‘Do I Sound Gay?’ asks tough qutns about ternalized homophobia - The Washgton Post

Contents:

• DO I SOUND GAY?
• A DOCUMENTARIAN WONRS: 'DO I SOUND GAY?'
• DO I SOUND GAY? REVIEW – HIGHLY PERSONAL DOCUMENTARY
• REVIEW: ‘DO I SOUND GAY?’ EXAM A MANNER OF SPEAKG
• "DO I SOUND GAY?"
• 'DO I SOUND GAY?' REVIEW: ONE MAN'S STGGLE TO TAME HIS LILTG SPEECH
• BE YOUR OWN SELF: THE LSONS OF 'DO I SOUND GAY?' AND 'TANGERE'
• ‘DO I SOUND GAY?’ ASKS TOUGH QUTNS ABOUT TERNALIZED HOMOPHOBIA
• THE SUBTLE LANGUAGE OF SOUNDG GAY
• DO I SOUND GAY? (2015)
• FILM REVIEW: ‘DO I SOUND GAY?’
• FILMMAKER DAVID THORPE DISCS HIS NEW DOCUMENTARY THAT EXPLOR THE ‘GAY VOICE’ PHENOMENON

DO I SOUND GAY?

Fdg himself sudnly sgle and his 40s, filmmaker David Thorpe cis to take a ep dive to his psyche, tryg to figure out what means to be a morn gay man. He wants to fd out more about his speech patterns and whether he has what some might scribe as a "gay accent"...

A DOCUMENTARIAN WONRS: 'DO I SOUND GAY?'

From there, he expands his foc to social norms the larger gay muny, cludg vol habs, and how certa tras have e to be seen as stereotypil homosexual tras.

DO I SOUND GAY? REVIEW – HIGHLY PERSONAL DOCUMENTARY

What do Thorpe's examatn of his speech patterns reveal about the broar gay muny?

Filmmaker David Thorpe (middle) explor whether there's such a thg as a "gay voice.

REVIEW: ‘DO I SOUND GAY?’ EXAM A MANNER OF SPEAKG

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.

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. 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.

'DO I SOUND GAY?' REVIEW: ONE MAN'S STGGLE TO TAME HIS LILTG SPEECH

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. A cheerful, highly personal vtigatn to queer cultural inty, Do I Sound Gay?

BE YOUR OWN SELF: THE LSONS OF 'DO I SOUND GAY?' AND 'TANGERE'

He asks assorted iends, experts and entertaers for their take on the meang and origs of what we thk of as the morn “gay voice”, while warily takg a urse of speech trag to learn to “-swch, but volnally” (I’m not sure what means, but volv him walkg around New York mutterg “tilapia, tilapia”) the terviewe are the imably voiced humorist David Sedaris (“Do I really sound like a woman? Thorpe’s exploratn ultimately sh as much light on US homophobia as do on gay inty self, and he ends up, as you might expect, strikg a very Amerin note of self-affirmatn (“Maybe I was jt tryg to rennect, ” he nclus).

Directed by David ThorpeDocumentaryNot Rated1h 17mJuly 9, 2015David Thorpe’s engagg personal documentary, “Do I Sound Gay?, ” tipto to treachero waters, where stirs up a few rippl before gracefully backg out. Not so long ago, mockery of the sissy queen stereotype, wh a limp wrist, a mcg ga and a lisp was a surefire lgh getter for edians like Bob Hope, who ma cel sport of perceived knows how many men have been bullied, beaten up or even murred for maniftg telltale ditns of gayns?

Even the post-Stonewall era, men perceived as gay are subject to btal Thorpe, who is gay, wrote, produced and directed the film, which he terviews close iends and gay celebri, cludg David Sedaris, Gee Takei, Dan Savage, Don Lemon and Tim Gunn about their voic. VioThe Brooklyn filmmaker discs his documentary “Do I Sound Gay?, ” about his qut to better unrstand his voice.

‘DO I SOUND GAY?’ ASKS TOUGH QUTNS ABOUT TERNALIZED HOMOPHOBIA

Liberace and Pl Lyn are ced as embodiments of the flamboyant gay qutn of why the mannerisms of so many gay men f a stereotype is asked but never satisfactorily answered, partly bee the movie ncentrat on voic and ignor overall behavr.

One gay man who grew up wh brothers who were athlet ascrib his straight-actg body language to his sports-md fay. Or is the sire to be untectable a maniftatn of shame and ternalized homophobia? Sedaris, who says he has been mistaken for a woman on the telephone, nfs that he feels good when someone tells him, “I didn’t know you were gay, ” and adds somewhat sheepishly, “I thought I was beyond that.

THE SUBTLE LANGUAGE OF SOUNDG GAY

His disvery of how many gay men share his anxiety and disfort leads him to greater self-acceptance. Dear Wikiwand AI, let's keep short by simply answerg the key qutns:Can you list the top facts and stats about Do I Sound Gay?? Summarize this article for a 10 years oldSHOW ALL QUESTIONSDo I Sound Gay?

DO I SOUND GAY? (2015)

Is a 2014 Amerin documentary film by David Thorpe[3] that explor the existence and accuracy of stereotyp about the speech patterns of gay men, [4] and the ways which one's gree of nformy to the stereotype n ntribute to ternalized homophobia. "Charmg, wry, a pellg portra of ternalized homophobia and liberatn" — NPR.

”—one of summer 2015’s mt see documentari acrdg to Entertament Weekly—is a new film by David Thorpe, a gay Whe Amerin wrer based Brooklyn, New York. Through a seri of terviews and teractns wh Thorpe’s iends and relativ, a few celebri, and random strangers on the streets, we hear a spectm of perspectiv about what “sounds gay” and why soundg as such is perceived as bad. Many of the gay men the film adm to beg que fortable wh the sounds of their voic, not fully unrstandg why Thorpe would feel so strongly about his voice that he would even vis a speech pathologist and a celebry vol traer to get rid of his “gay voice.

FILM REVIEW: ‘DO I SOUND GAY?’

” However, most of the gay men the film were able to relate to the secury of havg a more feme voice and some even relled tim that their “gay soundg” voic (and general gay inti) had led to gettg bullied or worse. Overall, the film do a nice job of explorg a very real but largely unseen, unheard, and perhaps unspoken psychologil stggle that many gay men may have. As psychology profsors and rearchers, the first thg that popped to our mds while watchg the film was the ncept of ternalized opprsn, particularly ternalized homophobia* (please see note below about the term “homophobia”), which may be fed as the negative attus that LGBTQ people have about themselv bee of their sexual orientatns.

We believe ternalized homophobia is why a gay man would dislike soundg feme.

FILMMAKER DAVID THORPE DISCS HIS NEW DOCUMENTARY THAT EXPLOR THE ‘GAY VOICE’ PHENOMENON

” We believe ternalized homophobia is why “soundg ls like a man” would make a gay man view himself as ferr and unsirable, even to the ey (or ears) of other gay men. In this regard for our LGBTQ brothers and sisters, rearch suggts that people velop ternalized homophobia bee they learned that beg different or genr nonnformg was bad (om their fai, iends, society general) and so they also learned not to love themselv.

In other words, people have ternalized, accepted, or believed the homophobic msag that society has imposed upon them. So beg strsed out and psychologilly bothered by “soundg gay"—to the pot that one’s self-teem and other aspects of one’s life are negatively affected—is a very tellg “symptom” of ternalized homophobia.

Several other terviewe the movie also shared other mon ncepts that are related to, if not signs of, ternalized homophobia, cludg “passg” (i.

For example, thor David Sedaris talked about stanc which others may have prumed that he was heterosexual and he retrospectively ponrs what many gay men may also wonr: “Why do passg as straight make me feel good? In addn, as a gay man, the first thor (Kev) also knows what ’s like to be ostracized for his high-pched, loud, and flamboyant voice. This wispread societal margalizatn of the “gay voice” and pretty much everythg that is “gay” is very real, as most if not all of are socialized or tght to associate negativy, ferry, and “otherns” wh beg gay.

) n attt to this wispread homophobia as he has wnsed – and even participated – many such stanc of otherg, teasg, and bullyg gay men, pecially those who speak wh high-pched, highly-feme, and flamboyantly “gay voic. By the end of the film, Thorpe proclaimed that he has bee fortable wh the “gayns” of his voice. We believe, however, that two of the other celebry terviewe—Dan Savage and Tim Gunn—more profoundly sum up the perfect batn of what many gay men stggle wh when to their voic.

Author Dan Savage stat that their voic are the “last chunk of ternalized homophobia” that gay men stggle wh. They have strong gay male iendships and even stronger romantic relatnships and partnerships. Rearch suggts that opprsn— this se homophobia or heterosexism—n be ternalized so eply that even those of who are most aware, most cril, and most “liberated” (or “lonized” as some other margalized peopl may refer to ) may still be affected by .

So for our LGBTQ brothers and sisters, they n love themselv and be proud of their inti, but that ltle piece of ternalized homophobia might always exist.

Dpe this, we’d like to thk that we uld at least beg to bat ternalized homophobia simply by changg the fn of “normal.

“Now, when people say ‘You sound gay, ' I simply turn to them and say ‘Thank you! D., is an Associate Profsor of Psychology at the Cy Universy of New York, the Executive Director of CLAGS: The Center for LGBTQ Studi, and the thor of That’s So Gay! *Note: Instead of “homophobia, ” some folks may e the term “heterosexism” – and this se “ternalized heterosexism” – which has been argued to be a more appropriate term given that anti-LGBTQ prejudice is not jt an dividual-level, clil-soundg problem (as the term “phobia” impli), but is also a wispread form of opprsn that is rooted our culture, society, and stutns.

For this piece, however, we e the term “homophobia” as is more regnized by the general society and is the term heard often the “Do I Sound Gay? More a display for David Thorpe's ternalised homophobia than an actual documentary explorg the so-lled "gay voice", which has ptered almost all of gays at one time or another, Do I Sound Gay? Never outstays s wele and featur some tertg tellectual nourishment but s slight nature and rather limed subject matter renrs this stantly fettable, if ed notable for s great terviews wh the lik of Dan Savage (the go-to terviewee every gay documentary ever), Gee Takei and Margaret Cho.