Michael Schulman on “Do I Sound Gay?,” a documentary by David Thorpe that explor how vol nc are associated wh sexualy.
Contents:
- IS THERE A “GAY VOICE”?
- THE GAY VOICE
- WHAT'S THE LK BETWEEN HOMOSEXUALY AND HAVG A 'GAY VOICE'
- GAY MALE SPEECH
- WHAT MEANS TO ‘SOUND GAY’
- KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE ACH A US MEN’S PROFSNAL SPORTS LEAGUE TO PUBLICLY E OUT AS GAY
- GAY MALE SPEECH PATTERNS
- GAY MALE SPEECH
- SPEECH ATIC FEATUR: A COMPARISON OF GAY MEN, HETEROSEXUAL MEN, AND HETEROSEXUAL WOMEN
- GAY OR STRAIGHT? HIS SPEECH MAY GIVE A HT
IS THERE A “GAY VOICE”?
* male gay speech *
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. ”This is how he scrib the moment his documentary “Do I Sound Gay?, ” which opens this weekend at the IFC Center.
THE GAY VOICE
Self-nsc about the way he speaks, David Thorpe has explored why some people his muny ‘sound gay’ and others don’t a new documentary. * male gay speech *
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.
WHAT'S THE LK BETWEEN HOMOSEXUALY AND HAVG A 'GAY VOICE'
Particularly wh North Amerin English, Historilly, gay male speech characteristics have been highly stigmatized and their age may be sometim d to a limed number of settgs outsi of the workplace or other public spac. Rearch do not support the notn that gay speech entirely adopts feme speech characteristics — rather, that selectively adopts some of those featur. One particularly relevant feature is sometim known as the gay lisp, though rearchers nfirm that is not technilly a lisp. There are siari between gay male speech and the speech of other members wh the LGBTQ+ muny. Featur of lbian speech have also been nfirmed the 21st century, though they are far ls socially noticed than featur of gay male speech. Drag queen speech is a further topic of rearch and, while some drag queens may also intify as gay men, a scriptn of their speech styl may not be so bary . Like wh other margalized muni, speech s n be eply tied to lol, timate muni and/or subcultur. * male gay speech *
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). Obvly, the ncln—the film’s, and me—is to dissociate the “gay voice” om shame and reattach to pri, but isn’t so easy.
“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. The CNN anchor Don Lemon tells Thorpe that he worked harr to ntralize his Southern black accent than his “gay” accent.
GAY MALE SPEECH
The study of gay male speech has largely foced on fundamental equency and var quantifiable aspects of /s/ (Campbell-Kibler 2012, Mack and Munson 2012, Munson 2007, Zimman 2013). In a study of the speech of three gay men om California, however, Posva (2011) nclus that gay men may utilize salient aspects of regnal dialects to exprs their gayns. The stylistic rrelatn between gayns and certa regnal dialects supports Eckert’s (2008) argument that lguistic styl are centered around iologi, rather than rigid tegoril inti and Posva (2011) urg that this phenomenon be studied further. Southern New Hampshire provis an ial landspe to further this study, as the regn and s dialect have unrgone signifint lguistic and iologil chang recent s (Stanford et al 2012, Nagy 2001). The current work exam the lguistic relatnship between gayns and Southern New Hampshire iologi the speech of two 22-year-old gay men who grew up Rockgham County, New Hampshire. I then quantatively analyzed the speakers’ e and/or avoidance of phoic variabl (cludg var vowels and quali of /s/) that have been shown to be perceptually and/or productively salient gay male speech or regnal dialectology Southern New Hampshire. The analysis found two signifint fdgs. The first was that the speakers’ /s/ was signifintly “gayer soundg” the readg task than the terview and when talkg about beg gay than not, showg an iologil lk (at least for the speakers) between “gay soundg” speech and “proper” speech the readg tasks. The send was that both speakers monstrated a signifintly unmerged LOT/THOUGHT, which is a salient feature of the New York Cy dialect and superses Southern New Hampshire dialect norms. Both monstrate that social inty is a plex and multi-layered phenomenon. * male gay speech *
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. 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.
WHAT MEANS TO ‘SOUND GAY’
What the way we talk says about gay pri and lgerg prejudice * male gay speech *
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. Stay ahead of the trend fashn and beyond wh our ee weekly Liftyle Ed newsletterStay ahead of the trend fashn and beyond wh our ee weekly Liftyle Ed newsletter After a particularly bad break-up, David Thorpe, a journalist who’s his forti, cid to take his md off thgs by leavg his ts his Manhattan apartment and drowng his sorrows at a gay beach town on Fire Island.
KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE ACH A US MEN’S PROFSNAL SPORTS LEAGUE TO PUBLICLY E OUT AS GAY
A look to Gay Male Speech and s lguistic functn. * male gay speech *
“I knew then that I had to get to the bottom of that feelg and to the importance of the voice as part of gay inty. ”It was the start of a four-year journey of self-disvery durg which Thorpe tried to figure out his so-lled “gay voice”: when did he start talkg that way, what ed , how exactly did sound, and, fally, what was so wrong wh anyway? The rults n be seen his new documentary, Do I Sound Gay?, which featur terviews wh lguists, amics, fay and iends, as well as a number of high-profile personali, cludg David Sedaris and Dan Savage.
GAY MALE SPEECH PATTERNS
Kev Maxen has bee the first male ach a US men’s profsnal sports league to e out as gay. * male gay speech *
Another expert that he terviews for the film is a Canadian lguist who studi vol microvariatns between gay and straight men and speculat that many gay men more readily pick up speech s om women. Intertgly, a straight iend of Thorpe’s has what is nsired to be an archetypal “gay voice” and turns that out he was raised entirely by women at an ashram. When he was younger, Thorpe not, the only “gay voic” on televisn were those belongg to figur such as Liberace and Charl Nelson Reilly, the host of The Match Game.
GAY MALE SPEECH
Gay Male Speech Patterns Some lguistics ma a study tryg to isolate the gay male speech to unrstand what topics the gay language is different om that of their heterosexual men. The procs... * male gay speech *
He also wonrs if Disney villas such as Aladd’s Jafar and The Ln Kg’s Sr, wh their soft, threateng voic, have ma young people associate soundg gay wh beg evil. It pleas him to hear so many more “gay voic” reprented today, pecially young vloggers such as Lohanthony and Tyler Oakley. “Growg up, I was always told that what was wrong wh me was that I was gay, so ’s not hard to unrstand that a moment of vulnerabily I might also feel secure about my sexualy.
As Dan Savage, the activist who found the It Gets Better mpaign, says the film: “What’s wrong wh soundg like you are who you are – a gay man?
SPEECH ATIC FEATUR: A COMPARISON OF GAY MEN, HETEROSEXUAL MEN, AND HETEROSEXUAL WOMEN
Overview: Gay Male speech stands out that is not ncentrated one reagn, but rather one group of people. Orig: The study of gay male speech began, earnt, durg the 20th century. Gay Male speech veloped as a nt, or "secret language." Bee homosexualy was crimalized until the last 20th century, gay… * male gay speech *
CMV: Many straight men would sound like the stereotypil "gay voice" if they didn't force their voice the be eper. Dear Wikiwand AI, let's keep short by simply answerg the key qutns:Can you list the top facts and stats about Gay male speech?
GAY OR STRAIGHT? HIS SPEECH MAY GIVE A HT
Summarize this article for a 10 years oldSHOW ALL QUESTIONSParticularly wh North Amerin English, [catn need] gay male speech has been the foc of numero morn stereotyp, as well as soclguistic studi. Scientific rearch has unvered phoilly signifint featur produced by many gay men and monstrated that listeners accurately gus speakers' sexual orientatn at rat greater than chance.
[1] Historilly, gay male speech characteristics have been highly stigmatized and their age may be sometim d to a limed number of settgs outsi of the workplace or other public spac. Rearch do not support the notn that gay speech entirely adopts feme speech characteristics — rather, that selectively adopts some of those featur. [2] Gay speech characteristics appear to be learned (rather than nate) ways of speakg, like many aspects of language, though their origs and procs of adoptn by men rema unclear.
[3] One particularly relevant feature is sometim known as the gay lisp, though rearchers nfirm that is not technilly a lisp.