What the way we talk says about gay pri and lgerg prejudice
Contents:
- THE GAY VOICE
- WHY DO GAY MEN SOUND LIKE ~THAT~?
- WHAT'S THE LK BETWEEN HOMOSEXUALY AND HAVG A 'GAY VOICE'
- WHY IS IT THAT MANY GAY MAL SOUND DIFFERENT OM OTHER MAL?
- THIS IS WHY SOME MEN ‘SOUND GAY’ – EVEN IF THEY’RE NOT
- IS THERE A “GAY VOICE”?
- WHAT MEANS TO ‘SOUND GAY’
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. * why do gay guys sound the same *
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.
WHY DO GAY MEN SOUND LIKE ~THAT~?
People wh stereotypilly high-pched or ‘mp’ voic n fd people assumg that they’re gay, acrdg to one Amerin film-maker - even if they aren’t. Likewise, men wh ep voic n fd themselv wrongly assumed to be beg straight. * why do gay guys sound the same *
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. *DisclaimerFor one, this phenomenon is referred to as “gay speak” to avoid unnecsary stereotypg. Acrdg to Radice, lguists often viate away om the popular assumptn that gay men sound more effemate bee not everyone falls to the “box.
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.
WHAT'S THE LK BETWEEN HOMOSEXUALY AND HAVG A 'GAY VOICE'
Michael Schulman on “Do I Sound Gay?,” a documentary by David Thorpe that explor how vol nc are associated wh sexualy. * why do gay guys sound the same *
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. When speakg to Radice, he mentned the 2014 documentary tled Do I Sound Gay? He explaed that the filmmakers disvered that uptalk (when you end a sentence on a higher pch), a vol y (when you kda end your sentenc wh a very low pch croak-like sooooounnnndd), and even a lisp are the most stereotypilly proment featur of gay speak.
As mentned before, while this rmatn is eful, n also be harmful and rerce unwanted stereotypAnother aspect of gay speak are the actual words or phras ed by members of the LGBTQ+ muny. While the words n be stereotypilly seen as “gay speak” they often tend to origate om another dialect: Ain Amerin Vernacular English (AAVE) do exist?
When talkg to Radice about the reasons for gay speak, he said, a nature v.
WHY IS IT THAT MANY GAY MAL SOUND DIFFERENT OM OTHER MAL?
Nurture nversatn, most lguists agree that gay speak, and all speak, is more of a nurture matter.
One of the explanatns for why some men speak wh gay speak is bee, Radice said, some gay boys gravate toward women and girls more.
THIS IS WHY SOME MEN ‘SOUND GAY’ – EVEN IF THEY’RE NOT
This would expla why some (but not all) gay men have gay speak and why even some straight men speak like this. Radice also said he believ var words and phras specific to the gay muny n be traced to the gay ballroom culture of 1980’s New York, pecially Black gay men and Black drag queens.
Essentially, as prevly stated, a large portn of gay terms origate om AAVE. Another tertg thg I learned my nversatn wh Radice was that a lot of gay speak veloped as a way for queer people to avert discrimatn. “Pronoun versn, ” which some gay men refer to other men wh she/her pronouns, is one example.
From a historil aspect, if a gay man wanted to refer to their partner but wasn’t out or feared for his safety, he’d refer to them as she/her public. In fact, Radice told me to look to the Polari dialect This dialect veloped om the entertament dtry the early 1900s (when homosexualy was still illegal the U.
IS THERE A “GAY VOICE”?
Gay speak todayWhile gay speak may have partially veloped om a place of discrimatn, this form of speakg now, some way, has bee mastream and even rri a sense of “prtige.
” In the past few years, public opn has shifted greatly favor of gay culture to the pot where gay people are almost seen as this ol llective group of people everyone wants to or should be iends wh.
Although mak every bone me shiver, this is where the ia of every girl wantg a “gay bt iend” stems om.
WHAT MEANS TO ‘SOUND GAY’
Shows, such as RuPl’s Drag Race, and social media have not only served to expose the public to gay culture, but have also ma gay speak and certa gay terms more mastream.
Gay speak is so popular that, acrdg to Radice, var straight men on TikTok will tentnally e some form of gay speak bee they know ’ll ultimately get more clicks than if they ed their real voice.
What I didn’t know back then was that gay speak isn't a sgle way of speakg but rather a bo of featur and an tertg topic that volv var layers of analysis. While technilly speakg there is no way to “speak gay, ” there are var monali between SOME gay men that leads to the characterizatn of such a phenomenon.