Of lisps and lguistics: The power of the gay voice

Contents:

• OF LISPS AND LGUISTICS: THE POWER OF THE GAY VOICE
• IS THERE A REASON WHY A LOT OF GAY MEN SPEAK WH A LISP?
• WHY IS ANY GUY WH A LISP ASSUMED TO BE GAY?
• THE GAY VOICE
• THE PREVALENCE OF LISPG GAY MEN
• WHY DO GAY GUYS SPEAK WH A LISP??
• WHAT MEANS TO ‘SOUND GAY’
• GAY LISP
• GAY PCH, LISP?
• WHY DO GAY MEN TALK SO FUNNY?
• WHAT DO LIMP WRISTS HAVE TO DO WH GAY MEN?

OF LISPS AND LGUISTICS: THE POWER OF THE GAY VOICE

The prent study examed the popular stereotype that gay men lisp by evaluatg to what extent listeners associated ntal or ontal articulatn/lispg wh gayns.

Based on the ratgs of the listeners of the prent study, lispg speakers were signifintly more often judged to be homosexual.

This was te for the group as a whole as well as for the subgroup of homosexual and heterosexual men separately. Furthermore, there was no signifint genr difference wh rpect to associatg lispg wh gayns.

IS THERE A REASON WHY A LOT OF GAY MEN SPEAK WH A LISP?

The rults of this study nfirmed prev prelimary fdgs that suggted that ontal or ntal articulatn/lispg is a feature that listeners associate wh gayns.

Grapplg wh the issue of homosexualy: perceptns, attus, and beliefs among high school stunts Kenya. Inferenc About Sexual Orientatn: The Rol of Stereotyp, Fac, and The Gaydar Myth.

WHY IS ANY GUY WH A LISP ASSUMED TO BE GAY?

When Universy of Toronto rearchers Ron Smyth and Henry Rogers nducted a study on the so-lled “gay voice” the early 2000s, they me to an unsurprisg ncln.

THE GAY VOICE

When openly gay humour wrer David Sedaris lls down to the ont sk at a hotel, for example, he is often addrsed as “ma’am, ” by the ncierge; a mischaracterizatn that lights him, but also fills him wh ep shame. Sedaris expounds on this feelg Do I Sound Gay?, an Amerin documentary starrg Brooklyn filmmaker David Thorpe that premiered this week at Doc NYC, and was featured at the Toronto Internatnal Film Ftival September.

Thorpe, who directed the film and promoted at TIFF wh sex lumnist Dan Savage (who also mak an appearance the film), wanted to explore this shame and answer a qutn that has been on his md his entire adult life: Why do so many gay men who are seemgly fortable wh their sexualy hate the way their voic sound? Thorpe never liked the sound of his own slightly effemate voice, but was the sound of other gay men’s voic that propelled him to make the film.

THE PREVALENCE OF LISPG GAY MEN

“I was on a tra ri to Fire Island [off Long Island] and I heard all the gay voic around me, and I was repelled, ” he says. “I uldn’t believe that after 20 years of beg out and fightg to create a gay muny, I was repulsed by my own people, and by myself. In Do I Sound Gay?, Thorpe not only exam the myster, unrolved orig of the gay voice (characterized by a lisp and the elongatn of certa syllabl), but tri and fails, to rid himself of his own gayish flectn.

He practis a variety of voice epeng, speech therapy exercis—employed equently we learn, by closeted gay actors who want to butch up their voic for a straight dience. Savage, whose sex advice lumn is syndited ternatnally, says he se this distaste for the stereotypil gay voice progrsive straight muni, too.

WHY DO GAY GUYS SPEAK WH A LISP??

Savage often gets mail om straight people who are happy to accept their newly out, gay male iends, but who are equally annoyed by how “mpy” they sound. “I’ll get letters om straight men and women sayg, ‘I love my gay iend but why do he have to act this way? But ’s also easy to see why a closeted gay kid might want to -swch for other, more unrstated reasons, too.

But is rare, even today, that a good, virtuo character has an explicly gay-soundg voice a kid’s movie.

WHAT MEANS TO ‘SOUND GAY’

In the end, the greatt irony about the arguably misogynistic aversn to the gay voice—as a sign of meekns and spelsns—is how strong one has to be to actually e . “To leave the hoe as the credibly swishy, fierce gay hairdrser tak a lot more urage than to leave the hoe as Jason Colls, ” says Savage, referrg to the NBA player who ma history earlier this year when he me out of the closet.

GAY LISP

idk why but the high pched voice and slight lisp (i dont thk lisp is the right word, there's jt somethg that stands out about the S but isnt a full TH noise like a lisp) is very stereotypil of gay guys, but only a uple of the gay guys i know irl actually speak like this. It jt always seemed to me to be a flamboyant thg that immediately poted people out as gay and seems to be much more mon gay celebri famo for beg gay than actual real life people.

GAY PCH, LISP?

When media began to place more and more gay men to the spotlight they went wh stereotyped gay men ( you rarely see a gay man the media who isn't Obvly gay) and so the ial for a gay man to anyone growg up on this media was the flamboyant type wh that lisp. As a rult orr to "F " as the OP said a lot of gay men are jt playg out the stereotype. I've been out for over twenty years and known hundreds if not thoands of gay men and I actually n't thk of any who spoke wh a lisp.

WHY DO GAY MEN TALK SO FUNNY?

I jt asked my partner if he knows any gay men who speak wh a lisp and he also said no.

WHAT DO LIMP WRISTS HAVE TO DO WH GAY MEN?

There are fely certa nc that many gay men fall to when speakg wh each other but a lisp? There are a large amount of gay men I've met that f the stereotype their speakg, but I've never thought "lisp" was the right word.

And of urse this isn't all gay men, but this is one stereotype that om somewhere. I've met many gay men, and I n actually only thk of one who didn't have "the voice". I have, however, met one boy who was a Sophomore high school who intified as straight who had "the voice" as well.