Flipping through channels after midnight in a downtown L.A. hotel room, I stopped on one of those infamous infomercials. The narrator’s voice was deep and resonant, bass-but-soft, and I had a hard time recognizing it as male or female. Turns out the speaker was an older woman. She was not a big woman, she just happened to possess a very deep, Bea Arthur-style voice.
I’ve also heard other women who possess a natural baritone. I’ve known men who squeak out their words. And so what? It seems that it only gets weird when someone is transgender.
I have a fairly deep voice. We’re not talking Barry White here, but when I speak it’s definitely on the oboe side of the orchestra.
Actually, I have many voices. I’ve always “done voices” to entertain myself (and anyone else in my vicinity) since I could first speak. Accents, characters, you name it, I have a gift for mimicry. And sure, I can do a passable female voice if I try.
The thing is, I don’t really want to.
I dislike many things that puberty changed in me, and my voice is one of them. Even so, it’s one thing that seems odd for me to change just to make my barista or Uber driver feel more comfortable.
Any advice you read online about transitioning includes changing your voice as a Number One Thing You Just Have to Do. I disagree.
My philosophy (and the reason I started this site) is that being trans is a very personal thing. For some transgender people, the voice is a make-or-break. There are voice-training systems and free videos all over the internet. They may be for some, they aren’t for me.
There are trans men and women out there for whom having a passing voice is not only a win over their dysphoria, it can be life-saving. So I support their choice to change it. How could I not support someone’s choice to change something about themselves that helps them feel more of their true self?
That’s why especially within the trans community, we need to allow for diversity. Out there in the big, bad world, there is intolerance and violence to be experienced by trans people. Within the trans community, we should feel 100% safe to be who we are.
Visibly Trans 