The Gay Voice - Universy of Toronto Magaze

Contents:

• THE GAY VOICE
• THIS IS WHY SOME MEN ‘SOUND GAY’ – EVEN IF THEY’RE NOT
• WHY DO GAY MEN SOUND LIKE ~THAT~?
• WHAT DO MEAN TO SOUND GAY?

THE GAY VOICE

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.

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

Perhaps fewer than half of gay men sound gay, says Rogers. The straightt-soundg voice the study was fact a gay man, and the sixth gayt-soundg voice was a straight man.

An exploratn of the gay accent and how beme popularized ( @jvn / Instagram)As most people are acctomed to believe, gay men have a very “gay” sound when they speak. But is the gay accent even real?

WHY DO GAY MEN SOUND LIKE ~THAT~?

*DisclaimerFor one, this phenomenon is referred to as “gay speak” to avoid unnecsary stereotypg.

WHAT DO MEAN TO SOUND GAY?

Acrdg to Radice, lguists often viate away om the popular assumptn that gay men sound more effemate bee not everyone falls to the “box. What is "gay speak"? One of the most valuable lsons I learned this terview is that gay speak don’t have an exact formula.

Radice emphasized that when analyzg gay speak, ’s more important to foc on an dividual se rather than a populatn as a whole. For example, a gay man whose first language is Spanish and who grew up New York is gog to speak drastilly different than a gay man whose first language is English and who grew up Texas.

Now, what exactly is gay speak? When speakg to Radice, he mentned the 2014 documentary tled Do I Sound Gay?