why do gay men have the "gay lisp?"?

Question

i determined it can't be from fellatio, because women don't have it.

why do gay men develop the "gay lisp?" it's not a genetic thing, because not all gay men have it, and it's not a regional thing, because guys in other countries don't have the "gay lisp."

when is it socially acceptable to make up an accent and not expect people to think you are crazy?

i know NOT all gay men have this lisp, but it seems to be almost exclusive to ONLY gay men. and it seems to be only an english speaking lisp. when i was in france, i never heard the "gay lisp."

it is very obvious that people dont read the details. i put on her that i know that NOT EVERY gay man has the gay lisp, but i did say that the gay lisp resides in ONLY gay men (99% of the time).

so with A being all gay men and B being all men with the gay lisp, B is a subset of A, but does not equal A.

is it an attempt to be feminine? is it an attempt to distinguish themselves from straight men (i.e. advertising that they are gay).

i dont believe the idea that it is from being around other gay men. i live in oklahoma, and i have a gay friend who has a lot more straight friends than gay, and he is around straight men more than gay, so that throws that idea out of the window.

Answer 1

that's an untrue stereotype.

Answer 2

You don't notice when you develop the lisp; effeminate guys that have higher voices get these higher voices over time and without trying. When they get more comfortable with themselves, their voice naturally gets higher; it's not very explainable, one day I just realized my voice got higher when one of my new gal friends mentioned it when I said I didn't have the "gay voice". It's only some gays though, and still only the effeminate ones at that. And yes, it really only is in English because of how the different languages are said. Most languages are slurred but because English isn't, the inability for testosterone to reach such a high level normally produces a lisp when words need to be articulated. We didn't 'make up" an accent; we simply gained one over time, and it should be socially acceptable to have any voice that you want to or end up with.

Answer 3

Best question I have read tonight. That was great. Me and one of my friends, who happens to be a gay man, was talking about that same thing the other night. One person said maybe hes just feminine. That's what my friend said and I agree with that. He has the lisp and he is very feminine. Now the manly gay guys don't really have a lisp. I have to send this to my friend. Funny.

Answer 4

At the risk of being bombed into the cellar on this one I'm going to go out on a limb and propose a theory... Here it goes...

I think the "gay lisp" is a product of semiology (study of cultural products). Now before you get ready to knock me out a bunch of hate mail for the parallels I am about to draw know this... I am only using the African American community as an example because they have done an AMAZING job of marketing their culture into the mainstream. The following is intended to be an academic perspective absent of value judgements.

I suggest that by cultivating a lisp the gay man is vocally self identifying with a larger cultural group that he feels represents him. Examples in the African American community may include the tendency of some individuals to phonetically use the term "axe" instead of "ask". In fact, this particular cultural product has actually crossed over and gained traction in the mainstream. Another example from the best marketed culture in the world (which can never cross over) is the friendly use of the N bomb among people of color. Once again from a purely academic point of view, they have harnessed the power of a word that most of us would be loathed to use and made it their own. I've often thought that if they adopted the stars and bars as their own symbol the Daughters of the American Revolution would rush to the courthouse steps in every confederate flag flying state and demand it's removal, almost over night (but I digress).

The point is, I think that gay men are simply making a misguided attempt to market a quirk of their culture into the mainstream. Clearly, for all of their steretypical advances in fashion and the media, they've done a less than complete job of developing a viable marketing tag-line. But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong.

Answer 5

Why does Detroit-native Madonna sound British?

The "gay lisp" means you have graduated from the GLA (Gay Lisp Academy) with honors and have a statue to prove it.

BTW, women lisp...Cindy Brady did...

Answer 6

when I was young,oh so many years ago,I recalled that the "gay lisp" meant a man was intending to sound feminine and to subtley let ppl know he was gay . That is what I was raised with. I could be wrong. My dad was gay and he didnt lisp,he said that if he wanted ppl to know he was gay,he would tell them. He didn't tell me till I was ,oh,21!!! imagine going through life and not knowing what the whole town knows: that your ol' man,is gay! Ppl just thought i knew,BTW>

Answer 7

not all gay men have this lisp thing, some slang words and accents are picked up from people that you tend to be around, just like if you were living in the south you might pick up saying something like 'ya'all' (For you all per se.)

Answer 8

what makes you think all gay men talk w/ a lisp in the first place

Answer 9

What exactly is 'the gay lisp'??

Answer 10

I think it started in San Fran