What means to ‘sound gay’ - The Washgton Post

Contents:

• THE GAY VOICE
• IS THERE A “GAY VOICE”?
• WHAT MEANS TO ‘SOUND GAY’
• THIS IS WHY SOME MEN ‘SOUND GAY’ – EVEN IF THEY’RE NOT

THE GAY VOICE

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. 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. The straightt-soundg voice the study was fact a gay man, and the sixth gayt-soundg voice was a straight man.

IS THERE A “GAY VOICE”?

He sounds gay.

WHAT MEANS TO ‘SOUND GAY’

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. 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.

THIS IS WHY SOME MEN ‘SOUND GAY’ – EVEN IF THEY’RE NOT

He even asks people on the street if they thk he sounds gay. 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.

The world’s homophobia be ternalized homophobia. Even wh the gay datg muny (and gay porn), hyper-masculy is habually prized, so self-disgt gets easily turned back outward.