The Long Read: Is opera trans resistant?
mainThe countertenor Alexander Pullinger has written a paper examining why transgender singers find it so hard to break through in opera.
He tells Slipped Disc: Over lockdown, East London-based charity Sound Connections funded me to write a paper on empowering transgender voices by making singing spaces more inclusive and trans-positive. In my work as a classical singer, I’ve found that transgender people commonly encounter significant barriers to accessing auditions, safe tuition, choral groups and progressing their careers. This is largely because of the incorrect association of voice type with gender identity. The accounts of transphobia I include in my paper are by no means unique. We are seeing this problem reflected in the number of professional transgender singers in our concert halls and on our opera stages.
You can read Alexander’s full article here.
Here’s the lead-in:
The pain of not being able to sing with others is something many freelance singers have experienced over the past few months, as a result of COVID-19. Many of us who sing professionally have suffered not only from the financial impact of restrictions on live singing, but also the emotional impact. Despite our best efforts, we have lost much of our sense of community, and the tangible joy of singing together in front of an audience. It is encouraging to know that we might be singing together again before long, perhaps looking back and wondering how we all made it through that flat, sad, songless time. With a vaccine in sight, I am tentatively optimistic. The prospect of not singing together again indefinitely is excruciating to consider.
And yet, for many singers who are transgender, organised singing has always been, and will remain, largely inaccessible. I was entirely unaware of this until very recently. As far as I knew, I had never seen, nor worked with, any transgender singers: not as a boy chorister, nor as a choral scholar, nor anywhere on the freelance circuit in the UK and abroad. For a long time, the strangeness of this had not occurred to me. That is, until I made a connection between conventions in organised singing and the everyday challenges transgender individuals face – a connection I made as a result of being exposed to my (transgender) partner’s experiences in the wider world. I cannot now unsee the viscerally damaging effects of ignorant behaviour – whether it is overt or much more subtle – upon transgender people in singing environments. In either case, the harm is both acute and lasting.
This simple shift in awareness means I can recognise transphobia in its various forms and intervene. The outcomes have been heartening on the whole. I have seen that institutional change is possible through education and dialogue. That is why I have chosen to develop my
trans advocacy work in singing, and consolidate the knowledge I have gained, in order to share it with Sound Connections and my peers….
Read on here.
Composers have always composed for the voices of their favorite divas and divos, who had voices that were out of the ordinary, which is exactly what made them divas and divos, and generations hence have trained themselves to sing these arias, thus to sound like these original divas/divos, and in so doing, paradoxically, the original extraordinary voices have become the standards to strive for.
First, hear that trans voices are extraordinary, and composers must write for trans divas and divos.
Right you are, sam, on all counts!
This is a really tricky one and I don’t think there is a right answer. Even leaving aside the trans issue, why are male altos acceptable (mainly but not always in male-only choirs) while female tenors on the whole aren’t? And in the case of trans singers, what impact does transitioning have on the timbre of the voice? Can F2M trans people end up as basses, or vice versa? I think it’s a really fascinating set of questions that touches on a whole range of our current preoccupations with gender and equality.
Full disclosure: I sing tenor in various mixed amateur SATB choirs and it bugs the hell out of me to have women next to me singing the tenor line. I keep on telling myself that it’s because they simply don’t sound right, but what exactly does that mean? As long as they nail the notes, how important is sounding right anyway, at least for a group of people supposedly making music for the love of it? For professional singers, it might well be a different matter…
Like I said, I have more questions than answers.
…and what about the appalling exclusion of female bass singers! There needs to be a full enquiry and affirmative action immediately. This is the result of a conspiracy between composers, none of whom has written for the female basso profundo voice. Where is there a King of the Night’s aria?
The notion of equality does not work in music performance, because nothing in music is equal. Even a choir has to have distinctions: soprano, alto, tenor, bass.
“The notion of equality does not work in music performance, because nothing in music is equal.”
Apart from temperament 🙂
True….. the equal temperament is the spiritual island all those quarrelling musicians return to, in an effort to calm down.
Exactly! The trouble is you can’t say anything like that or you get called a whole load of names or showered with abuse.
An extract from its learned article: “Voice type is a product of hormones and is not defined by gender. For this reason, it can be concluded that assigning a gender to the voice . . . does not make logical sense … In fact, it is especially illogical if we consider that many people … identify with a gender other than the one they were assigned at birth — people whose voices have developed according to their sex. To date, there are an estimated 600,000 transgender people living in the UK, roughly 1 percent of the population … It follows, then, that there will be a large number of men, women, and non-binary individuals whose voices defy the gendered labels … incorrectly assigned to the way they sound. Transgender people … do not always meet this expectation that men sing low and women sing high. These labels are liable to exclude many transgender people from singing.” Assuming that all choirs are in a very broad way auditioned (from formal interview situation with a Music Director to assess the voice, right down to vocal compatibility within a section over, say, a first season), is this in any way relevant?
And the size and thickness of your vocal cords. Why a cello sounds lower than a violin or a viola. The thinner the string, the faster the vibration, the higher the pitch.
There are stories about the need for singers to get thinner to get a higher tessitura. It is a fact that basses are often remarkably rounded.
Excellent point!
I’ll bet he’s a laugh a minute at a party
This guy needs a job, but a real one; maybe janitor!
Opera is transphobic. Got it.
Could there be any less important question than the one posed in the title?
Singing, especially in opera, is never about the ‘real’ gender of the singer, but about something of the imagination. Everything that is happening in opera is imaginary. So, people who have difficulty with transgender singers confuse two layers of reality. And then, thinking of the numerous ‘Hosenrollen’ in opera, what’s the problem?
I guess I’ve spent too much time among the vaqueros of the American southwest and am out of touch with the world, but…are there so many transgender people out there that is this really a big deal? How many are we talking about. I don’t mean this as any sign of disrespect, but other than Wendy (aka Walter) Carlos, I don’t think I’ve ever met any.
No, there aren’t that many. But trans people do exist and they should be able to live a good life.
Yes – the do deserve a good life. But we also shouldn’t be required to rewire all of society and western civilization to appease their demands.
And they are owed a career no matter how untalented they might be! But seriously, have the heard the singers making a career on this particular “merit”? Mediocre at best.
Meet Sara Davis Buechner, formerly David.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Le78Y90N7Dc
for example
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucia_Lucas
See also:
https://www.schmopera.com/scene/people/breanna-sinclaire/
https://holdenmadagame.com/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tona_Brown
Of course you’ve met transgender people. You just didn’t know that they were transgender.
In theory it is possible that transgenders form a great majority, but nobody notices.
Gender fluidity should be encouraged, in theory, so that everybody can make their pick.
People used to say that about gays and lesbians. In fact some still do as in “we don’t have them in our country”.
I never met a gay or a lesbian. I’m convinced they don’t exist and that it’s a mere PR exercise to create new commercial categories to be exploited!
Sally
Two examples from the UK:
Wally Stott -> Angela Morley
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angela_Morley
Hazel Vivienne -> Victor Morris
I’m actually a bit reluctant to mention them as in those civilized days (before we had ‘activists’) everyone just got on with life.
In our return to normalcy, there’s a fantastic opportunity here to tie grant money to increased trans participation in the performing Arts.
The word is normality not normalcy. In English, ‘ity’ is used almost without exception after ‘al’. The use of ‘normalcy’ almost always signifies some bullsh!t.
Although around since the mid-19th century, “normalcy” remains a disapproved form of “normality.” The former gained wide usage as the campaign slogan of that great lexicographer Warren G. Harding, though it took a while. It is now the usual American usage.
Its “bu….it” component might be signified by the fact that if you type it in as a word to look up in the Oxford Dictionary online (onelookdictionary.com) it automatically self-corrects to “normality.” That’s enough for me.
What is this rubbish argument? Normalcy is a word in the English dictionary, and whether you happen to agree or disagree with the context in how it is used is by the by. By ‘bullshit’ do you mean it usually signifies an informed liberal belief which you aren’t read up on?
There are six nouns in the Oxford English Dictionary ending -alcy (including ‘normalcy’) and four of those (admiralcy, captain-generalcy, generalcy, and marshalcy) are a distinct group. The other is ‘interstitialcy’.
There are four hundred nouns ending -ality.
Normalcy sounds discordant to British ears and its use is treated with contempt.
Harding’s coinage of ‘normalcy’ in 1920 was ridiculed at the time: the OED quotes ‘If..‘normalcy’ is ever to become an accepted word it will presumably be because the late President Harding did not know any better.’ (1929).
Why would you ever use such a word then. What is its antonym? Abnormalcy? That isn’t in the OED.
Why would you use ‘normalcy’ rather than normality (or even normalness)? When it is used in Britain, it’s almost always for specious reasons in the context of some left-wing nonsense.
Why on earth would you associate the notion of left-wing with a very pro-business, anti-labour Republican whose administration was really known only for corruption (Teapot Dome, among other scandals)?
‘Normalcy’ is a very recent import to the UK and the connection with Harding (of whom most people would know nothing) is insignificant.
Never heard of it!
“There are four hundred nouns ending -ality.”
It is heartwarming to see that SD can inspire someone to seriously pick-up the Oxford English Dictionary and count 400 words to make sure the argument is correct.
The words are normality and normalcy. Words exist for the people that use them. If you don’t like a word, then mind your own business.
Why would you commend ignorance and discourage analysis?
But these are not normal words anyway. They exist only in English in this way. In French and German the concept of ‘normal’ is more normally defined. Even the Hungarians have a normal word for it: ‘normalitàs’. It’s the only normal word in Hungarian, by the way.
Let us all resist the viscerally damaging effects of ignorant behaviour in all forms.
How many of them could there possibly be that anyone needs to spend more than 2 minutes discussing it?
Your reaction is cruel!
What challenges do trans people face?
While trans people are increasingly visible in both popular culture and in daily life, we still face severe discrimination, stigma and systemic inequality. Some of the specific issues facing the trans community are:
Lack of legal protection– Trans people face a legal system that often does not protect us from discrimination based on our gender identity. Despite a recent U.S. Supreme Court Decision that makes it clear that trans people are legally protected from discrimination in the workplace, there is still no comprehensive federal non-discrimination law that includes gender identity – which means trans people may still lack recourse if we face discrimination when we’re seeking housing or dining in a restaurant. Moreover, state legislatures across the country are debating – and in some cases passing – legislation specifically designed to prohibit trans people from accessing public bathrooms that correspond with our gender identity, or creating exemptions based on religious beliefs that would allow discrimination against LGBTQ people.
Poverty– Trans people live in poverty at elevated rates, and for trans people of color, these rates are even higher. Around 29% of trans adults live in poverty, as well 39% of Black trans adults, 48% of Latinx trans adults and 35% of Alaska Native, Asian, Native Americans and Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander trans adults.
Stigma, Harassment and Discrimination – About half a decade ago, only one-quarter of people in the United States supported trans rights, and support increased to 62% by the year 2019. Despite this progress, the trans community still faces considerable stigma due to more than a century of being characterized as mentally ill, socially deviant and sexually predatory. While these intolerant views have faded in recent years for lesbians and gay men, trans people are often still ridiculed by a society that does not understand us. This stigma plays out in a variety of contexts – from lawmakers who leverage anti-trans stigma to score cheap political points; to family, friends or coworkers who reject trans people upon learning about our trans identities; and to people who harass, bully and commit serious violence against trans people. This includes stigma that prevents them from accessing necessary services for their survival and well-being. Only 30% of women’s shelters are willing to house trans women. While recent legal progress has been made, 27% of trans people have been fired, not hired or denied a promotion due to their trans identity. Too often, harassment has led trans people to avoid exercising their most basic rights to vote. HRC Foundation’s research shows that 49% of trans adults, and 55% of trans adults of color said they were unable to vote in at least one election in their life because of fear of or experiencing discrimination at the polls.
Violence Against Trans People– Trans people experience violence at rates far greater than the average person. Over a majority (54%) of trans people have experienced some form of intimate partner violence, 47% have been sexually assaulted in their lifetime and nearly one in ten were physically assaulted in between 2014 and 2015. This type of violence can be fatal. At least 27 trans and gender non-conforming people have been violently killed in 2020 thus far, the same number of fatalities observed in 2019.
Lack of Healthcare Coverage– An HRC Foundation analysis found that 22% of trans people and 32% of trans people of color have no health insurance coverage. More than one-quarter (29%) of trans adults have been refused health care by a doctor or provider because of their gender identity. This sobering data reveals a healthcare system that fails to meet the needs of the trans community.
Identity Documents – The widespread lack of accurate identity documents among trans people can have an impact on every aspect of their lives, including access to emergency housing or other public services. Without identification, one cannot travel, register for school or access many services that are essential to function in society. Many states do not allow trans people to update their identification documents to match their gender identity. Others require evidence of medical transition – which can be prohibitively expensive and is not something that all trans people want – as well as fees for processing new identity documents, which may make them unaffordable for some members of the trans community.
Source: https://www.hrc.org/resources/understanding-the-transgender-community
Thank you, Peter. I think the answer to the headline question is to be found in the comments section. 🙁
Sorry, but I thought that SD was all about music – not a billboard for political manifestos.
You should be sending this to your Member of Parliament, President, Senator, Representative or whatever, or maybe you should be standing as a member of your legislative assembly. Passionate speeches like this on the stump might get you there. But please leave us to debate music and matters closely associated with it. You are decidedly off piste and are running the risk of making us all piste off.
Er, it’s not a political stance to just exist as a transgender person. They can’t help it, like someone who can’t help being gay or being black. It’s not political to acknowledge transgender singers are out there and facing difficulties every day, is it? That’s just facing a fact that has long been ignored. Also, the changes he’s suggesting we make aren’t really major or political either. They’re small and subtle and have really very little impact on anyone who isn’t transgender.
1%, they say. That’s quite a lot of individuals.
citation please – who is “they”?
I read this — to me surprising, it strikes me as high — figure very recently, and I don’t remember. But it was almost certainly in The Spectator, which is obsessed with the trans issue, either in a recent article or a BTL comment — I think the former, as I would not cite the latter unless it was attributed. I’ve read nothing else on the issue as I am not obsessed with it, just trying to get my money;s worth out of my Spec subscription!
For Western people, having difficulty with understanding gender fluidity, it is recommended to take notice of the way how the concept is treated in the Far East, where it has always been normal part of the culture, until the Westerners imported their ignorance and taboos. In Thailand, Japan, Taiwan, S-Korea, even mainland China, gender fluidity is no problem, especially not with the younger generations. There are even TV drama series destined for ‘the entire family’ in which amorous complications flit over the screen and through boundaries in ways which in the West would be quite uncommon and unacceptable.
James, couldn’t this argument be equally applied to victims of the Holocaust?
I’d like to think that we live in a less totalitarian world than ‘I only want there to be people like me in the world’
The writer raises an interesting point of view but he has skin in this particular game. ” ….. I made a connection between conventions in organised singing and the everyday challenges transgender individuals face – a connection I made as a result of being exposed to my (transgender) partner’s experiences in the wider world.”
The current direction of travel is very much in line with the opinions expressed in this article and for a complementary piece see Jonathan Cross in February’s ‘Opera’, whose editorial position gets ever more woke with each edition).
I suppose that we have to reconcile ourselves to this new reality as the views of Mr Pullinginer, sincerely held as they are, are taken up by the [anti]musical establisment and the varied groups of cultural intersectionalists to advance the cause of another persecuted minority. And if the fabric of the musical world as it exists and has evolved over centuries does not survive the attention then so what? After all, isn’t that part of the No Platform agenda? More apposite in this context than many others.
Sexual ambiguity has always been in opera and Elizabethan plays, both on stage and off, what with the castrati, women singing male roles, young men playing female roles, and the royal and papal decrees.
I’m so tired of hearing about the travails of mentally ill transfolk. Enough already.
so many people share your feeling, but are terrified of having their lives destroyed by the tolerant, inclusive and diverse communists.
I have to put up with one in the family. He looks like a pantomime dame. Why should I (and his poor father) be expected to call him by a different name and accept being seen with someone dressed ridiculously?
Once we were intolerant of people of the village next door, then we liked them but only if they were of the same religion. Then we disliked and belittled different ethnic groups. Then we discriminated against gays. Then we were intolerant of trandgendered folk. Then we grew up.
That’s not how it worked though (certainly in Britain). The attitude here was we won’t make a fuss if you don’t make a fuss. Individuals were treated respectfully because it was good manners.
Now that everyone is being forced to be tolerant, and the emphasis is on groups rather than individuals, the resentment grows and I for one am now less likely to employ someone who is black, muslim, homosexual, or transsexual. I would suggest that demanding respect is counterproductive.
I’m very intolerant of tolerance when it becomes intolerant. It always forces me to think.
Sally
^ some of us anyway
This is incredibly cruel and nasty. That is your *opinion*, this is HER *EXISTENCE*. Why do you lend empathy to her ‘poor father’ rather than her having to bravely face the world against daily transphobia, bullying, and hatred even from those closest and most trusted in her family who are supposed to be there to support her.
Also, the fact that you are only willing to accept a woman if she looks like a certain type of woman that suits you best is completely misogynist. You don’t get to play god and choose how and why people are allowed to live the way they live. How does this affect your life? You are not the victim in this situation. Grow up, and get over it.
‘That is your *opinion*, this is HER *EXISTENCE*.’
This is my experience.
‘Why do you lend empathy to her ‘poor father’ rather than her having to bravely face the world’
Because my experience is that it’s his poor father who suffers. He is almost unable to talk about his son. Do you not feel any empathy for him?
‘you are only willing to accept a woman if she looks like a certain type of woman that suits you best is completely misogynist.’
You’ve made an awful lot of assumptions here. I just think it’s terribly bad manners to think it’s alright to turn up looking like a pantomime dame.
‘How does this affect your life? You are not the victim in this situation.’
Your empathy’s gone again. Can you not imagine the upheaval and distress this has caused?
Yes that clearly makes sense doesn’t it.. don’t try and help people in need, let’s just pretend vulnerable people aren’t suffering because it’s easier for you.
REALITY CHECK – this isn’t about you.
Trans people are not mentally ill. That rubbish argument is a complete cop-out, do your research! Why do you insist on showing such a lack of empathy, care, and human kindness? What you post on the internet is documented forever. History is watching you, and you should be ashamed of yourself.
You are being very selective when identifying people as vulnerable or not.
You’ve shown you have no understanding of the upheaval that can be caused within a family. I’d guess you are one of those who has no sympathy for the female athletes who will never come first because their strength is a fraction of that of a man who’s allowed to compete against them.
I just can’t think of anything that matters less than this right now. Im not very tall – should I be asking, in an aggrieved voice, if the NBA is non-tall-man-resistant? And should I then demand a place be made for me?
Of course, you should require the NBA to adapt to your height. The players who deviate, i.e. are taller than you, must have their upper or lower body parts amputated. Then it will be good, everyone will be happy. That’s how it works on all fronts. By the way, can’t you think of anything that matters less than this just now?
I tried…but, no, I can’t. Literally nothing matters less than worrying about the 2.3 trans opera singers who fret that the world won’t fall over itself to accommodate their (possible mental illness) preferred lifestyle.
I’m more concerned at the lack of diversity in the NBA. There should be set asides for Asians and Hispanics. It’s not fair that most players are black. Afterall, we are currently in a society that says diversity is king or queen. If Queen Caroline can be played by a black actress then surely the NBA can have more 5’5” Chinese players.
I think what you really mean is you can’t think of anything that matters less TO YOU right now. These are real people.
Are short people like you killed on a daily basis because of their height? Are you ostracised from your friends, family, workplace, places where you form sociabilities (such as choirs) because you are so short?
Seems strange to me that you would be so cruel to trans women when it seems to me you could really learn a lesson from them, by putting on a nice tall pair of heels, putting on a fierce brave face, and facing the world. Grow up (mentally, not physically)
Are you a transsexual? If so then you should perhaps talk about your own experience. If not, you should probably shut up.
All the time you’re talking about these people as though they’re all the same and they need you to speak for them. It’s incredibly annoying and you’re part of the problem.
In my experience, the very short man and the very tall woman’s struggles can be quite considerable (I’m of average height myself) but you’re so blinkered that you seem to miss this more commonplace suffering. Not trendy enough perhaps…
‘putting on a fierce brave face’
Not sure that’s the best way to make people like or want to hire you…
You are length-challenged. Which is a socially-justice category and in the future it will be a stamp in your passport, giving you special treatment in situations where people have to judge others according to their height.
Pullinger argues that “male-voice” and “female-voice” choirs should not be allowed to exclude non-cisgendered persons identifying as male, provided the voice is compatible. But then he also argues in favour of “trans” choirs, despite making no claim whatsoever to “trans” voices being idiosyncratic. Pullinger acknowledges, even lauds, choirs as having a social as well as musical function, but seems to be rather inconsistent in determining when a “social” justification for a particular form of exclusion may be invoked (I think that, if it is acceptable for an amateur choir to be “trans only”, surely it should be acceptable for an amateur choir to be “cisgendered women only”).
I am also troubled by Pullinger’s suggestion that discussing the removal of a binder for singing should be taboo. It seems reasonable enough for a singing teacher to point-out that a binder does impair breathing (and explain in what respects it does so, and how one might surmount these issues — the latter may entail finding another teacher, since not all singing teachers may have the expertise to advise on effective breathing with a binder), and let the pupil decide whether removing the binder is an acceptable compromise to his/her self-expression. As a piano teacher, I do advise my pupils that long fingernails, rings, wrist-watches, and bracelets impair playing, but I acknowledge that for some people, such things may be non-negotiable. But I do not make sweeping assumptions as to what is and is not negotiable.
Any conversation is which |I have to accept the notion that I am “cis-gendered” has lost me. I am female, and to refer to me in any other way is merely to accommodate a political agenda.
That does not make me anti-trans — I am not disposed to be anti-anyone in groups. But it makes me anti-woke, woke being an approach to life that seems determined to dictate how we all must think, without consultation, discussion, debate, and certainly without argument. Too close to dictatorship for my taste.
Alas, that is very true. In the name of justice, a totalitarian mentality is taking shape, creating the opposite of what was intended. It seems to me that it is not the subject matter, but the way it is turned into intolerant group think, that is the problem.
You don’y need to call yourself cis, that’s completely fine. It doesn’t change the fact that you are, though. Just like a white person needn’t call themselves white in everyday language. In situations where sex/gender are discussed, it’s a helpful prefix to determine who exactly you mean when you talk about men and women.
He’s not making a sweeping assumption – he’s just saying that some people need to wear them. In fact, he’s saying that there’s a sweeping assumption made by many singing teachers that a binder isn’t that important and can be removed at Will by all wearers. He also points us in the direction of a really helpful and well researched manual on breathing techniques for those who do have to wear their chest binders. Check out the further reading in the article.
Forgive my ignorance, but please explain your comment “for those who do have to wear their chest binders”. Emphasis on ‘have’. Thanks
For those who do have to? Well, namely those who are awaiting chest surgery or can’t have it.
If you’re trying to imply that nobody ‘has’ to, I would politely suggest you have a little read up the subject.
Thank you Chris. I understand ‘have’ as ‘mandatory’, as in ‘must’. So who exerts this pressure (sic) on whom? And who creates this diktat?
The sound of male altos and sopranos is quite different from the female variety. Mixing them will be hard if a homogenous sound is wished for.
A LONGER READ – Is Western Civilization destruction-resistant?
Answer: no
It overcame the Fall of Rome, so I would say: yes. (It only took a couple of ages.)
“To be transgender is not a lifestyle choice. It is not a fad or a craze. It is not easy, but requires courage and commitment. It is a part of who you are, like being gay, and, as such, denial of it can be annihilating.” – Rowan Moore in the Guardian today. Some people here should really think before they spew their vitriol.
Schizophrenia is not a lifestyle choice, either. But society is not expected to indulge the misperceptions of schizophrenics, which is what female athletes are called on to do, for example, when biological men self-identify as women and demand to be treated as such.
There’s much schizophrenia around as a life style choice, but mostly it’s not a transgender choice.
To quote from the paper again: “A rigidly enforced gendered dress code can ironically leave certain singers feeling forced to cross-dress in front of an audience. I have found that there is often one dress code outlined by the conductor for men, and one for women. For instance: Men: Black trousers, black shirt, black dinner jacket, black shoes Ladies: Black knee-length skirt, black blouse, black shoes. While this approach may be unremarkable for the majority of singers, it can leave some transgender singers feeling unable to dress in a way that matches their identity (assuming they have not already been put off from singing at the rehearsal stage). First of all, a binary, gendered dress code (i.e. one for men and one for women) is by definition incompatible with non-binary identity. Secondly, transgender people who are not regularly read as the gender they are (a concept known as ‘passing’) can expose themselves to harassment, because they may be seen to be cross-dressing or even trying to deceive. Thirdly, as with my colleague on tour, pressuring them to present as a gender other than their own can cause dysphoria and distress, and communicates an attitude that their gender presentation would necessarily be subjected to ridicule and harassment. One solution to this could be to have the same clothing options, perhaps listed and itemised, but not to specify that any particular combination is for men or for women. In practice, this leaves the singers free to choose, while still allowing them to adhere to the specified concert dress code. This small change, a few words in a pre-concert email, removes the restriction that could otherwise be needlessly distressing and alienating. Here is one solution: Black shirt, blouse or roll-neck top Black knee-length skirt or black trousers Smart black shoes, low heels or flats.” So that clears that up at least.
To feel uneasy in a dress code has nothing to do with gender identity. Every dress code is an artifical thing, because civilisation is something artificial, and clothes are artificial, not natural. Complaining about the uneasiness that a dress code creates in concert life, is incredibly childish, immature, nonsensical. And for performers, dressing is something entirely subject to the main activity which is playing music. The blackness of the average concert performing dress code is meant to make the players invisible, so that they don’t distract from the music. If THIS makes some people feel uncomfortable, they should seek another profession.
I really am amazed by the resistance this paper is being met with in this comment section. Music is, by definition, a human-made activity. I cannot exist without the bodies of those who perform it (see ‘Musicking’ by Christopher Small). One would think that any chance to diversify the genre and to address potential barriers to it, like the timely suggestions made by Pullinger and C.N Lester etc, would be readily acted upon by practitioners for the benefit of everyone involved in music-making.
I don’t think Pullinger’s proposed solutions to the problem of trans-inclusivity in singing require the institutional overhaul some people are making them out to require. He’s merely suggesting we work with greater sensitivity to the lived experiences of a more diverse group of people, and make some much needed updates to our language.
And to those of you who say there aren’t enough trans singers singing to justify such changes, well, you’ve clearly missed the point of the paper entirely.
Perhaps some castrati roles going forward?
Thanks to male altos and sopranos, the 18C castrato roles can now be sung by men without having to undergo a rather unpleasant intervention.
This is an example of real artistic progress.
Otherwise, we would miss this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QaPW5W_O18w
And why shouldn’t male high voices sing female parts?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOoTuhboF7Y
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izYzCvytrEA
Most of them have a normal male speaking voice, and for the music a high voice, like a special stop on an organ. It’s called natural variation, where nature us full of.
Many of the revelations in this comment section are much more shocking than any gender transcendence could ever be. One would wish, next to some form of gender fluidity, for a mental fluidity that would dissolve the obstacles of immaturity.
After reading again this complete thread of comments, including my own, I suddenly find I have become gender-resistant.
Like sex, it’s all in the mind. (Wait for the hate comments!)