Of lisps and lguistics: The power of the gay voice

Contents:

• THE PREVALENCE OF LISPG GAY MEN
• WHY DO GAY GUYS SPEAK WH A LISP??
• IS THERE A REASON WHY A LOT OF GAY MEN SPEAK WH A LISP?
• OF LISPS AND LGUISTICS: THE POWER OF THE GAY VOICE
• WHY IS ANY GUY WH A LISP ASSUMED TO BE GAY?
• IS THERE A “GAY VOICE”?
• THE "GAY" LISP, IS REAL OR IS FORCED?
• GAY LISP
• WHAT MEANS TO ‘SOUND GAY’
• THE GAY LISP?

THE PREVALENCE OF LISPG GAY MEN

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.

WHY DO GAY GUYS SPEAK WH A LISP??

This was te for the group as a whole as well as for the subgroup of homosexual and heterosexual men separately. 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.

Two clicians who were unaware of the specific purpose of the study and the populatns volved judged randomized d-rerdgs of 175 gay mal, 100 heterosexual mal and 100 heterosexual femal for the prence of lispg durg readg of a standardized text. In the gay mal a signifintly higher prevalence of lispg was found than the heterosexual mal and femal. Breakdown of the rults of the gay participants two different age groups showed a higher prevalence of lispg the younger age group than the olr age group.

No relatn was found between lispg and age of g-out or lispg and the probabily of beg gay as asssed by a qutnnaire about sexual orientatn. Learng out: The rears of this article will able (1) to discs articulatory behavur as a possible marker that may distguish gay om heterosexual men (2) to discs the prevalence of lispg gay by (0)1aspirant van het Fonds voor Wetenschappelijk Onrzoek full textCopyright © 2008 Elsevier Inc.

IS THERE A REASON WHY A LOT OF GAY MEN SPEAK WH A 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. 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. 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.

OF LISPS AND LGUISTICS: THE POWER OF THE GAY VOICE

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. I have, however, met one boy who was a Sophomore high school who intified as straight who had "the voice" as well.

Though I thk this uld be the se for some (as they take on "the voice" orr to be noticed and regnized by other gay guys) I have a iend I ma this year who is gay and has the voice, and jt spis gay stereotyp.

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

He hat drag, he hat gay guys who are overly "mpy" and is jt repulsed by all of , he says do nothg for him sexually and he also feels giv the rt of the gay muny a bad name. I fd tertg that there's no clear answer about the "gay lisp" (and y, I know isn't a te lisp, but that is what has e to be lled). It's no secret that many gay men were effemate as kids, playg wh girls' toys, havg a lot of female iends.

Firstly, YES there are some gay men who talk wh a lisp, or as is probably more accurate to say, wh a certa "accent".

My theory is that this probably has somethg to do wh homophobia, or rather how some gay men al wh homophobia. I pos that some gay male kids are eher outright rejected by other boys, or choose to distance themselv om boys out of fear of nsequenc.

IS THERE A “GAY VOICE”?

I've met hundreds of gay men my life, and the only one that spoke wh a straight-up lisp was the one wh a cleft palate.

I learned my psych class that there is a theory that if a man has a lot of olr brothers, he is more likely to be gay.

Why would they emulate somethg which is looked very down upon by society and even the gay muny for e. I thk the stereotyp may be exaggerated by some gay men as a way to rebel agast femy beg seen as weak or femy men beg seen as negative; hence the need to be "fierce" and "fabulo".

THE "GAY" LISP, IS REAL OR IS FORCED?

I feel like if femy men was more accepted society, the stereotype would actually crease bee there would be ls for feme gay men to rebel agast. I mean gay men shouldn't be associated wh that annoyg stereotype of an effemate high pched voice and lisp. Y, some gay men are keen on emphasis when speakg and rults a very clear and pronounced 's' or 'z', but we shouldn't mistake for a lisp.

GAY LISP

Two, I want to be visible and approachable to potential gay partners that I wouldn't otherwise get a chance to meet. 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. 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.

WHAT MEANS TO ‘SOUND GAY’

“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.

THE GAY LISP?

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. 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.