In this episode, we hear from and talk with Reverend Yolanda about the relationship between the voice and gender identity. She shares how art and specifically music have helped her to find a community, to process her relationship with herself and the world, and to connect with young people. Reverend Yolanda (she/her/hers) is a trans femme gender queer singer/songwriter and interfaith minister. Excerpts from her song “Nice Girl” serve as the You Sound Like a Girl intro and outro music.

Gender Identity & Voice Resources...

The Trevor Project on Trans & Gender Identity: https://www.thetrevorproject.org/trvr_support_center/trans-gender-identity/

Gender Affirmation: A Framework for Conceptualizing Risk Behavior among Transgender Women of Color: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3667985/#:~:text='Gender%20affirmation'%20refers%20to%20an,et%20al.%2C%202009).

“Voice training for transgender women is about more than adjusting pitch: ‘We’re changing how they express themselves’” in The Lily: https://www.thelily.com/voice-training-for-transgender-women-is-about-more-than-adjusting-pitch-were-changing-how-they-express-themselves/

Women’s Voices that spoke to us this week...

Doreen Younglove: https://www.facebook.com/musicdoreenyounglove/

Sarah Cooper’s Netflix Special “Everything’s Fine:” https://www.netflix.com/title/81314070

Roxane Gay’s “I Am Shattered but Ready to Fight” (formerly titled “This is America”): https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/05/opinion/trump-supporters-election-2020.html

Find our guest Rev. Yolanda (and buy Queero and the YolandaNanda EP!) at https://yolandananda.net/

Find You Sound Like a Girl at:

www.yousoundlikeagirl.com

[email protected]

@yousoundlikeagirl on Instagram