VOICE”?

As Thorpe pots out the film, there have long been public entertaers or artists wh stereotypilly "gay voic" — Liberace or Tman Capote, for example -- but few people openly talked about their homosexualy. And when characters wh "gay" mannerisms or voic appeared popular culture, they were sometim d wh negative or sid meangs. From the 1940s on, Amerin film saw the rise of a sni, supercil, and vaguely gay villa, startg wh the manipulative Clifton Webb the tective noir film "Lra.

WHAT MEANS TO ‘SOUND GAY’

For example, film historian Richard Barrs argu the film that many of the Disney villas have simperg voic or mannerisms that are subtly — or not so subtly — stereotypilly gay, cludg Prce John "Rob Hood, " Sr "The Ln Kg, " and many more,. " (This is a play on a "Nilla wafer" — a kd of okie -- and the word "nelly, " a rogatory term for gay men, says Thorpe.

He pots to Hollywood's proment "gaylebri, " like Jse Tyler Fergon and Neil Patrick Harris, and young gay YouTube stars like Tyler Oakley, Kgsley and Lohanthony. "We are pneers our time changg societal perceptn of what means to be gay, " Gee Takei, who played Sulu "Star Trek, " says the film. Many actors work to make their voic sound mascule: In the film, Bob Corff, a Hollywood speech therapist that Thorpe viss, says 20 to 50 people a year e to him to sound "ls 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. Not long after Thorpe broke up wh his boyiend, he began thkg about the way he speaks, and the way other gay men speak, and why both sudnly bothered him so much.

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

He terviews gay public figur, cludg David Sedaris, Tim Gunn, Don Lemon, and Gee Takei, who have had to listen to themselv for a livg. Gay adolcents, Thorpe pots out, often learn that the “tell” of their sexualy is their voic, even more so than physily—a limp wrist is easier to straighten out than an flectn.

Even wh the gay datg muny (and gay porn), hyper-masculy is habually prized, so self-disgt gets easily turned back outward. Thorpe talks to a straight iend who sounds “gay” (he grew up on an ashram, surround by women), and a gay iend who sounds “straight” (he has jock brothers).

WHAT DO IT MEAN TO SOUND GAY?

“For many gay men, that’s the last vtige, that’s the last chunk of ternalized homophobia, is this hatred of how they sound, ” Dan Savage tells Thorpe. One of the ways gay people tend to pensate, the film suggts, is to adopt the supercil speech patterns of the leisure class, i. As gays and lbians ga cultural pal, helped along by equaly victori like the one jt hand down by the Supreme Court, “gay voice” will surely evolve, too.

"DO I SOUND GAY?"

” It’s a fascatg and nuanced film, which the filmmaker, David Thorpe,  his feelgs about his voice to look at attus toward homosexualy.

It rais a plited discsn about gay pri, lgerg homophobia, disguised misogyny, and the extent to which we all alter the image that we prent to the the film begs, Thorpe is disturbed bee he realiz he don’t like his voice any more. He rri out thoughtful nversatns wh his iends and proment gay and lbian figur – cludg Gee Takei, David Sedaris, Dan Savage, Margaret Cho and Don Lemon – about what means to “sound gay. But so dog, v everyone to thk about what their own voice says about who they are, where they me om, and where they want to science of “the gay voice”To start wh, the stereotypil “gay voice” isn’t necsarily a study published 2003, Ron Smyth, a lguist at the Universy of Toronto, found that participants readily separated rerdgs of 25 diverse voic to those who “sound gay” and those who “sound straight.

” People picked up on featur of the gay stereotype – voic that were higher and more melod were more often labeled "gay. In Smyth's study, people rrectly gused a man’s sexualy about 60 percent of the time, only a ltle better than another small study at the Universy of Hawaii, both gay and straight listeners were equally as likely to misclassify people as gay or straight.