With broad Australian accents echoing around the world as the 24 hour news cycle feasts on the tragedies around the Queensland floods, a comment by Joshua prompted a couple of reflections (btw, I wasn't offended in the slightest).
Travelling in Europe in the 80s I came to loathe the American accent, especially those broader accents from the red states in the middle, thanks to the loud-mouthed, boorish, redneck attitudes expressed so LOUDLY you could pick them a block away. The worst part was when people assumed I was American, too. Sweet ironies, I went on to meet an amazing guy, fell in love, and travelled with him for a couple of wonderful months. Of course, he was American. Life has a way of ensuring those attitudes come round to bite you on the bum.
I came to the city at 18 with a typical rural Australian accent. Not especially broad, but still, distinctly bush. As I spent more time over the next decade living with gay people in tolerant, inner-urban areas, my accent softened to the point where it had a gentle camp lilt to it. That slightly androgynous quality achieved when you don't have to constantly assert your masculinity in a man's world.
I began teaching at the end of my twenties, and a real terror for me was that students would pick that I was gay. There was no way I could survive the hostility that would cause. So I diligently expunged every suggestion that I was gay from my outward appearance. Dress was easy, as were physical mannerisms, and I'd had a lifetime's practice ensuring my wandering eyes didn't betray me. But my speaking voice required a bit of work. So I carefully practised broadening those long Aussie vowels, removing every slightly questionable expression from my vocabulary. That closet door was to be bolted shut.
I did so very successfully. Apart from the one time in my first year when I was propositioned by a needy year 9 boy, there was never a question raised. To the point a couple of years in when students started mocking my broad Aussie vowels. They couldn't comprehend why I burst out laughing one day when they did this. That was the day I knew I'd won the battle.
Billy sad about Queensland - sitting here with the news on and it's devestating. But your right it is taking our accent around the world. I've had the pleasure of traveling and have come across exactly what you say particularily the Americans - it's sad that there are always a few people around that set bad examples for thier countries. I am very lucky and can speak a bit of German, but I have often wondered if I speak German with an Aussie accent?
ReplyDeleteSurvival for gay people of our era [though I've got a few years on you] tends to make us very good actors in an effort to not let the cat out of the bag - it seems that was a lesson you learn't very well, right down to manner of speach.
Thanks for your kind response to my previous comment - your right parts of Shep well match Broady's bad reputation. Funny how you couldn't wait to leave the country for the city and for me it was the exact opposite - better still it worked out to be a good move for both of us.
Take care
Stef.
Man oh man, I absolutely adore meeting people accents. I actually had helped someone at work with an Australian accent, and ffffffffuuuuucccccck it was hot. <3 Even though he was waaay older than me.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was younger, I had to practice my straight accent. I was afraid that I had a homosexual accent, and everyone in high school would find out and tease me that I am gay. I spent days watching my mannerism, making sure that I didn't do anything slightly homosexual.
I guess I still do that. I even ask my mates if my voice sounds gay from time to time.
ITS AWESOME BEING A HOMOSEXUAL!
Cheers bro
x
I love an Aussie accent! As well as a British accent! And as loud as I am, I tried real hard to tone it down when I was in Cornwall and London...to avoid the whole "ugly American" stuff!
ReplyDeletePeace <3
Jay
On the tv a programme guys with red-neck southern Yankee drawl.
ReplyDeleteI cringe as I listen and Pete makes a joke.
Sportsman with broad Essex accent.
We both mimmic his short, cut-off speech and, for the umpteenth time, wonder out loud whether people's accents colour our view of them too much.
I mean - if you've seriously listened to an Essex or (East?) London accent - well, it makes you think they might not be the brightest people, doesn't it?
Isn't that appalling English snobbishness of the First Order?
Of course we shouldn't judge someone because they sound 'Redneck', 'Bush Australian' or have an Essex accent - or because they are a bit camp or lisp a bit or wave their hands around and could be gay (or not).
But we still do.
But could I ask you a serious question, please Billy?
When you made yourself look and sound 'not gay' for school - how easy did you find it to be 'gay friendly' in the way you put things over in class and how did you support gay students or those who were bi or just curious?
That's right, Micky. Accent is such a powerful signifier for all those things that are used to discriminate on the basis of who you are rather than what you do: class, ethnic origin, sexuality etc. It is easy to fall into that trap.
ReplyDeleteFor the first 6 or 7 years I was teaching difficult classes in tough schools. I struggled with classroom discipline and managed to respond only to the really overt examples of offensiveness. That was the period I was most anxious not to appear gay. After that I moved to teach senior classes in Maths and Chemistry, which was a totally different environment. It has been easy to establish classroom expectations that students be supportive of each other, and any unpleasantness is easily dealt with that way. However the subject matter I teach simply doesn’t lend itself to an overtly “gay-friendly” approach.
Teachers are often the last to know that students are gay. You've read the blogs, they come out to their friends and their family, it's only if the shit hits the fan that we find out about it, and those issues simply haven't happened in my classes. What does happen is that I get is gay students who are struggling more generally with the pressures they are under. Life is often more complicated for them for any number of reasons, and often they struggle with their school work as a result. I work really hard with those students to keep them on track and engaged with education.
Actually, there is one boy who will be in my final year Chemistry class this coming year who is gay. He is a lovely guy, but is shy and struggles with self-esteem issues. His best friend (and, I suspect, his crush) has recently got a girlfriend, which hasn’t helped him. I figure I’ll likely be open in giving him support this year. That will be a first for me. Also, a handful of schools around Melbourne have started GSAs recently, and I’m going to try to make sure if any students want to start something, my school will support it, and I’m happy to be involved myself. That will be another big move, if it ever happens. It’s a measure of how far we’ve come that I would even consider being even partly out to students.