Abstract
The literal voice is a principal contributor to identity construction. Consequently, it is a common source of gender dysphoria for transgender females undergoing voice feminisation. Much of the research in this field has primarily viewed this phenomenon from a determinist perspective, equating physiology with vocal identity. Although many approaches to voice feminisation rely on this predominately physiological point of view, objective measures defining voice femininity are not always correlated with transgender client satisfaction (Dacakis et al., 2017: 835–37). This evidence demonstrates the need to look at the voice more constructively—or as a conglomeration of many social, physical and cultural factors—in therapeutic voice interventions. Previously reported clinical outcomes and empirical research concerning the links between the voice and gender identity give credence to this constructivist perspective, which must be more heavily emphasised in transgender voice feminisation approaches moving forward.
Highlights
A review of various approaches to voice feminisation for transgender women reveals two con icting philosophies concerning voice and gender identity: determinism and constructivism
Evaluating the ability of various treatments to produce tangible changes to vocal output, alter listener perceptions and improve patient-reported satisfaction has demonstrated that a singular focus on physiological factors does not fully address the complex task of voice feminisation for transgender women
Constructivism must be incorporated alongside determinism in clinical practice to comprehensively treat clients according to their needs
Summary
A review of various approaches to voice feminisation for transgender women reveals two con icting philosophies concerning voice and gender identity: determinism and constructivism. The determinist philosophy equates sex with gender and relies on physiology to characterise an individual’s voice; in contrast, the constructivist philosophy distances itself from the biological perspective by acknowledging socio-cultural in uences on both gender and voice (Zimman, 2018: 2–3) While different in their approaches, these two philosophies both attempt to provide large-scale theoretical models for the alignment of voice and self-identity. The purpose of this paper is two-fold: rstly to consider the ef cacy of determinist and constructivist philosophies in voice feminisation strategies, and secondly – through an analysis of patient outcomes and empirical data – determine how to better apply these philosophies in clinical practice moving forwards The effectiveness of these two different philosophies will be based upon a consideration of a treatment’s ability to produce tangible changes to vocal output, alter listener perceptions and improve patient-reported satisfaction. One person is capable of producing a range of vocal outputs
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