I am still nerevouse about going into "everyday" puiblic situations dressed...but on the occasions that I HAVE done i just mingled in once i relaxed , I shopped and had lunch and coffe and all the usual shopping trip type things and I really think that people tend to het on about their own buisness and dont notice..if someone deliberately goes tranny spotting then they will easily pick out even the most passable girls... the thing that I would like to point ouy is that no matter HOW girly you are and no matter how confident you are about depotment and stuff your voice will give you away everytime. Its ok to look in the mirror and see a totally passable woman or even acceptable tranny ( to the extent that you dont attract attention) but I rarely hear people being realistic about their voice.. you may walk in starbucks and not an eyelid will flicker but once you ask for a coffee the whole room will seem to go quiet and look at you! so look in the mirror and feel confident but dont neglect deportment and voice! i CANT do the voice and thats the only thing that stops me..be aware!

My voice therapist said some of us have reached a passable voice with only 5 hours therapy. I needed 10 hours. Only very few have such a deep voice that they need surgery. And even they need voice therapy after the surgery.

Laura

Hi Pippa
I've been on the Real Life Experience for 4 weeks now and work in a very public area. I work in a large shop in Oxford, admittedly it's in the stockroom but I'm often in the shop. When in the shop I often get asked questions by customers. Yes they look a little surprised when they hear a male voice but soon continue talking as I show no embarrassment. If anything it's children who pay more attention when hearing my male voice and often chat loudly to each other.
Many customers have said that I'm brave going through what I'm doing in such a public way.

Alina

Would it not be worth while taking some voice therapy Alina? Or do you want to shock the customers? Or love your male voice?

Laura

Pick up a French Vanilla for me.........

Part of my problem is that I can sing bass-baritone. When I'm feeling tired, or in certain other moods, my voice can be deep. Yet, at other times I sound like this little weasel.

I'll check out that site. Thanks for the tip.

The military has a field manual for training people with high, squeaky, soft voices to speak with loud, deep, resonant voices. They did it to me. I'm sure it can be done, biological hardware not withstanding, in reverse; at least to some extent. My reading tells me that speech pattern and use of words and contractions is a significant part of gender-identification by speech. I have had some success by shifting the source of my speech downward from the larynx to the chest. I've seen a lot of online helps, courses, therapists listed.

I've been my voice goes high and low, I've been trying recently to speak with a softer voice but I do need training.

wendy? why on earth do people have to have deep resonant voices in order to shoot guns or whatever is required to defend a country? i work with a guy who is an outrageously camp gay man and he used to be an engineer in the royal air force! Im just curious as to how they condone employing people to DO that?

Pippa,

It was part of training us to give orders on a drill field. I suppose that a "manly" voice giving one the order to "follow me" and climb out of a perfectly safe hole and charge a machine gun is more likely to get one to move into danger than a soft, squeaky one. It also gets your voice to carry further. Important in battlefield conditions or in a noisy airplane or on a flight line. During the "shooting guns" part we actually were taught to not talk at all and use hand signals, but once the shooting starts you have to make a lot of noise to be heard. It can save lives.

It also helps a small, TG male to project a macho image in society. God, how depressing.

thanks for the reply wendy..no offence meant I was just curious... you say that everone uses hand signals while shooting..I was presuming that that was the case anyway cos doesn't everone wear earplugs whilst firing stuff? I never understood why i failed to get in just cos i was a bit hard of hearing surely they wear earplugs? ( by the way..I am REALLY glad now that I DIDNT get in) xxx

None taken, Pippa, it was an interesting question. Hand signals also help if gunfire makes you temporarily deaf. There are earplugs that let you hear and close suddenly at supersonic sounds. There are earphones that do the same when sound goes over a certain level...some even have radios in them. Good for working around noisy equipment.

Being able to hear very slight noises can be a life saver. You can hear insects walk in the woods at night. Hearing someone move on the other side of a wall or the click of a trap activating can save your squad's life. That's why they demand good hearing.......then they put you in the artillery and destroy it.

Well, I don't like what they did to me but it's nice to know Wendy can take care of herself. I swing a mean purse.

Laura
Thanks for your comments. I don't intend shocking the customers all the time but the voice therapy is a little way down the list of what needs to be done at present. If I did all I want to do there would be no time for work - then no money - then no Alina????

On friday at the exhbition opening with my sister we bumped into a far away relative of ours who, according to herself, recognized my sister from her voice. About my voice or looks she said nothing, since she had no idea who I was. I looked around "a bit absent" until she was gone. My sister understood right away that I had no intention to introduce myself, so she said nothing either.

Laura

I have been told by many people its my voice that really sells it for me. I am pretty passable. I work in a bar where I need to be talking all day and usually loudly [i also do nightclub work]. I never get questioned at all. I have been told by friends who knew me before and haddnt seen me in a while that they thought it was me till they heard me and was convinced that it wasnt afterwards!!

Talking on the phone is one way to tell how well you can speak. The only indicator then is your voice. I dont ever get called sir anymore its only female terms. I can tell you I'd be totally pissed if anyone was to call me sir!

I did some voice therapy and then practiced it over and over [I talk waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay to much so it was easy to find the time to practice!] Yeah at first I made plenty of mistakes, but to hear that its my voice that really sells it or to hear another tgirl say "wow!! how did you get your voice so good?" [while I was at the MtF clinic in Bangkok] you really relise just how worth it is to work on your voice.

I know the power of the voice therapy since before the therapy people suspected my identity in the phone or even said "they would like to talk to Laura herself". And after the 10 months therapy not a single case of non-passing in the phone.
If your voice gives you out you also turn heads in neighbour tables when talking with your friends in a cafeteria or a bar.
Or when you answer your mobile phone in a full train or bus.
If nothing happens, you pass with your voice.

Laura