How voice transition and gender identity disclosure shape perceptions of trans men in the hiring process

Abstract

Trans men often face discrimination in the hiring process. However, it remains unclear whether the disclosure of gender identity and perceived masculinity during transition play a role in first impressions and perceived job suitability of trans male applicants. Across two studies (N = 332), we examined how cisgender heterosexual participants perceived a transgender male candidate in terms of his masculinity and whether they judged him suitable for a stereotypically masculine job. Such judgments were first based on the candidate's voice at different stages of gender transition and, secondly, after disclosure of gender identity in the job application form. In Study 1, participants judged a trans man at the beginning of the voice transition (3 months on testosterone) or a trans man in advanced transitioning (1 year on testosterone). Study 2 involved the judgments of the same trans men at different times in the voice transition (1 week—beginning, 6 months—intermediate, and 1 year—advanced). Masculinity judgments were influenced by voice transitioning, but judgments were adjusted after his gender identity was disclosed. Disclosure created an advantage in perception of the trans man candidate as more suitable for the role, especially when he was at the beginning of the voice transition when his voice was not perceived as masculine. Findings are discussed in relation to trans men's employability and identity disclosure.

Can agentic messages help? Linguistic strategies to counteract voice‐based sexual orientation discrimination

“…It would also be important to include a manipulation check assessing the speakers' and listeners' understanding of the message content as referring to agency and a measure assessing the agentic perspective, namely speakers' feelings or attribution of being in control and able to influence others' impressions or decisions (see Bialobrzeska et al, 2019). Second, we only considered male speakers, but lesbian-sounding and trans speakers are also at risk of being discriminated against when applying for managerial roles (Fasoli, Frost, & Serdet, 2024;Fasoli & Hegarty, 2020). Future research should extend this work by considering other groups of speakers whose voices convey information concerning multiple stigmatized identities (Fasoli, Dragojevic, Rakić, & Johnson, 2023).…”