The "Gay" Accent - Real or Forced?

[Chris Lionheart]

Man... one of the reasons I love NeoGAF so much, outside of it's Gaming discussion, is the totatlly off-the-wall off topic discussion that goes on there. Most of it I repost here.. wish you guys would discuss things in the Off Topic boards with me....

So I just watched a program. Someone asks some guy if the girl he was with was his girlfriend, he says obviously not and lets out a little 'Oh you're so stupid, isn't it obvious dummy?' scoff. What the gay man was alluding to was the lisp he had and the expectation that expected the guy who asked him to classify anyone with it as clearly gay. Personally, I don't think it's found in a higher proportion in gay men over any other group just like pretty much any other characteristic but I made the thread to find out what the rest of you think.

So my question to you GAF is: Is the gay lisp real or is it just a forced thing that some gay men put on to somehow signify that they're gay? Essentially, is it a real phenomenon or is it forced?

I put gay in quotation marks as I don't think it should necessarily be associated solely with gay men.

You don't think it's found in a higher proportion in gay men over any other group?! I've only ever heard that lisp in two situations:

1. Man is gay.
2. Person is mimicking a gay man.

I have quite a few gay friends and none speak with a lisp. You may be confusing with over-enunciating certain words and the cadence in which some gay men speak when they're fooling around, but in general most people I know speak like a regular human being.

I think it's forced. My brother in law never had one but as soon as he came out of the closet he uses it... except when he's around his parents who know but still don't approve of or talk about it.

I had a gay friend jokingly tell me once the lisp was caused from sucking too much cock.

^ That explains why my girlfriend does not have a lisp....

Acting more feminine than a girl, real or forced?

I can live without someone prancing around lisping so much that they whistle when they say anything with an "s" in it.

A lot of it is an act... a really unnecessary act. Yes, act who you really are, etc, etc, but sometimes... It's a bit too much... This is coming from a gay guy who excessively uses his hands to talk and it gives me a way a lot.

I've seen some gay men that do the whole thing with the walk, the walk, and mannerisms. They literally look and sound like girls. excuse my ignorance, but is that what other gay men want? A guy that's basically a girl?

As a gay dude who hates this bullshit:

It's forced. Very forced. Maybe a few people naturally have it, and I feel AWFUL for them, but 99% of its usage is by the kind of gays who look for attention anywhere they can get it, and attract overweight females with guy issues like goddamn tubs of Ben & Jerry's.

I have been refusing to date guys who speak like this since I was thirteen, and I stand by my condemnation of anyone who would turn themselves into a stereotype. So, straights, you wonder if it's PC to call bullshit on that fake "gay" accent? You have my approval.

My favorite thing to do when a guy starts flirting with me in that accent is to put on a fake, incredibly thick Bostonian accent. Basically talk like a combination of the scout from TF2 and John Linell for the rest of the conversation. It's ridiculously fun.