I would have thought the answer here was obvious. The actions we associate with gays are actually a result of men using mannerisms typical of women. The really stereotypical, campy gays seem to use the “valley girl” style of speech. This is true of lesbians as well, but in reverse. Many lesbian women do talk like men, but of course this is not the case with of all of them.
According to recent research (Scientific American Mind, 2005), homosexuality is caused by certain parts of the brain forming as they would in the opposite sex. A lot of behaviors that we assume are learned, actually have strong biological influences, and speech mannerisms appear to fall in that category.
If someone’s brain is inclined toward forming like that of the opposite sex, it’s likely that this is the case with more than one part of the brain. The part controlling sexual attraction appears to be the hypothalamus, and if that and the speech center both are more female in a man, he’ll both talk like, and have the sexual preference typical of a woman. If just the speech center of the brain forms like a female, the man would talk as though he was gay, but not be. If the majority of the brain forms like the opposite sex, the person will probably be transsexual.
Nowadays, it’s probably mostly Hollywood. Plenty of bad movies and TV shows have had gay men talking like that over the years. I recently saw a Popeye cartoon from the 1930s that had an Aladdin-style genie who was camping it up.
As was stated in the article, the difference isn’t so much that gay men lisp, as it is that they pronounce the S sound more clearly, have more inflection in their speech, and enunciate differently. For instance, a guy I took a writing class with in college didn’t actually lisp at all, but his voice sounded very much like what you would associate with a gay man. It’s tough to describe, so people usually just say they lisp. I guess the question would be better phrased as “why do gay men often speak distinctly different than most straight men?”
It can be really difficult to notice the differences between the speech patterns of men and women, but they do exist. It’s most noticeable when someone is using speech patterns typical of the opposite sex, especially masculine lesbian women. For example, listen to the Indigo Girls (openly gay female singers) and it’s clear they have a more masculine inflection in their voices, although again, it can be tough to describe it.
And I know people who lisp despite never being exposed to gay culture, as well as people who are gay, and still talk like they are gay even when they’re trying not to.
It’s easy to imagine someone assuming the mannerisms typically associated with gay men if they’re trying to act gay. In this case, sure, it’s a learned behavior, but there are plenty of reasons to believe this isn’t always or even usually the case.
And I’ve known straight men who had never entertained the idea that they were gay, were never part of gay culture who “talked gay” and had “gay mannerisms” as early as elementary school and later in life discovered their gayness. Quite a few of them, in fact.
OTOH, I’ve known plenty of openly gay men who don’t “talk like a gay guy” and would never be pegged as gay unless they told you, so there you go. A whole bunch of useless anecdotes.
(I’ve never, ever, heard a woman talk “like a lesbian”, however. I can’t figure out what that’s supposed to sound like, and I’ve known a lot of lesbians.)
What do you mean that they discovered their gayness later in life? So were they actually gay, or did they just act like it? Anyway, this would seem to indicate something biologically different in gay men, or at least feminine men.
I’m not really sure how to describe it. Like a cowboy maybe?
I understand the op’s sentiment that there are stereotypical gay men “mannerisms” which include lisping, talking and acting dramatically, and being effeminate. Like all stereotypes, it doesn’t apply to all people and in some cases, may not apply even to most.
My WAG as to why these features are stereotyped to gay men is that they all are over-the-top (no pun intended) feminine characteristics.
Most of the obvious lesbians I have known have had a very male manner of speaking. I don’t know if I can even describe it. More…gruff, maybe? More direct, and to the point. Not nearly as verbose as many straight females/gay men.
Notice I said obvious lesbians.
It may be that once they are out they want everyone to know? Thus taking stereotypically male speech patterns? (something I have long heard gay men accused of–female patterns of course)
I think it’s cultural . . . a way to express your sexuality so that potential partners know where you stand.
I also think that the lisp is an exagerated version of the “anunciation” that was described earlier as opposed to an actual lisp. The lispers are hamming it up to be extra-gay, and I don’t think that it’s their “natural” speech.
I mean when we were kids together, they weren’t having sex with anyone. When we were in high school together, they were dating/fucking women. At least two of them I feel were honest with me that they never sought out gay partners or were any part of gay culture or thought of themselves at all gay until their 20’s when they started being attracted to and sleeping with men - but they “talked” and “acted” gay long before that.
Riiiiiiight…except you’re ignoring my second part, which is that I’ve also known gay men who are really honestly gay and sleep with men who you’d never peg because they “talk and act straight”. That’s the problem with this and any other stereotype - people who believe in it ignore any examples which don’t fit their idea.
You do know that The Dixie Chicks are from Texas, right? How else would you expect them to sound?
It may be that “the gay lisp” is found naturally in the male population at some low frequency and then weeded out through socialization. Those left with the trait are folks who 1)chose not to conform, because they don’t see anything wrong with it, 2)can’t conform, because they don’t know how, or 3)play up the trait because it signifies group membership.
I don’t believe that “the gay lisp” is common enough among all gays, across all societies, for it to be anything more than a cultural thing though.
Two traits can frequently occur together without always occurring together. Blond hair and blue eyes, for example. My point was just that homosexual attraction and feminine speech patterns are both examples of traits that effeminate men might have.
Ok, bad example, although I did say cowboy. Masculine women often speak with more of a drawl, less inflected speech, and less clearly pronounced words, similar to the way men speak. Think of how a mechanic or a farm hand might talk.
Exactly. Even forgoing the biological explanations, it’s not hard to conclude that a man who behaves like a woman in his choice of sexual partners might behave like a woman in other ways as well.
I am an “obvious,” non-feminine lesbian and I have no idea what you’re talking about. By “direct” do you mean “assertive”? By “obvious” do you mean “I think they’re lesbians because they behave in an ‘obvious lesbian’ way”? Got a little confirmatory bias going on, perhaps?
I probably will just duck out of this thread because it’s bugging me the way some of the threads full of casual racism are bugging others.