Gay guy voice

She hopes to one day get a PhD.

She's enjoyed reading comments from people with suggestions on where research into lavender linguistics should go next. After all, "if you want to build rapport with someone, you will kind of unconsciously make your voice more similar to that person," she says.

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All this warrants more research, Broadhurst says, but she hopes it continues to get people thinking about voice onset time and how it may contribute to what people think of as "gay voice."

"There have been tons and tons of people doing all sorts of research into that area," Broadhurst says.

But each act of self-recognition, each acknowledgment of a part of ourselves we were taught to hide, brings us closer to a version of masculinity that is our own.

Reclaiming masculinity doesn’t mean giving up strength or resilience. Advance online publication. Why this student's controversial thesis went so viral

Is there such a thing as a "gay voice"?

When Niki and Sammy were speaking with a gay person, both twins' voice onset times got shorter. Here’s why.

Broadhurst compared the twins' voice onset times to each other, hypothesizing that Niki, the gay twin, would have a longer voice onset time than Sammy, the straight twin. They want to know how men acquire this manner of speaking, and why – especially when society so often stigmatizes those with gay-sounding voices.

Rogers and Smyth are also exploring the stereotypes that gay men sound effeminate and are recognized by the way they speak.

They asked people to listen to recordings of 25 men, 17 of them gay. Masculinity itself is not bad or wrong. 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. Self‑Esteem, Vocal Satisfaction, and Vocal Self‑Perception Among Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual (LGB) and Cisgender Heterosexual Individuals.

I internalized early lessons about masculinity from my stepdad and from the religious messages in my family that labeled being gay as deviant or “a cross to bear.”

As a result, for many years I hid who I was and tried to play the role others expected of me, even acting “straight” to fit in. Bringing awareness to where that criticism comes from, and learning to love ourselves anyway, is part of reclaiming our masculinity and expressing it in a way that only we can.

Society continues to present narrow ideals, and we continue to confront messages about what it means to be a man.

I also learned that my own way of being didn’t fit, and that my gender expression was something shameful. "To any little girl or boy or whoever who's just constantly told that they're asking 'why' too often and asking too many questions, don't stop asking questions, because you can learn such cool stuff if you foster that curiosity within yourself."

Why do some gay men “sound” gay?

What do we really mean when we say we have a “gay voice” or “I sound gay”? Some of my clients, for example, will refer to themselves, in an almost disdainful way, as sounding “gay,” as if a part of themselves is inherently wrong. Sammy is straight, and Niki's gay. Overall, she hopes her viral thesis has encouraged more people to embrace their curiosity.

"I love that this whole thing has just had loads of people commenting their ideas," she says.

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"As a bisexual girl myself, I was interested in the queer side of linguistics," Broadhurst says. And, if so, could that affect how their consonants sound, thus contributing to "gay voice"? Broadhurst wanted to find out.

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To do this, she analyzed the speech patterns of a pair of identical twins and prominent YouTubers: Sammy and Niki Albon.