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Recently someone asked me about how they can change the pitch of their voice. I found it slightly interesting, because I myself absolutely hate the sound of my voice and still have very much work to do in finding a speaking voice that I am quite happy with. But nonetheless, I will do my best to provide some advice based upon what I know and have found to be useful.

"...As for voice, I'm still working on how to alter mine. But I can offer some suggestions. Try like vocal techniques of singing and practice to like be more comfortable with higher pitches. An easy way is to just pick a singer you like who sings in a higer tone and try to get your voice to up into that range. I usually just try to sing like Geddy Lee from Rush or Robert Plant or something to sorta force and train your voice into a higher pitch... or silly David Bowie songs.  One  practice technique I came up with is to just sing the words "Bowie Bowie Bowie" etc starting at a low tone and moving up and up the scale. When you voice cracks you can get a good idea of what your range is, and with practice you can expand it even higher...

But I also think that for changing your voice it is more important to consider the tone and timbre, or the texture of the sound. The best way to think of it is like doing impressions or putting on a fake accent. Once you find something that  you are comfortable with than it becomes quite easy to be able to mimic or learn to sound like certain voices. There are many talented voice actors who can do alot of variety and characters with their voice: just consider voices on like the Simpsons or Futurama, where many female characters are done by male actors who simply know how to control and master the range and variety of voice.  There is one person I work with who is pretty good at doing different voices; sometimes he will just make pages over the P.A. or yell out across the store in different voices just to confuse the customers. And considering he is a former wrestler, it is quite funny to the hear him do impressions in a girl voic and play practical jokes on the other employees.

So I hope this advice will be helpful to achieve what you want to do with voice, I still have much work to do myself. "

- Holly Anna

*As a kid my father made me take singing lessons, even though I am a horrible singer.  However, looking back, what I learned is becoming quite useful :)

I just got home from spending the last four days with my family out in Utah.  I was very worried before the trip that they would get my pronouns and name wrong during the trip, which never does anything good for the ol' self esteem.  In the end I came away surprised as they used my correct name and pronouns nearly the entire time.  There were several factors, including having been living full time as a "Erin" for over 5 years, but I had a strategy for this particular trip, and I think it worked out well.

For transwomen, it is hard enough, especially starting out without the effects of HRT, to look like a woman.  For some cases it becomes increasingly difficult to hide one thing—facial fair.  I have heard of cases where facial hair can actually become thicker, but I have also heard of cases of transwomen not needing to worry about having to remove anything from our faces.  Even before the hormones, there is the presentation.  Stubble and razor burn aren’t much help when we try to look nice for any number of purposes.  A woman with a beard?  Well . . .

Gimli: “It's true you don't see many dwarf women. And in fact, they are so alike in voice and appearance, that they are often mistaken for dwarf men.”  
Aragorn: “It's the beards.”

So, what are we to do?  There are options open to all men and women.  Shaving, as I mentioned before, is only good until stubble or razor burns appear at the wrong places or times.  Beyond that is where you begin to spend time and effort, and it can hurt at least a little.  Plucking?  Waxing?  You may feel like you have much smoother skin once the nerves calm down, but you then face the chance for a deeper regrowth of the same hair follicles.  So deep, in fact, that they can bleed when you try again.

That leaves the more money intensive options.  Laser and Electrolysis.  After much time and research, I have personally found which of the two is ultimately better.  Then, came finding the right place and person to do it.  When I did, the wonderful lady removing my facial hair via Electrolysis then said that Laser is a waste of more money.

Laser can leave your skin running smooth for a few months or so, especially with the right cream to slow the regrowth, but the hair does return.  That much alone was revealed by a dermatologist I called.  So, after thousands of dollars and however much time spent, you could find yourself going back for more.  It is heart wrenching.  It is wrong.  Oh, and did I forget to mention what the dermatologist didn’t say?  According to the electrologist I go to, some of the hairs can actually become darker with laser.  For those of us with lighter colored hair or skin, this is an issue rather hard to ignore.

But, what about Electrolysis?

I was sent an article this week from Femenisting which hit on something that is very important to me… SEX. A pre-op transsexual asked Professor Foxy whether she is going against “herself” by having and enjoying the sexual use of her penis. This is certainly something that I have felt, and continue to feel, and though I’ve come to peace with myself on this topic I am sure it is something that many of you have felt too.

A brief warning here: This article discusses, as you might have guessed, sex. While there may not be any “messy details”, if you are uncomfortable with this discussion then do not click through to read more.

When dating, as a transsexual, there are two courses that can be taken right from the beginning. First, you can be open and honest about your transgender status and hope that whomever the person is that you’re interested in can see past that. The second would be to get to know the person better before telling them (if you decide to tell them) in hopes that will accept you once they know you as a person. The first method is MY preferred route of travel, though it isn’t always the easiest.

Just a few weeks ago I was at a party with a couple of friends. I was talking with a group of people who I’d just met about how I’d recently started dating boys. One of the boys in the circle approached me afterwards to let me know that he’d be interested in going out with me and wanted to know how to get in touch with me. I was flattered… this boy was HOT! He was much taller than me, which is rare, and which I find to be incredibly attractive.

I gave him my Facebook address and got a message from him the next day asking when we should plan to get together. I was really excited about this guy. He’d been really open about supporting the LGBT community and was an all around nice guy, so I figured that it wouldn’t be a big deal to him when he found out I was a transsexual… boy was I wrong. I’ve never seen anyone go from interested to “let’s just be friends” quicker than that. It’s entirely understandable that I was hurt. I’d been glowing about being picked up by a really hot guy and then quicker than you could say “transsexuals are people too” all hope of going out with him was lost.

This wasn’t the first time this had happened to me, and it won’t be the last, but it is just so incredibly frustrating to have something that, at this point, is such a small portion of my life, be such a deal breaker from someone else. It never fails to bring up all kinds of emotional vulnerabilities that I’ve long since gotten over, but now seem as painful as ever.

The upside to this method is that it gets the pain out of the way early. You find out right there and then where that person stands and avoid spending time and energy on someone who would have been a lost cause anyway. The downside is that you get the rejection before you’ve even gone out on a date.

This situation aside, I’ve also had the experience of telling someone that I was transgender and it having the exact opposite affect. They boy that I’m dating right now was actually excited to hear that I was trans. He’d never dated a transsexual before but finds gender variant people to be really attractive. He himself identifies as a queer male, though I didn’t know this when I initially told him. It’s been incredibly rewarding to be able to be open and honest about all aspects of myself with him, while still having him accept and respect me as the woman that I am.

Find out more about the second method after the break: