Many gay men have a certain “accent” characterized by “syllabic” esses among other things. Of course I’m not saying all gay men have the “accent”, but that it seems to be a characteristic among some. (BTW: Is it referred to as “camp”?)
A couple of days ago I was listening to NPR and there was a gay German who had it. It was odd to hear it in a foreign voice. That got me to thining: Is the “gay accent” an affectation, or is it genetic? If it were genetic, I’d expect to hear it more often. On the other hand, it seems to be very widespread.
Straight men have that too sometimes. This year I have been surprised to discover that three men I believed were gay because of their voice cadences, were in fact straight.
They all seem to be very married with children. They appear on television from time to time here. I’ve made other mistakes about other men (just ordinary guys) in years gone by, too. It’s a senstive subject but a very interesting one.
my opinion is it’s an affectation. Some but not all gay men have it, and I’ve met a few Californians who claimed to be straight who spoke with the “saucy lady trapped in a man’s body” voice.
I think it’s something they pick up when they’ve been exposed to the gay community for a certain length of time. we all have a need/desire to fit in with our peers, and I think the “gay” way of speaking is just a reflection of that.
There’s no “gay accent.” The sibilant “ess” is called a lisp. It operates independently of sexual orientation. The lisp has become stereotypically associated with gay men for some unknown reason. Gay men like to play with stereotypes, so many of us will put on the lisp or swish or whatever for fun whether or not we talk or act or move that way for real.
“Camp” refers to a mindset or a worldview, not an accent.
FWIW, one case study: An old friend of my wife’s, a homosexual man, supposedly did not speak with a “gay accent” until he came out of the closet after high school.
Also, I once worked for a homosexual man at a restaurant who turned his “gay accent” on & off like a light switch.
At that same restaurant, one of the bartenders both spoke softly and with a slight lisp. He was often taken as homosexual, yet he was straight (kind of a player with women, actually).
From those and a few other examples I’ve seen, my common sense tells me that “gay accent” is mostly an affectation for most people who use it. Apparently, however, as with so many things, there are exceptions.
If accents were genetic, I’d sound like I was from England
It’s been my experience that the stereotypical ‘accent’ is an affectation for some gay men-- and the way that every man, woman and child from Cape Breton talks.
People tend to speak in the same manner as the people around them. I worked in Boston for 6 months and when I finally went back to NY my friends kept making fun of me for paaking the caa.
I’m not familiar with the speach patterns of the gay community outside of the stereotypical media portrail, but if a large portion of them talk a certain way, then it wouldn’t suprise me at all if the speach pattern were to be contagious.
I can talk normally now, but if you put me in a room with someone with a New England accent, I’ll start dropping my R’s without even thinking about it.
I have a gay friend who is a fairly wealthy business owner…owns several successful enterprises. He sounds totally different talking socially than when he’s on the phone speaking with business associates and vendors.
I also know straight men who speak with the inflection you’re talking about; I dated a guy like that for three years. People often thought he was gay because of his faint lisp.
There is no such thing as a genetic accent. All accents are learned. Certain biologial factors (shape and positioning of the teeth, tounge, palate, and sinuses, length of the vocal cords) affect a person’s speech, but there is no reason to believe that any of this is linked to a person’s sexual orientation. This is not to say that a certain manner of speaking is not stereotyically associated with gay men, just that there is no scientific reason why this should be so. It is purely cultural. If this manner of speaking really is more common among gay men then it is probably because 1) gay men who do not naturally speak that way choose to affect it and 2) straight men who do naturally speak that way do their best to change it.
Um, hello! I’m here. Have been, although I’ve been a bit busy lately with a float in the pride parade and now getting ready for my vacation home. So, I’m here, but now I’m leaving again.
As to the OP, it’s an affectation, intended or not. I do not see sibilant or lisping s’s any more or less prevalent among homosexuals than among the general populace, although I will put forth that perhaps gay men aren’t as self-conscious about it as straight men might be.
Very good, Cervaise. Missed that. Damn! Oh, well. Back to other pursuits.
From my limited experience, believe that gays can turn on and off their affectation. Depending upon the company. Never noted that they lisp. Just their way of speaking.
