| I was very surprised by the response to Saturday's post asking if any readers had participated in a civilian womanless beauty pageant, fashion show, wedding or other event. I did not post anything new on Sunday and Saturday so as not to take attention away from my Saturday post hoping that it would draw more responses from readers who were womanless veterans. Yet, I only received two responses! Insearchofme participated in an adult prom fundraiser. She "was all girly, loved it. Raised some money and had a great time." Lisa was a veteran of something similar to a womanless event. When she was about 8-years-old, she attended a day camp that presented the musical Oklahoma. She was one of the chorus of boys made up like girls that sang I'm Just A Girl Who Can't Say No. "Don't know how I looked, but it felt great and started me on this long road..." Personally, I have been in three womanless fashion shows, but all three were under the auspices of a transgender organization. I never participated in a womanless event sponsored by a civilian organization, but I would have jumped at the opportunity if one ever came my way. And I would still do so today. |  Liz Winters interviews Stana during the Fantasia Fair Fashion Show in 2008. |
Wearing Rebecca Taylor.
Three femulators from the 1935 Philadelphia Mummers Parade.
To be honest I have never even come across such things on "this side of the pond" and if I had I would have found it difficult to participate with thought of would I be outing myself? Certainly I spurned opportunities that did arise for "fancy dress", although I do remember one Rugby club do where the first team fly half was a little convincing as a girl.
ReplyDeleteToday, I would jump at the chance to participate in a womanless event, but in the past, I probably would have the same concern you have about outing myself.
DeleteStana,
ReplyDeleteI think Paula Goodwin is on to the reason you didn't get much of a response from us. For those of us who are trans, participating in something like this might certainly make us feel as though we'd be outing ourselves. I can remember the days before I was out, wanting badly to be a girl for Halloween but I just knew that if I dressed up, everyone would see that it was more than just a costume. I never actually had the opportunity to participate in a womanless pageant, but if I had, I probably would have passed for fear of outing myself.
Hugs,
Sally
Sally,
DeleteI felt the same way. When I was in the closet, I would never dress for Halloween, a play or any other event because people might realize I liked it. I do not drink liquor to this day because I was afraid "she" might come out. I was so in the closet that I would never show any indication I ever appeared interested in women's clothes in the store, magazines or when talking with people.
As I replied to Paula... Today, I would jump at the chance to participate in a womanless event, but in the past, I probably would have the same concern you have about outing myself.
DeleteStana,
ReplyDeleteAs a former bible-belt mid-westerner, any participation in one of these pageants would be highly discouraged. However, I do have one story that indicated my response had I been encouraged to enter. When I was 17, and a couple years fro graduating from high school, our church youth group had a weekly area youth conference. One of the challenges was for a boy to get a pair of panty hose and put them on over their pants as quickly as possible. I full well knowing how to roll the legs and slide them on should have been first, but was so embarrassed I decided to go full leg in without rolling knowing that I'd never get them on. I literally had our youth pastor coaching me, he was a nursing student who spent a significant amount of time with women, and I refused to listen. Now that I'm starting to transition, I laugh at how scared that kid was to be outed like that. Those fears are behind me now.
-Alana
I always found it incongruous that the majority of womanless events occur in the more conservative areas of the USA, whereas there are fewer womanless events in the more liberal areas of the USA!
DeleteStana,
ReplyDeleteI was also surprised that among your vast readership that there was no torrent of womenless pageant veterans. You have done a great job and a great service to others by your frequent focus on such events.
As for myself I have nevier heard of any going on anywhere near where I am located. If I had I would have really wrestled with whether to participate or not. A big part of me would have cherished the opportunity to get dressed to the nines but a cautionary bird on my shoulder would have feared that my presentation and inability to surpress my joy at being out while dressed would have blown my cover.
Pat
I know of one womanless event in Connecticut that has occurred twice annually so far, but it is not local and it is very men with beards in dresses oriented.
DeleteDear Stana,
ReplyDeleteMost of the womanless pageant events I have seen photos of are a "mixed bag" ... a few contestants made-up and dressed very well (including high heels), and the rest just "guys in dresses" (some even with facial hair and/or hairy arms, legs, and chest). A very small percentage of these events have all the entrants presenting very well, though.
I think there are one or more of these reasons for the realistically presenting "girls":
-- it could be that they are (secret, or even "out") crossdressers or trans-girls;
-- it could be an event that has a history of very realistic presentations for all contestants (like the fabulous MISS ENGINEERING annual event at the University of the Philippines **);
-- it could be that one or more of the genetic women "dressers and makeup artists" want their entrant to be as beautiful and feminine as possible.
** MISS ENGINEERING is an annual month-long event. Starting this year, the event will span parts of February and March (previously, it was held in December). Many genetic women train the young men in feminine presentation, do their makeup, and select all their outfits.
It's quite likely that in almost all womanless pageant events, there are a small percentage of contestants that are trans or crossdressers (or wish they were). I'm guessing that in events with 10 or more participants that at least one male who had previously not thought about crossdressing finds he absolutely adores the experience (especially if he is made-up and dressed especially beautifully and femininely). In these cases, “a crossdresser is born”.
And, to borrow an often-used Stana-ism …
… and so it goes.
Love,
Sheila.
Just going by the statistics of how many trans women there are (3 to 5 % of the population), you know that a few must have participated in womanless events somewhere sometime. They just don't read this blog! LOL
DeleteI grew up in a small Midwest town in the 50's and 60's. Various womanless events occurred during that time.
ReplyDeleteThe first I remember was when i was about 6. My Aunt owned a women's and children's clothing shop in our small town. The first part of the evening was several of us kids modelling her latest children's wear. After an intermission, the women's wear was modeled by local men. First time I had seen men in skirts etc. What happened backstage when us kid models met the girls is a story for another time. The crowd roared in laughter.
Over the years, I remember womenless weddings, fashion shows, chorus-lines/dancing girls, cheerleaders for charity basketball games, etc. It was very popular then for freshman initiation into high school for the boys to have to dress as girls and vice versa.
They never seemed to have a problem getting men to dress up for these events. In almost all the names were published in the program. The organizers also did a good job of embarrassing the men.
You could tell who had done this often before, and the ones who were trying to look like this was there first time dressing and in heels!
I'm sure my area was not the only area that did this.