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Michael Schulman on “Do I Sound Gay?,” a documentary by David Thorpe that explor how vol nc are associated wh sexualy.

Contents:

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. * gay voice explained *

Why do some gay men “sound” gay? 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'S THE LK BETWEEN HOMOSEXUALY AND HAVG A 'GAY VOICE'

What the way we talk says about gay pri and lgerg prejudice * gay voice explained *

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.

Perhaps fewer than half of gay men sound gay, says Rogers.

WHAT MEANS TO ‘SOUND GAY’

* gay voice explained *

The straightt-soundg voice the study was fact a gay man, and the sixth gayt-soundg voice was a straight man. Sexual orientatn refers to the endurg physil, romantic and/or emotnal attractn to members of the same and/or other genrs, cludg lbian, gay, bisexual and straight orientatns.

As GLAAD not, "Transgenr people may be straight, lbian, gay, bisexual or queer. A person who transns om female to male and is attracted solely to men would typilly intify as a gay man.

IS THERE A “GAY VOICE”?

In Do I Sound Gay?, director David Thorpe search for the orig of the so-lled "gay voice" and documents his own attempts (wh speech pathologist San Sank) to sound "ls gay." * gay voice explained *

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. On the Friday-night tra journey he found himself surround by loud chatterg gay men. “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. A high-pched, lispg voice that go up at the end has been part of the gay male stereotype for years.

FILMMAKER AND SPEECH PATHOLOGIST WEIGH IN ON WHAT IT MEANS TO 'SOUND GAY'

A sound study of the Gay voice and the impact has." class="jsx-2067809186 * gay voice explained *

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.

A iend suggts that he was “advertisg” his homosexualy, havg kept a secret for so long. 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. 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.

THIS NEW DOCUMENTARY EXPLAS WHY 'GAY VOICE' ISN'T REALLY A THGTHE REASON OUR VOIC SOUND THE WAY THEY DO HAS A LOT MORE TO DO WH NURTURE THAN NATURE. {FONT:NORMAL 800 1.2REM/1.25 "GRAVY",SANS-SERIF;TEXT-TRANSFORM:NONE;LOR:HER;DISPLAY:LE-BLOCK;PADDG-BOTTOM:6PX;POSN:RELATIVE;TEXT-TRANSFORM:UPPERSE;}{BACKGROUND:#FFFFFF;BOTTOM:0;NTENT:'';DISPLAY:BLOCK;HEIGHT:2PX;LEFT:0;POSN:ABSOLUTE;RIGHT:0;-WEBK-TRANSN:ALL 0.2S EASE;TRANSN:ALL 0.2S EASE;WIDTH:100%;}{LEFT:51%;RIGHT:51%;WIDTH:0;}{FONT:NORMAL 800 1.2REM/1.25 "GRAVY",SANS-SERIF;TEXT-TRANSFORM:NONE;LOR:HER;DISPLAY:LE-BLOCK;PADDG-BOTTOM:6PX;POSN:RELATIVE;TEXT-TRANSFORM:UPPERSE;}{BACKGROUND:#FFFFFF;BOTTOM:0;NTENT:'';DISPLAY:BLOCK;HEIGHT:2PX;LEFT:0;POSN:ABSOLUTE;RIGHT:0;-WEBK-TRANSN:ALL 0.2S EASE;TRANSN:ALL 0.2S EASE;WIDTH:100%;}{LEFT:51%;RIGHT:51%;WIDTH:0;}ISSUBY KATHERE SPELLERJUNE 25, 2015/12:08 {HEIGHT:HER;DISPLAY:-WEBK-BOX;DISPLAY:-WEBK-FLEX;DISPLAY:-MS-FLEXBOX;DISPLAY:FLEX;POSN:RELATIVE;-WEBK-FLEX-WRAP:WRAP;-MS-FLEX-WRAP:WRAP;FLEX-WRAP:WRAP;-WEBK-ALIGN-EMS:CENTER;-WEBK-BOX-ALIGN:CENTER;-MS-FLEX-ALIGN:CENTER;ALIGN-EMS:CENTER;-WEBK-BOX-PACK:CENTER;-WEBK-JTIFY-NTENT:CENTER;-MS-FLEX-PACK:CENTER;JTIFY-NTENT:CENTER;-WEBK-TRANSFORM-ORIG:CENTER;-MS-TRANSFORM-ORIG:CENTER;TRANSFORM-ORIG:CENTER;} IMG{HEIGHT:100%;WIDTH:100%;OBJECT-F:VER;}{HEIGHT:574PX;WIDTH:1020PX;}GETTYBY KATHERE SPELLERJUNE 25, 2015 / 12:08 PM{"@NTEXT":","@TYPE":"NEWSARTICLE","HEADLE":"THIS NEW DOCUMENTARY EXPLAS WHY 'GAY VOICE' ISN'T REALLY A THG","THUMBNAILURL":","DATEPUBLISHED":"2015-06-25T16:08:40.000+0000","DATEMODIFIED":"2015-06-25T16:08:40.000+0000","IMAGE":{"@NTEXT":","@TYPE":"IMAGEOBJECT","URL":","WIDTH":1920,"HEIGHT":1080},"URL":","THOR":{"@TYPE":"ORGANIZATN","NAME":"MTV"},"MAENTYOFPAGE":{"@TYPE":"WEBPAGE","@ID":"},"PUBLISHER":{"@TYPE":"ORGANIZATN","@ID":","NAME":"MTV","URL":","LOGO":{"@TYPE":"IMAGEOBJECT","URL":","WIDTH":1280,"HEIGHT":720}},"CREATOR":"KATHERE SPELLER","ARTICLESECTN":"ISSU"}{BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#F3F3F3;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}DAVID THORPE ALWAYS WONRED WHY SOME MEN "SOUND GAY" AND OTHERS DON'T. AND, AS A GAY MAN, HE'S HAD HIS OWN ANXIETI ABOUT HIS VOICE AND THE WAYS OTHER PEOPLE HEAR {BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#F3F3F3;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}SO, AFTER A BREAK-UP WH HIS BOYIEND AND A B OF SOUL-SEARCHG, HE WENT AHEAD AND MA A DOCUMENTARY ABOUT . "DO I SOUND GAY?" EXPLOR HOW CERTA VOIC E TO SOUND THE WAY THEY DO AND WHY OUR CULTURE HEARS THEM AS "GAY."{BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;DISPLAY:-WEBK-BOX;DISPLAY:-WEBK-FLEX;DISPLAY:-MS-FLEXBOX;DISPLAY:FLEX;-WEBK-BOX-PACK:CENTER;-WEBK-JTIFY-NTENT:CENTER;-MS-FLEX-PACK:CENTER;JTIFY-NTENT:CENTER;POSN:RELATIVE;PADDG-BOTTOM:56.49999999999999%;} .TWTER-TWEET-RENRED, {M-WIDTH:65%;WIDTH:TO !IMPORTANT;} {WIDTH:100%;} {MARG-LEFT:TO !IMPORTANT;MARG-RIGHT:TO !IMPORTANT;} IMG{MAX-WIDTH:100%;WIDTH:100%;} > IAME{BORR:NONE;MAX-WIDTH:100%;} > *{MAX-WIDTH:NONE !IMPORTANT;POSN:ABSOLUTE;HEIGHT:100% !IMPORTANT;WIDTH:100% !IMPORTANT;}{BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#F3F3F3;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}THORPE RELEASED A SHORT NEW YORK TIM OP-DOC ADAPTED OM THE FILM THAT TRODUC YOU TO TWO OF HIS IENDS WH VERY DISTCTIVE VOIC. KRIS MARX SCRIB HIS VOICE AS "KD OF SOFT, [WH A VOLUME THAT] OFTEN DI AT THREE FEET," WHILE MATTHEW BERNARDO SAYS HIS VOICE AND STYLE OF TALKG IS TOTALLY -LE WH HIS TRADNALLY MASCULE, SPORTS-LOVG FAY (HIS VOICE IS PRETTY EP.){BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#F3F3F3;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}RIGHT AWAY, THORPE SAYS THAT, TO HIM, MARX SOUNDS GAY AND BERNARDO SOUNDS STRAIGHT. BUT, HE WONRED WHAT MAK A VOICE SOUND ONE WAY OR THE OTHER? HE TALKED TO BENJAM MUNSON, A SPEECH SCIENTIST AT THE DEPARTMENT OF SPEECH-LANGUAGE-HEARG SCIENCE AT UNIVERSY OF MNOTA TO FD OUT {BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#F3F3F3;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}"EVERY ONE OF IS PRENTED WH LOTS AND LOTS OF MOLS OF WHAT LANGUAGE SHOULD SOUND LIKE," MUNSON TOLD THORPE. "... AND ALL OF THE TERACTNS WE HAVE DIFFERENT OPPORTUNI TO EMULATE DIFFERENT ASPECTS OF THOSE PEOPLE'S SPEECH."{BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#F3F3F3;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}AS THE SHORT GO ON, YOU EVENTUALLY MEET MARX'S WIFE AND DGHTER AND HEAR A LTLE MORE ABOUT BERNARDO'S STGGL AS A GAY MAN WHO "SOUNDS STRAIGHT." THEIR BACKGROUNDS KD OF POT TO THE THEORY THAT THE VOIC THEY HAVE ARE LARGELY ED BY THE PEOPLE WHO FLUENCED THEM THEIR LIV — MARX BY ALL THE WOMEN WHO RAISED HIM AND BERNARDO BY HIS HOE FULL OF BROTHERS. IT HAD NO NNECTN WH THE GENR OF THE PEOPLE THEY DATED — THAT WAS JT PART OF A LARGER CULTURAL STEREOTYPE THAT EQUAT BEG GAY WH BEG FEME (AND HAVG A MORE FEME-SOUNDG VOICE.){BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#F3F3F3;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}SAN NET, ONE OF THE FILM'S PROMOTERS, TOLD MTV NEWS THAT THE SHORT ISN'T NECSARILY A FULL REPRENTATN OF EVERYTHG THE FILM VERS. IN ADDN TO BUNKG THE IA OF A "GAY VOICE," THORPE LOOKS CLOSER AT THE WAYS AND REASONS PEOPLE MAY (OR MAY NOT) HAVE WANTED TO CHANGE THEIR OWN VOIC, TALKG TO CELEBRI LIKE DAN SAVAGE, GEE TAKEI, DAVID SEDARIS AND TIM GUNN ABOUT THEIR OWN {BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#F3F3F3;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}"IT’S A VERY NUANCED AND TLY EYE-OPENG LOOK, WH DAVID [THORPE] AS THE GUI, THROUGH HIS OWN JOURNEY -- 'S ABOUT SELF ACCEPTANCE," NET {BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#F3F3F3;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}THORPE'S PATH TO SELF-ACCEPTANCE IS ONE THAT'S REALLY RONATED WH YOUNG PEOPLE, NET SAID, WH A NUMBER OF EMAILS AND MSAG OM YOUNGER FANS REGULARLY FLOODG HIS BOX. IT'S NOT SURPRISG THAT KIDS -- PECIALLY ON WHO MAY HAVE BEEN BULLIED OR "OUTED" BY THEIR VOIC -- SEE A B OF THEMSELV THORPE'S NARRATIVE, SHE SAID, AND MAYBE THEY N FD SOME FORT {BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#F3F3F3;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}"IT IS BOTH A PERSONAL AND UNIVERSAL STORY," NET {BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#F3F3F3;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}LOOK OUT FOR THE FULL-LENGTH DOCUMENTARY, SHOWG SELECT THEATERS STARTG JULY {BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#F3F3F3;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}FOR MORE ABOUT ANTI-LGBT BIAS VIS LOOK {BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;CLEAR:BOTH;}{BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;MARG:0 TO;WIDTH:90%;M-WIDTH:288PX;MAX-WIDTH:1440PX;M-HEIGHT:194PX;}LATT NEWS

“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?

Most of are faiar wh the stereotype of a “gay voice. Do gay men actually sound different than straight men? The are the qutns a new documentary, “Do I Sound Gay?

” It’s a fascatg and nuanced film, which the filmmaker, David Thorpe,  his feelgs about his voice to look at attus toward homosexualy. It rais a plited discsn about gay pri, lgerg homophobia, disguised misogyny, and the extent to which we all alter the image that we prent to the the film begs, Thorpe is disturbed bee he realiz he don’t like his voice any more. He rri out thoughtful nversatns wh his iends and proment gay and lbian figur – cludg Gee Takei, David Sedaris, Dan Savage, Margaret Cho and Don Lemon – about what means to “sound gay.

WHAT DO IT MEAN TO SOUND GAY?

But so dog, v everyone to thk about what their own voice says about who they are, where they me om, and where they want to science of “the gay voice”To start wh, the stereotypil “gay voice” isn’t necsarily a study published 2003, Ron Smyth, a lguist at the Universy of Toronto, found that participants readily separated rerdgs of 25 diverse voic to those who “sound gay” and those who “sound straight. ” People picked up on featur of the gay stereotype – voic that were higher and more melod were more often labeled "gay. In Smyth's study, people rrectly gused a man’s sexualy about 60 percent of the time, only a ltle better than another small study at the Universy of Hawaii, both gay and straight listeners were equally as likely to misclassify people as gay or straight.

In fact, the straight men wh so-lled gay voic weren't aware that people thought they sound gay at turns out that what most people perceive as a stereotypil "gay voice" is jt a male voice that sounds more stereotypilly feme -- maly, higher pched and more melod.

And that often has more to do wh the voic that a person intified wh as they grew up, rather than and other rearchers say some men, both gay and straight, velop more feme voic bee they are fluenced by women when they are young. But that don't mean that they are gay.

*BEAR-MAGAZINE.COM* GAY VOICE EXPLAINED

Filmmaker And Speech Pathologist Weigh In On What It Means To 'Sound Gay' : NPR .

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