A Question for any Homosexual readers out there. (You others can check it out, too)
December 7th 2006 00:47
This is something that has puzzled me for quite some time. I live in one of the 'gayest' cities in the world - Sydney. That is, there is a huge gay population, of both genders.
It's a question I'm sure many of you have heard before. It's probably even been asked on this forum before, though if it has I haven't seen it.
Before asking, I would like to iterate that this is in no way, shape or form intended to be homophobic, and is in all honesty an earnest question from a confused or misunderstanding person.
I travel around this city and I see lots of gay men in it. I know I see lots more than I realise, it's just that some mean just exude gay, from every pore.
Whatever.
Anyway, the thing is, it's not what I see so much, as it is what I hear. I'll be sitting on a bus or in a cafe and hearing some men speak. Sometimes, one or both or even all will have this high-pitched, lispy, iconically "gay" voice. A highly effeminate near-whisper of a voice that just drips with untold bitchy gossip.
You all know the voice.
This is the point, I guess. Why is it that some gay men speak in this voice? Whether homosexuality is or is not a genetic or hormonal "condition" (for lack of a better word), whether it is nature or nurture is a topic for another day; however, it is in my opinion that a speaking voice, and such a stereotypical speaking voice, is not innate. The fact that gay men and almost exlcusively only gay men seem to use this voice astounds me.
Do they feel they have to speak like this to identify themselves as gay? (the ones that do speak like this, i mean.)
Isn't western society (and especially Sydney) beyond the point where people need to identify themselves so blatantly as being gay? It was my, seemingly mistaken, understanding that pretty much everyone was past giving a fuck what people do with their genitalia, as long as it doesn't involve the unwilling or children.
Why would these (and it seems like quite a lot of gay men speak like this) men be so keen to label themselves?
Do they think: "I lisp therefore I'm gay"? Or the reverse?
Not that it matters what voice they choose to use, that's not really the point. The point is that to me, they seem to be pidgeon-holing themselves, and defining their very being by what they do with the sex lives. To me that seems narrow. To me, the fact that they speak like this is a sort of self-limiting of their personality. By using this voice they almost force people to accept them as being gay first, then as being human.
And hasn't the gay rights movement spent the better part of the last 30 years (or more) trying to change just that?
I just don't fucking get it.
It's a question I'm sure many of you have heard before. It's probably even been asked on this forum before, though if it has I haven't seen it.
Before asking, I would like to iterate that this is in no way, shape or form intended to be homophobic, and is in all honesty an earnest question from a confused or misunderstanding person.
I travel around this city and I see lots of gay men in it. I know I see lots more than I realise, it's just that some mean just exude gay, from every pore.
Whatever.
Anyway, the thing is, it's not what I see so much, as it is what I hear. I'll be sitting on a bus or in a cafe and hearing some men speak. Sometimes, one or both or even all will have this high-pitched, lispy, iconically "gay" voice. A highly effeminate near-whisper of a voice that just drips with untold bitchy gossip.
You all know the voice.
This is the point, I guess. Why is it that some gay men speak in this voice? Whether homosexuality is or is not a genetic or hormonal "condition" (for lack of a better word), whether it is nature or nurture is a topic for another day; however, it is in my opinion that a speaking voice, and such a stereotypical speaking voice, is not innate. The fact that gay men and almost exlcusively only gay men seem to use this voice astounds me.
Do they feel they have to speak like this to identify themselves as gay? (the ones that do speak like this, i mean.)
Isn't western society (and especially Sydney) beyond the point where people need to identify themselves so blatantly as being gay? It was my, seemingly mistaken, understanding that pretty much everyone was past giving a fuck what people do with their genitalia, as long as it doesn't involve the unwilling or children.
Why would these (and it seems like quite a lot of gay men speak like this) men be so keen to label themselves?
Do they think: "I lisp therefore I'm gay"? Or the reverse?
Not that it matters what voice they choose to use, that's not really the point. The point is that to me, they seem to be pidgeon-holing themselves, and defining their very being by what they do with the sex lives. To me that seems narrow. To me, the fact that they speak like this is a sort of self-limiting of their personality. By using this voice they almost force people to accept them as being gay first, then as being human.
And hasn't the gay rights movement spent the better part of the last 30 years (or more) trying to change just that?
I just don't fucking get it.
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Comment by TomN
Boat Heaven
Well I hear and see what you say and I have pondered on it myself but frankly I don't give a flying fuck one way or the other.
I also was reminded of the kids in high school and I go back more tha forty years here. The "fairies" in those days were allways mummys boys or being bad at sport. Because you were bad at sport or a mummy's boy didn't make you gay but they sure tried hard. Great kids, good personality but again sterotyping themselves.
Comment by Always Eighteen
Always Eighteen
He came out in highschool. It annoyed me, not because he was gay, but because he didn't fulfil any homosexual stereotypes whatsoever.
Comment by TomN
Boat Heaven
Why "sucks" these days as a term? Poofs suck and girls suck. I was just on the phone to an ex girlfriend who told me that because of the way I treated her when we broke up she would never suck off another man again! shit was I supposed to be worried or what. As barely eighteen I don't want you to act as an agony aunt for a sixty year old, but I do find some modern/current/fashionable things almost out of date.
Cheers mate keep up the good work.
Comment by Adrian
Philosophy Blog
Genes: homosexual males, to put it bluntly, often have female traits.
Conditioning: why do hiphop artists have funny mannerisms? You become a part of a society, and you simply learn to comport yourself in certain ways. To some extent it might be conscious, just like wearing goth clothes expresses identity with a particular group, but surely a lot of it is unconscious? People frequently pick up mannerisms (habits of language, movement, gesture) from parents and spouses.
Comment by TomN
Boat Heaven
you are getting into an area I don't know much about here. Like the monkeys on one island learn a trick and within weeks, without any contact whats-o-ever monkeys on neighbouring islands have learned the same trick?
Any how poofs give me the shits and I frankly don't care a rat's arse about them unless they are good mates of mine. I don't have many mates and I guess that could be the reason.