Why do some gay men sound so gay

Why do some gay men “sound” gay? After three years of research, linguistics professors Henry Rogers and Ron Smyth may be on the verge of answering that question. After identifying phonetic characteristics that seem to make a man’s voice sound gay, their best hunch is that some gay men may subconsciously adopt certain female speech patterns.

Why Do Gay Men Sound Like ~That~?

It's a stereotype because only some gay men have the "gay voice". Others are very masculine and prefer the company of men, so there is no sociological reason for them to change their speech patterns. Gay male speech has been the focus of numerous modern stereotypes, as well as sociolinguistic studies, particularly within North American English.

Film-maker David Thorpe interviewed experts for his New York Times documentary video – and contrasts the experiences of a straight man with a high voice he admits sounds ‘gay’, and a gay man. Self-conscious about the way he speaks, David Thorpe has explored why some people in his community ‘sound gay’ and others don’t in a new documentary. SBS News Update.

Profile My News Sign Out. He carries out thoughtful conversations with his friends and prominent gay and lesbian figures — including George Takei, David Sedaris, Dan Savage, Margaret Cho and Don Lemon — about what it means to "sound gay. Latest Stories U. As a gay man, I know my speech patterns vary depending on the situation. This makes me wonder: is the "gay voice" specific to anglophones?

Even growing up in an extremely Christian family, where I tried to hide what I was, I still got questions all the time about my sexuality. It wasn't until my mid-teens that I can recall my speech patterns changing depending on the circumstances. I'm not buying that it's subconscious. We can say the same sentence but change intonation to make it "sound" angry, happy, sarcastic, etc.

The gay voice happens when I live in my normal state of anxiety. The other, which happens to be deeper by a shade, occurs when I am feeling more healthy and confident, and secure in my self-in-the-world. The one sound that threw the listeners for a loop was the letter "s. Sortieren nach: Aktuell. Probably happens the same way as picking up any local accent.

He hopes to pick test subjects and speakers from varying backgrounds, broadening the scope of this initial experiment, whose participants were mostly college students. A linguistic register is a type of language used for a specific purpose. The Art of the Ask Think requesting what you want will ruin the deal? And if so, why? I didn't learn it from anyone, it was inherent. Now 35, I am still very curious as to how and why a child who didn't even grasp what a gay person was, or had any exposure to gay men, would speak with stereotypical and identifiable gay speech characteristics.

They are a marker of group identity. There is a lot of hypothesizing from "professionals" here. Aaron Clark There's no such thing as a "YY" embryo. These sex-determined vocalizations are not learned behaviors - they are inborn. I knew two boys as a child who had the stereotypical lisp and came out later in life. Rogers and Smyth are also exploring the stereotypes that gay men sound effeminate and are recognized by the way they speak.

Bottom line: interesting topic and hopefully we can all respect other speech patterns and vernaculars within communities.

What it means to 'sound gay' | SBS News

Every embryo has at least one "X" chromosome. We stereotype others positively or negatively by dialect and all of these other factors. This article seems to be addressing a stereotype rather than looking at why this is a topic at all.