My trans radar has been on the fritz lately. Every woman I see looks like a femulator!

For example, referring to the Femulator image that appeared here on Monday, Shukun commented that "After some extensive searching I came across a cast listing from that femulator's play. She's actually a genetic girl."

Who knew! The image came from a stage play at an all-male school. Other images from that school showed males en femme who were obviously males en femme. So I thought that Monday's Femulator was also a male en femme who had cranked it up a notch or two. 

There are so many images on the Internet of purported femulators who turn out not to be femulators that I am always hesitant to proclaim someone a "femulator" when the proof is sketchy.

For example, the image above came from the DragFEST website of North Carolina State University. The person in the photo is named "Claire McKnight" and when I first saw her photo, I thought she was a cisgender female who participated in the DragFEST by emulating a drag queen (a "dragulator").

But other photos on the website that indicate that Claire is using duct tape to create her impressive bust. I have achieved similar results, so I know that it can be done, but is that evidence enough to declare that Claire is a femulator?

Hard to say.

It is a tough job, but someone has to do it. And if I am wrong on occasion, sobeit; I will just try to do better next time.

German femulators, before the Nazis and after the Commies.

Wearing BCBCMAXAZRIA.

Thank you for all the birthday greetings. You helped ease the transition from 62 to 63!

My birthday was Saturday and I spent it with my family, but Friday was a birthday gift to myself: a day out en femme: a morning shopping and an afternoon tea.

Originally, I planned to dress to blend in at the mall wearing leggings and a tunic top, but I reconsidered and dressed up for the tea. I wore my new polka dot dress from Avon, black tights, black bag, and pearl jewelry. I also wore two pairs of shoes: black flats at the mall and black heels at the tea.

The temperature was supposed to be near 40°F, so I wore my black sweater coat, which would be adequate outdoors, but too warm in the mall. My goal at the mall was to shop for a lightweight coat.

I saw a houndstooth coat on the Torrid website that I wanted to check out, so when I arrived at the Meriden Westfield Mall at 10 AM, Torrid was the first store I visited.

At 10 AM, the mall is not busy. Workers are scurrying to their stores to begin the day and senior citizens are shopping or walking for exercise. As I was making my way through the mall to Torrid, a young woman walking faster than I, caught up with me and passed me by. As she passed, she turned back and said, “I love your jacket!”

“Thank-you,” I replied. “Good way to start the day,” I thought.

Entering Torrid, a saleswoman welcomed me and asked if I needed any assistance. When I told her about the houndstooth coat, she gave me a blank look and said that they did not have any houndstooth coats. She showed me a handful of jackets they had for sale, but they did not interest me, so I thanked her and departed.

There was a new store next door called Fashion to Figure that I noticed before I entered Torrid. The clothes on display in their storefront looked attractive and plus-sized, so after leaving Torrid, I entered Fashion to Figure. Turns out Fashion to Figure is in direct competition with Torrid focusing exclusively on clothing and related accessories for women and teenagers sized 12 to 26.

Two saleswomen greeted me as I entered the store and asked if I needed any help. I told them I was looking for a coat and one saleswoman showed me a rack of blue trench coats. I liked the color and style, tried on two sizes, found one that fit and loved how the coat looked on me.

The houndstooth coat on the Torrid website was on sale for $108, so I held my breath when I looked for the price tag of the Fashion to Figure trench coat. I was astonished when I saw that the coat only cost $32.50! Wow! I told the saleswoman that I would take it and would like to wear it out of the store.

Before she would let me go, she insisted that I try on a body shaper that they sold: a Squeem Miracle Vest. I had never heard of that brand before. It turned out to be unlike any body shaper I had ever worn. Read the description for the low-down about the shaper.

It was amazing!It gave me a new figure that was curvier than ever before and I was sold. I don't know why I didn't wear it out of the store like the trench coat, but for some reason, it did not occur to me to do so.

As I was getting ready to pay, I mentioned that it was my birthday and the saleswoman said I qualified for 25% discount during the month of my birthday if I joined their e-mail list. So I joined their list and as I opened my bag to fetch my wallet to pay for the coat and shaper, I noticed a beautiful black and coral peplum mesh dress on display that I had to try on.

I took two sizes to the dressing room and the first one I tried on fit like a glove and looked great. So I added another item to my shopping bag, paid for my purchases, and moved on. By the way, I loved the selection and prices at Fashion to Figure and plan to shop there often.

I had a 25% birthday discount coupon for Payless shoes and there was a store right across the way from Fashion to Figure, so that was my next stop.

I was so happy with the wedges that I bought last spring at Payless that I was looking for another pair. I perused the women's size 11-12-13 racks and found a half-dozen wedges to try on.

Only one pair fit: a mid-heel black pair, which was perfect because I was looking for something dressier than the casual wedges I already own. I paid for my purchase and wore them out of the store.

I walked around the mall, looking here and there, but I did not find anything else to buy. No one paid me much mind except for saleswomen who smiled and greeted me in various stores and a pair of 30- or 40-something guys, who were walking the mall for exercise. The two guys made no attempt to hide the fact that they were checking me out. I appreciated what they were doing, but feigned ignorance about what they were doing.

Next stop, the tea room.

Femulator.

Wearing Madeliene.

After I went shopping at the mall Friday morning, I attended an afternoon tea with five of my friends at Tea Rose's Tea Room in Downtown Cromwell.

My friends included four girls like me and the spouse of one of the girls. I have known these women like forever. (Talk about small worlds... one of the girls is the cousin of one of my best friends from grammar school.)

For over two hours, I enjoyed drinking tea, eating tea sandwiches and mini-desserts and chatting with my friends in a beautifully-appointed tea room. We were referred to as "ladies" and treated as ladies by our hostess. It was all very nice.

My only complaint was that I drank too much tea and had acid indigestion later in the afternoon. A woman's got to know her limitations, so next time I will drink less tea.

Holly Woodlawn femulating in the 1971 film Women in Revolt.

Wearing Daily Look.

I’m transitioning pierced earrings to clip-on earrings using the converters that Avon sells. After some trial and error, I have the transitioning procedure down pat.

Step 1. Bend the post of the pierced earring 90°. To avoid snapping the post off the earring, use a small pair of needle nose pliers to grasp the post at its base and slowly bend the rest of the post 90° with your thumb.
Step 2. Using a glue that will bond metal, apply a dab of glue to the bent post with a toothpick.
Step 3. Insert the post into the tube of the converter.
Step 4. Position the earring at a 90° angle with relation to the converter. Let the glue dry thoroughly.

You can skip using the glue, but soon the post will loosen inside the tube of the converter. Then the earring will flop around and fall out of the tube. The glue stabilizes the post inside the tube and I recommend using the glue.

UPDATE: It is early, but I have already received comments and e-mails suggesting that getting my ears pierced is preferable to using clip-ons. My reply is that if I was living as a woman full-time (or nearly full-time), I would consider getting my ears pierced. But since I am part-time and have a big investment in a large collection of clip-ons, I will stick with the clips.

The femulating French Lolita.

She is reputed to be a femulator, but I don’t know for sure.
Nevertheless, I love what she is wearing.

Aunty flickrs Womanless

Regular Femulate contributor Aunty has posted a slew of womanless images on flickr. Check it out if you like that sort of thing (and who doesn't?).

True Colors Conference

I will attend and present (“Crossdressing Successfully in the Real World”) at the True Colors Conference next Friday (March 21) at the University of Connecticut.

"True Colors is a non-profit organization that works with other social service agencies, schools, organizations, and within communities to ensure that the needs of sexual and gender minority youth are both recognized and competently met."

Harry Benjamin’s The Transsexual Phenomenon

I was looking for a copy of Harry Benjamin’s classic work The Transsexual Phenomenon. It has been out-of-print for awhile. Amazon had a used copy for $300 (hardcover) and $50 (paperback). However, I found a copy for free here.

Replying to Comments

If you are wondering why I have not replied to your Comments for awhile, the reason is that something in some software somewhere was preventing me from doing so. Each time I tried to reply to a Comment, my reply would vanish when I tried to post it.

I was determined to figure out what was going on. First, I thought that it might be a blog setting that was causing the problem, but no matter how I optioned the settings, the problem persisted.

Then I tried using a different browser and the problem went away. Using Safari, I had no problem replying to Comments (and I replied to over a week's worth). Going back to Chrome and the problem returned. Don’t know why, but I do know the workaround: use Safari.

Actor femulating in boy’s prep school production of Hairspray in 2013.

Wearing Rag & Bone.

Following-up on my earring transition post on Wednesday, some readers wrote that one reason they prefer pierced earrings to clip-on earrings was because of the pain that clip-ons inflicted on the ears.

I too have suffered the pain and agony of clip-on earrings, but I have found two solutions.

1. Sometimes the clip-on earrings are too tight and need adjusting. Loosening the earrings’ grip on your ears differs depending on the style of the clip, but usually requires only a little bending of the offending clip.
2. Even after loosening the clip, I have had earrings that persist in torturing my ears. In that case, I resort to slipping pads (like these) over the clips to soften their grip. That solves the problem in most cases.

Have a beautiful weekend!

The talented Harvey Lee, professional femulator, circa 1945.

Wearing Haute Hippie.

As a teenager, I dressed in my mother's and sister's clothing whenever I was home alone.

One day, I was all dressing up in my parent's bedroom when I heard the garage door open. That meant that my mother and sister had arrived home.

I high-tailed it to my bedroom upstairs, stripped off the feminine attire and returned to boy mode as quickly as possible. Then I stashed the girly stuff in a hiding place so I could return it to its proper place later whenever  the opportunity arose to do so.

Then I went back downstairs as if nothing happened.

"Why are my shoes out?" my mother asked from her bedroom.

Nuts! I forgot to grab her high heels when I high-tailed it upstairs. I had to think quick and come up with an excuse.

One of my hobbies was cartooning, so my excuse was, "I had to draw a high heel shoe and needed a real shoe as a model."

"OK," she replied.

I don't know if she bought my excuse or not, but it was clues like that that made her suspicious. Eventually, she figured out what was going on, but she never let on that she knew.

By the way, the cartoon above is pretty accurate. That dress is the style that my mother wore when I was in my early teens and white gloves were a must, so much so that I always wore white gloves when I femulated back then.

The Bigwood Twins, professional femulating brothers, circa 1930.

Wearing Madeleine.

Most of my free time this weekend was spent working with Turbotax. I finally buttoned up my tax return about 5 PM last night and crashed in front of the television.

The 2013 version of The Great Gatsby was on HBO, so I gave it a look. Visually, it was beautiful --- recreating New York City of the 1920s. And the actress playing Jordan Baker was stunning.

I did not recognize her, so I looked her up. She is Elizabeth Debicki, who happens to be half Polish and half Irish (Happy Saint Patrick's Day) and is 6 feet 3 inches tall!

With that I guess it is time to update my Famous Females of Height List.

Besides Ms. Debicki (photo right), I have two other additions to the list:

5’11” Toni Tenille, the singer of Captain and Tenille fame. (Source: Peaches)

5’8” Vanessa Angel, a model and actress, best known for the film, Kingpin.

Have a stunning week!

Actor Alexandre Styker (right) femulating in Belinda et Moi, a 2014 French television movie.(Thank you, Carmen, for the heads-up concerning this film.)

Wearing Madeleine.

How many crossdressers does it take to change a light bulb?

Three – One to climb the ladder to change the light bulb, one to hold the ladder, and one to photograph the event.

Whenever I am out en femme, I bug people – friends, acquaintances and strangers alike to take my photo. My excuse is “to feed the blog.”

You readers want to see photos of girls like us out doing things in public like girls like them, so my reason for getting photographed is legitimate. But that is only part of it; there are other reasons.

I like to see how I look in the photograph. Does the outfit I put together look good together or did I err grievously in my fashion judgment?

Do I pass as a woman? If I pass at least in the photograph that increases my chances of passing in public.

And when I am not en femme, I like to have a photo on hand of myself en femme to remind me of the good days. That is why I have a photo on my desk at work of myself en femme at work on Halloween.

(It is funny how nobody has ever commented about the photo on my desk at work. Frequently visitors to my cubicle will look over my shoulder at that photo which sits on the desk behind me, but no one has ever said a word. I wish I could read their minds.)

Femulator extraordinaire Vincent McDoom.

Wearing Madeleine.

The last few days, my mind has been occupied with the True Colors Conference.

For those of you who just tuned in, "True Colors is a non-profit organization that works with other social service agencies, schools, organizations, and within communities to ensure that the needs of sexual and gender minority youth are both recognized and competently met."

Every March, True Colors hosts a two-day conference at my alma mater, the University of Connecticut, where thousands of GLBT youths and their supporters from throughout the USA meet to attend what is essentially a GLBT youth convention.

This year will be my sixth trip to the Conference. Except for the first trip when I was just testing the waters, I have presented each time evangelizing the normality of crossdressing and encouraging male-to-female crossdressers to get out of the closet and into the sunlight where they can blossom as women.

My presentations have been well-received, but every year as the Conference approaches, I consider tweaks and changes to my presentation to bring it (and me) up to date. And that is what has been occupying my mind lately.

On of the biggest changes this year was changing the name of my presentation.

In the past, the name of my presentation contained the word "femulate." You know what femulate means and I know what femulate means, but someone off the street perusing the Conference program probably won't know what femulate means and will consider attending some other  presentation on a topic they recognize.

So I jettisoned “femulate” and renamed my presentation "Crossdressing Successfully in the Real World." I think everyone will know what that means and might be intrigued to hear me speak.

Wish me luck!

Actor Dave Foley femulating on Canadian television’s The Kids in the Hall, circa 1991.

Wearing Boston Proper.

I will be attending the True Colors Conference today. In light of that, I leave you with an appropriate article that my friend Jila sent me: "5 Shocking Realities of Being Transgender the Media Ignores" by Amy P.

The article may be preaching to the choir here, but I think it is worth reading and a good article to pass on to anyone you are trying to enlighten about being transgender.

Also in light of that article, I want to mention that although Hollywood often does a lousy job of portraying transgender people, they usually do a good job making-up and dressing the actors who portray transgenders.

So when I post a photo here of an actor portraying a transgender woman, please realize that I am posting it to show the quality of the physical presentation and I am not endorsing the film itself and how it may portray transgenders.

And so it goes. And may you go forward this weekend with spring in your step!

Professional femulator Barry Scott, circa 1970

Dorothy Malone

Put the Squeem On

I wore my new Squeem Miracle Vest body shaper for the first time on Friday.

The instructions recommend breaking it in gradually by wearing it one hour the first time, two hours the second time, etc.

I was all-in the first time and wore it for over 10 hours!

Unlike other shapewear I have worn in the past, the Squeem was painless. By day’s end, I had some chaffing below my boobs. To prevent chaffing in the future, I have to adjust the shoulder straps so that the vest sits a little lower on my torso.

Except for that operator error, I was completely satisfied with the Squeem. It gave me a nice shapely figure all around and supported my back in such a way that it improved my posture. And it was pain-free!

SRO

The first couple of times I staffed my support group's table at the True Colors Conference (2007 and 2009), Diana and I were "the staff" more or less. I don't know if my trans sisters were afraid to be out in public or what, but volunteers to staff the table were hard to come by.

Just as the trans students attending the conference are no longer afraid to attend en femme, things have changed for the better volunteer-wise, too. Now there is an abundance of volunteers --- so many that at times, there are not enough chairs to seat us all, so SRO!

Shut-Up Already

One of the comments I received regarding my presentation is that I should let the attendees speak more.

Throughout my presentation, I announced that if there were any questions, please interrupt me and ask. As a result, there were questions, as well as comments numerous times during my presentation. And I welcomed them because the presentation is for the attendees; their questions and comments fill in things I missed or did not cover thoroughly or at all.

I do not discourage comments and discussions, but perhaps my announcement infers that I am because I only mention questions. So in the future, I will modify my announcement to encourage comments and discussions, as well as questions.

Actor Gary Beach (second from left) femulating in the 2005 film The Producers.

Wearing Evan Picone.

You’re out en femme and another woman reacts negatively (or positively) because you look better than her.

Tell me your story. How did she react? What did she say? (I’m all ears.)

Actor Jim Rash femulates again on television’s Community (2009-2014).

Wearing Madeleine.

Our Stories

This past weekend, I missed "Moving Transgender History Forward" at the University of Victoria, home of the world’s largest trans archives.

"Scholars from colleges, universities and community organizations across North America and all over the world converged on Vancouver Island March 21-23 to attend the first-ever conference on accessing and archiving trans history.”

Normally, I would not mention past events [unless I was present and being fabulous (is that redundant?)], but in this case, I want to pass along some wise words regarding transgender history from Jan Brown, my friend of renown.

"It's important to know where we have come from and the people who have spurred on the movement. If anyone has historical material, please don't just throw it away thinking no one would be interested.

"Not true! There is a lot of interest to save our history. You just have to find the right place and right now, the University of Victoria is very interested, as are The Center and the University of Michigan Library (Labadie Collection)."

Our Lives

One month from now, on April 26, Transgender Lives: The Intersection of Health and Law Conference will be in full swing at the UConn Health Center in Farmington, Connecticut.

"This all day conference is geared towards service providers, medical and legal professionals, trans and gender non-conforming community, allies and all those interested in the health and law issues facing the trans and gender non-conforming communities."

Two of my trans buds (Dru Levasseur are Tony Ferraiolo) are the keynote speakers and their speech will be preceded by a full slate of interesting and pertinent workshops.

The Conference costs only $25, includes a free lunch and is conveniently located on I-84, half way between Boston and New York City, so it is an easy drive for folks living in the upper right corner of the lower 48.

Hope you can make it!

Our Fair

I like attending New England fairs in the fall and my favorite fair to attend is Fantasia Fair in Provincetown on Cape Cod. The longest-running annual trans conference in the world celebrates its 40th anniversary this year and the week-long event runs from Sunday October 19 to Sunday October 26.

Fantasia Fair "continues to be the leading annual program promoting a gender-variant individual's ability to thrive in real-life situations." Unlike most trans conferences that occur in one building (read: big closet), Fantasia Fair occurs all over a very cool seaside resort and has a huge menu of things to do (sleep is optional).

Register as early as possible to save on the registration fee, so don't delay.

You can read about my last trip to Fantasia Fair among these posts. I hope to see you there this year!

Professional femulator Terry Dunham posing for a photoshoot in 1974.

Wearing Diane Von Furstenberg.

Souvenir from San Antonio’s The Gay Paree, circa 1950.

Emma Watson