I was listening to Jan Morris on the Radio4’s Excess Baggage the other day. Actually I was listening to the podcast of Excess Baggage. I am a child of web 2.0 you know. Well a teenager really.
Anyway, as I said I was listening to this podcast on my iPodlet. And I was struck my two things, once is how very cool it is for Jan Morris to be able to talk on the radio and not be referred to as ‘Jan, formerly James’ Morris. The first 20 or so times I saw Jan Morris on TV she was referred to as Jan, formerly James Morris. The think I love about Jan Morris is that there is so much more to her writing than being a transsexual, and I find her descriptions haunting and evocative. I love reading them.
The other thing I noticed about Jan Morris on the Radio was that her disembodied voice did sound, er, male. Even however many years post transition. Now I am aware that my voice sounds female because occasionally people assume that I’m female on the phone.
In person very few people assume that I’m trans, because I look male the voice goes almost unnoticed. Though I do wonder if my secretary notices. She hears my disembodied voice every time I do a tape of letters from clinic. I have tried to avoid it. I can type nearly as fast as she can, so it seems silly to have to dictate letters. But I can’t print the letters of and file them in the right places, so I give in and dictate them.
But I can’t help wondering if my voice gives me away. Maybe she knows. Maybe the girls in the typing pool know. Maybe I should just insist on doing my own typing. It’s ridiculous to dictate when I can type at 70wpm. Though I don’t have a login for the automatic send a letter to GPs system the secretaries use.
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