Transgender Officer in the British Army on BBC

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Pity about the voice, but according to the blurb Cpt Hannah Winterbourne is the highest ranking, serving officer in the British Army who just happens to be transgender.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-34966216

The army has come a long way.

Comments

Wondering

Will the day come when voice will be less of an issue? I confess that I often will close my eyes and use the voice as my personal acid test. Should that be a reasonable standard?

I find her voice almost androgynous. She's obviously intelligent and sensitive.

Angela Rasch (Jill M I)

Don't think so

It is too ingrained in our brains I think. i mean, why does a guy's testosterone automatically lower their voices? A rich male voice probably does something for straight women. And a feminine voice does something for a straight guy.

And since deep voiced women with a masculine intonation is the exception to the rule, I would think that 'never' would be a reasonable answer.

Yes, voice

One must simply go to Facebook to see that there are flaws in my appearance. However, in 2000, I began to work on my voice; there was someone on Storysite.org that had some on line recordings. Then in 2005, after I was firmly "out" I paid $65 an hour for several voice training sessions and have worked very hard since

What has actually happened is I have expanded my vocal range, learned "upspeak" and learned to minimize vocal "frying". Word choices are very important. Though it is not the link I want, here is one that shows the difference in female/male word choices. http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=13873

I wish I could find the list that I used to have taped to the side of my monitor. There were only about two dozen words and I was told that if I used them rather than normal male speak I would sound more feminine.

"The world is but a stage. One should remember that. Learning to flirt with my voice seems to just come natural now, in fact at times it seems out of control. You paid thousands to look like a female, perhaps it is worth the work to sound that way also.

Authority and gender

Rhona McCloud's picture

I wonder if her undeniably masculine voice results from her being an army officer. Some have voice tuition while transitioning but we also tend to unconciously fit in with our peers. At the moment she probably identifies more with other army officers than with say waitresses and it could be that female army officers in general sound masculine in the same way Margaret Thatcher did when taking power.

Rhona McCloud

I heard different

Alecia Snowfall's picture

I heard different. There is a higher ranking officer. If that person wishes to sound off, great. If not, that's fine too. They know who they are.

quidquid sum ego, et omnia mea semper; Ego me.
alecia Snowfall

TG captain in the Army

Interesting how supportive the British Army is. She is still in the same unit ?
Wonder what the reaction and support would be like in the US Army or Navy. You'd hope the same, but I'm not hopeful.

Cefin