Welcome!
Here you will find information for transgender/transsexual individuals, their loved ones, and professionals working or interested in working with this population, especially speech-language pathologists.
Already know the basics? Skip straight to our sections on voice interventions for male-to-female and female-to-male transitions. Looking for more information? Check out our resources section.
Already know the basics? Skip straight to our sections on voice interventions for male-to-female and female-to-male transitions. Looking for more information? Check out our resources section.
Meet Dannan
At age 7, Danann is a typical little girl. She enjoys playing with her dolls and dressing up as a princess. The only difference between Danann and many other little girls is that she was born biologically male. Learn more about Danann and others like her in this short clip from the documentary film Trans:
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Danann is transgender. This means she has a gender identity that differs from expectations associated with the physical sex she was born with. The term "transgender" is often used together or interchangeably with transsexual, a word that describes "a person who experiences a mismatch of the sex they were born as and the sex they identify as" (UC Berkeley Gender Equity Resource Center, 2012). Specifically, individuals like Danann are often described as male-to-female, or MtF. Cris, who also appears in the above video, is female-to-male, or FtM.
Professionals and loved ones alike need to recognize that gender identity is not the same thing as sexual orientation (UC Berkeley Gender Equity Resource Center, 2012). It is also important, when speaking to or about a transgender/transsexual individual, that we use his or her preferred name and gender pronoun. Although Danann was born physically male, it would not be appropriate to use "he" to refer to her.
The term gender identity disorder refers to a diagnosis that can be made based on the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th Edition, Revised (DSM IV-TR). According to the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH, 2012), gender identity disorder "is characterized by a strong and persistent cross-gender identification and a persistent discomfort with one’s sex or sense of inappropriateness in the gender role of that sex, causing clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning." Gender dysphoria is a term used to describe the distress the individual feels as a result of the discrepancy between his or her assigned sex and gender identity (WPATH, 2012).
Professionals and loved ones alike need to recognize that gender identity is not the same thing as sexual orientation (UC Berkeley Gender Equity Resource Center, 2012). It is also important, when speaking to or about a transgender/transsexual individual, that we use his or her preferred name and gender pronoun. Although Danann was born physically male, it would not be appropriate to use "he" to refer to her.
The term gender identity disorder refers to a diagnosis that can be made based on the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th Edition, Revised (DSM IV-TR). According to the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH, 2012), gender identity disorder "is characterized by a strong and persistent cross-gender identification and a persistent discomfort with one’s sex or sense of inappropriateness in the gender role of that sex, causing clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning." Gender dysphoria is a term used to describe the distress the individual feels as a result of the discrepancy between his or her assigned sex and gender identity (WPATH, 2012).
Transgender/transsexual Facts
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Read on for more information about voice change in transgender/transsexual individuals and the professionals who work with them.
Website created November 2012
by Jennifer Goble, Kari Miles, Andrea Scheulen, and Jennifer Sheridan
Speech-language pathology Master's degree students at Western Kentucky University
by Jennifer Goble, Kari Miles, Andrea Scheulen, and Jennifer Sheridan
Speech-language pathology Master's degree students at Western Kentucky University