It’s gonna play havoc with the harmonies – sadly, I believe the Bee Gee’s are one short. One persons loss . . .
You do know, of course, that male-to-female reassignment has no affect on voice or vocal range.
There’s Genesis P-Orridge, of Throbbing Gristle fame. A link to his site. (Warning! boobs if you scroll down!) I don’t think he’s had reassignment surgery, but he has had implants and so on.
KellyM - No I didn’t, but thank you for telling me. Out of curiosity do you mean in every day talking voice, *potential *singing range or both - see I really am pretty ignorant on this topic ?
Regarding the use of surgery to change sex, does Michael Jackson’s face count?
Or is that a new category?
I think that falls under species reassignment surgery…
I would call her Lady Haden-Guest should I bump into her at a palace ball, but since her professional name is Jamie Lee Curtis, my guess is that it is correct in this context to call her Ms. Curtis.
Eve, do you have any recommendations for books or sites on the history of sex-reassignment surgery? Googling for sites doesn’t bring up much, althoughthis one claims that Christine was the first to undergo the surgery and live. Heartbreaking if true.
BWAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
Oh, good lord. There are, sadly, few good books on the subject; most are tabloid trash. I can highly recommend three memoirs: the nearly impossible to find bio of Lili Elbe, the first documented person to have the surgery (Man Into Woman, 1933, by Niels Hoyer). Also Conundrum by the brilliant Jan Morris, and Christine Jorgensen’s memoirs.
Though Lili Elbe did not long survive her surgery, by the 1930s, more successful surgeries were being done–a good 20 years before Christine’s. There were even some female-to-male experimentations back then. I did read a fairly good history of the subject a year or two ago, but the title escapes me–Kelly, can you help out?
Is that operation an addadiktumee?
The changes that occur in a physiologic male at puberty that distinguish a male voice from a female voice are effectively irreversible. Having your balls cut off does not get you a pass to the soprano section. Your voice won’t change at all.
Female-to-male transsexuals, on the other hand, do experience voice changes on testosterone.
Someone was telling me about a recent book on the topic, but I failed to note what it was. It’s probably in a chat log somewhere, but finding that would be difficult.
Fascinating page, Eve.
Why aren’t you on there?
Sucessful author and all around charming person that you are?
There’s a good documentary that I just saw called Souther Comfort that was about transgendered people. It’s not historical or anything, just the story of several transgendered people living in Arkansas (if I recall correctly). It was really very interesting and also quite touching. I recommend it.
Apparently there is at least one other film by that name so I would check before I rented it.
Encyclopedia of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender History in America (2003).
Joanne Meyerowitz, How Sex Changed: A History of Transsexuality in the United States (2002).
Bernice L. Hausman, Changing Sex: Transsexualism, Technology, and the Idea of Gender (1995).
Gordene Olga MacKenzie, Transgender nation (1994).
No yourself! Jethro Tulle
Cheers KellyM – Out of curiosity I found this before you posted – and damn, it takes some finding amongst all the porn:
http://www.looking-glass.greenend.org.uk/medical.htm
The majority of male-to-female transsexuals will have male-sounding voices which have broken normally at puberty. Neither hormone treatment nor genital surgery will affect the voice, so the patient must learn to produce an acceptable ‘female’ voice if she is to integrate into normal society. Some individuals are able to adapt their voices quite readily, many require professional help, a few may have very little success even with professional tuition.
Speech therapy has provided great benefits to many transsexual patients, and a number of speech therapists have at least some experience in treating either transsexuals, or women with androphonia.
- In my ignorance I thought hormonal treatment might have influenced vocal range . . .
Learn summin’ every day roun’ here a’ways.