Speaking As A Woman

Speaking As A Woman

By Alison Laing

1997, Creative Design Services

39 Pages


From the Preface

The purpose of this book is to provide understanding and techniques that will assist those persons, born as males, to overcome any fear they have in speaking to others as females.

During my early attempts at passing, I discovered that by talking in as feminine a manner as possible I received greater acceptance by those around me than I did by remaining silent. ... Later I began to study how the voice worked and what more I could do to improve my abilities to speak as a woman.

There is little written for the lay person on this subject. In 1986, I enrolled in the Fantasia Fair voice workshops which were at that time being conducted by Dr. Reinhart Heuer, former Associate Professor and supervisor of the voice clinic at Temple University in Philadelphia. I also attended several workshops conducted by him in the Delaware Valley area.

Since that time, I have attended other seminars and workshops on speaking in a more feminine manner including those conducted lately at Fantasia Fair by Dr. Moya Andrews and Ann Fennell of Indiana University. This book represents a compilation of all that I have learned on the subject of feminine speaking. It is presented in a manner that I believe will assist the average crossdresser and transsexual in achieving at least some improvement in their verbal communication skills and provide them with greater confidence.


Table of Contents

Introduction

The Proper State of Mind

How the Voice Works

Words & Sentence Structure

Intonation & Inflection

Vocal Range & Pitch

Voice Quality

Electronically Speaking

Non-Verbal Communication

Voice Surgery

Final Thoughts

Postscript

Appendix A: References

Appendix B: Castrati & Male Soprano

Appendix C: Speech Program at Fan Fair