(no subject)

[nathan-dorian.livejournal.com]

I am cross-posting this all over the place, because I am just so giddy.

Okay, so! My biggest concern on Testosterone was always what impact it would have on my singing voice. I have always loved to sing, it makes me happier than anything else in the world, regardless of my lack of skill. I'm not an especially good singer, but God how I love it so much.

So, I've been recording my voice regularly with speaking and also singing, and now at 25 weeks (nearly 6 months) on Testosterone, I have decided to share some of the results for anyone who is also interested in the effect of Testosterone on one's singing voice.

( Singing Ahoy! )



Unemployment and Job Searching

[prtyldy.livejournal.com]

I am posting this hoping for some advice for myself (cis female) and my trans girlfriend (who does not have a livejournal account).

She has been unemployed for 6 months now. She was fired from her job of 7 years for pretty lame reasons. I might mention that she was fired just a few months after informing them of her intentions to transition, but really that is irrelevant at this point. She has been on HRT for almost 2 years now, and her body has become undeniably female. As she is thin, her significant breast growth is difficult to cover. While she has very male facial features, our original plan was to have some FFS type stuff done last March, and then she would change her name and "go full time" (though the only thing missing from full time before was the new name and pronouns). Unfortunately, the loss of her job threw off our FFS plans (-$).

So now we are at a point where she does not pass as female due to her face (I know that passing is not possible for everyone, but it is her ultimate goal), and does not easily pass as male due to her breasts, and she needs to find employment. With the economy as it is, the type of job she is looking for is rare enough, and not strictly speaking the sort of job you would expect to get hired at as an obvious trans person (dont tear my head off here, I am trying to be realistic), especially when there are many qualified people applying for them. To further complicate things, the lack of social stresses she encounters being home and unemployed have given her the courage to insist on the use of feminine pronouns and her new name from our friends and relatives. This is not a bad thing (duh!), but it does mean that she is, for the first time in her life, in a situation where she gets to be herself openly, all the time. She does not want to go back, and though I cant blame her, we are still trying to afford FFS and badly need a second income to do so.

I guess I would like any advice anyone could give here. She is still legally male, and therefor must apply to jobs with her male name. Should she pretend to be male to get a job for the time being? Is it worth the mental anguish to have a better chance at passing later on? What about her voicemail? Right now her message says her female name, but potential employers will think they have a wrong number!

The whole situation is putting a tremendous strain on our relationship, and while we have come to terms with the fact that there is no easy solution, I keep hoping there is something I have missed. Help if you can!

Thanks,

-H