Good At It

One reason that I femulate is because I am good at it.

Growing up, I loved playing baseball, but I was not good at it. I could hit the ball a mile, but I threw like a girl. A woman has to know her limitations, so I did not play much ball after age 13.

Coinciding with my disappearance from the diamond was my appearance in a dress. In my teens, I was experimenting as often as possible with my mother’s and sister’s wardrobes and cosmetics.

My Polaroid selfies proved to me that I was getting pretty good at crossdressing. So I kept at it because it was enjoyable doing something I was good at. But I was closeted and had no idea how my female presentation would play in the real world.

Still closeted in my late teens and early twenties, I received a few invitations to Halloween parties. What a great opportunity to test my femulating skills, so I accepted every invitation I received, attended the parties as a woman and received rave reviews.

Many people were impressed with my meticulous not-a-man-in-a-dress “costume,” but what was more telling and gratifying were the people who wondered, “Who is the woman not wearing a costume?” This happened at nearly every Halloween party I attended and motivated me to keep at it.

I believe that anybody can learn the skills to look like a woman. Women do it everyday, so why can’t a guy do it, too. Of course, women have a lot more practice doing it. But if a guy studies the art of female presentation and learns the tricks that professional femulators use for their finely-tuned male-to-female transitions, a fellow can present a reasonable facsimile of a woman, too.

That’s what I did – study, practice, study some more and practice, practice, practice. But I also had a few things going for me that helped me become a very good femulator.

👧 I “take after” my mother. She was a beautiful woman and I look a lot like her. She also had great legs and as a young woman, she was nicknamed “Leggy” by appreciative male co-workers. Like her, I have great legs and would you believe that a transman dubbed me “Leggy.” (Like mother, like son.)

👧 I have female breasts. I never sought medical advice about my 40B’s, but I assume I have gynecomastia. It is caused by male estrogen levels that are too high or are out of balance with testosterone levels (which probably accounts for the other thing I have going for me).

👧 I am naturally feminine. All my life, I had been accused of being feminine. The way I walked, talked and moved were decidedly girly according to the social norms police. I did not purposely act feminine. I just acted in a way that was natural to me, but my way was not the way of an all-American boy.

Even as an adult, I still did not think I acted in a feminine manner until I finally saw a video of myself speaking en femme at Hamvention. (You can view the video on YouTube. My appearance starts at the 6:39 mark and last about 2-1/2 minutes.)

I had never seen my female self “live” and I was anxious to see for myself if I had feminine mannerisms. After viewing the video, I have to admit that the social norms police were correct. That is all-woman up at the podium, not a man femininely dressed.

By the way, after that presentation, a fellow came over to talk to me. I have probably encountered him at every Hamvention I have attended during the past 10 to 15 years.

Anyway, the gent asked me, “How are you related to Stan Horzepa?”

I sure did not see that coming!

Yeah, I guess I’m good at it.

Wearing Venus

Kira Sadovaya, model

Femulators in the “City of Brotherly Love” 100 years ago