Today is International Women’s Day

Today is International Women’s Day... a global holiday celebrated annually to commemorate the cultural, political, and socioeconomic achievements of women. It is also a focal point in the women’s rights movement, bringing attention to issues such as gender equality, reproductive rights and violence and abuse against women (source: Wikipedia).

Doing my darndest to promote gender equality, admittedly from a different direction, how appropriate that today is also my birthday.  

Seventy-one years and counting. Lately, I have been feeling my age. My osteoarthritis has been a game changer. After five sessions of physical therapy, I see some improvement, but not enough to dare to go out en femme. 

At least, I still look a year or two younger than 71, so that thought improves my attitude. But I sure would like to be physically fit enough to go out en femme and flaunt those good looks! LOL

Although I am a little depressed, I am optimistic. So much so that I bought a new dress from Avon (see the Femulate Her slot below) that I plan to wear out real soon now.

Wish me luck!

Wearing Avon

Femulating in the 1943 film This Is The Army.
You can view this film containing femulators galore on YouTube.

Three Thoughts on Thursday

25,208 Days and Counting Dept.

Thank-you all for the birthday wishes!

Many of my regular correspondents and commenters sent birthday wishes and I was surprised by the “strangers,” readers who I do not know, who sent their birthday wishes, too!

Either way, I appreciated all your kind words! Thank-you!


Postponing the Inevitable Dept.

Monday, I mentioned that next week’s True Colors Conference was the conference that I would be attending that was most likely to be cancelled due to the coronavirus. I was wrong – rather than being cancelled, it was postponed to Wednesday to May 22 and 23.

Coincidentally, there was a ham radio conference on the same dates as the True Colors Conference that I would have attended if I had not committed to present at True Colors. Turns out that conference was cancelled on Wednesday!

Too Close for Comfort Dept.

“I never feel comfortable in the women’s department. I feel like I’m just a little too close to trying on a dress.”

So said Jerry in “The Red Dot” episode of Seinfeld.

On Seinfeld, Jerry did not play a trans character. In real life, I am not aware that Jerry is a trans person.

Larry David wrote “The Red Dot” episode and as far as I know, Larry is not a trans person either.

My point is that the “too close to trying on a dress” line came from a non-trans person. Admittedly, it was intended to be humorous, but I wonder if there is a grain of truth buried in that line.

Do non-trans men feel uncomfortable in women's department because they feel like they are a little too close to trying on a dress?

I don’t know because I am trans. Whenever I am in the women’s department, I always feel close to trying on a dress. In fact, I would love to try on a dress if I see one I like and I have actually done so on more than one occasion in boy mode.

But do non-trans men have thoughts about wearing dresses?

I am sure that the average guy would not admit it except in jest because he would not want to muddle up his masculine image. But, it does make me wonder how close the average guy is to joining our team.

Wearing Michelle Mason

Dave Foley femulating on television’s Kids in the Hall

Do I confuse you?

True Colors Conference, 2009

I apologize for the confusion.

In Wednesday's post, I wrote, "today is my birthday." Problem is that I wrote that post on Tuesday (my birthday), but published it early Wednesday.

Unless I get distracted by something more important, I usually write blog posts one day before they are published, which is typically just after midnight local time.

You may ask, "What can be more important than writing a blog post?"

I don't know, but stuff happens. Or sometimes stuff doesn't happen and I don't know what to write about. Or sometimes the stuff that happens goes by the name of  "writer's block."

How about the news that Lana Wachowski's sister (former brother) Lilly came out as transgender, too!

It still is winter, isn't it? You'd never know it as records are being broken in this neck of the woods with the temperature climbing past the 81F/27C degree mark.

This is not normal. I recall last year, it snowed the night before the True Colors Conference. But in light of this winter's weather, snow is not much of a concern as the True Colors Conference approaches (on March 18-19).

I am looking forward to the conference where I will be presenting "Makeup Basics for Trans Females," which is described thusly, "Putting on your face can be a cosmetic calamity if you don't have a roadmap. This workshop provides guidance and tips for the transgender female on how to successfully navigate the world of cosmetics so that she can start looking like the female she really is."

In addition to presenting, I will help staff the booth that the local transgenders will have at the conference. So, it will be a full day as a woman.

Wearing Jessica London.

 

Adolf Dymsza in the 1937 Polish film Niedorajda.

Number Nine

Nine is the number of years that I have been blogging Femulate.

(Friday was the blog's 9th birthday, but I was so busy the last few days that I forgot about it until now.)

What can I say?

The blog is as popular as ever (averaging over 5,200 hits per day during the past month). I receive lots of e-mails everyday related to the blog.

About once or twice per week, I receive an e-mail from a girl saying that the blog motivated her to get out of the closet and experience the world as the woman she really is.

That makes it all worthwhile!

Try Again

Wearing Christian Siriano.

Ricky Renee, professional femulator, circa 1967.

Morning at the Mall

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.

Blog Minutia

E-mail Backlog

I had two big freelance editing projects to complete recently and in order to meet my deadlines, I had to throw something under the bus. That something was answering e-mails, so for the last ten days or so, e-mails have been piling up unanswered.

I apologize for not answering your e-mails, but something had to give.

The good news is that I buttoned up the last editing project last night and can begin catching up with my e-mails.

Off Thursday

To celebrate the completion of another orbit around the Sun, I am off Thursday, but will return to our normally scheduled programming on Friday.

Five on the Sixth

As I wrote Monday, things have been very hectic around here lately; so much so that I missed Femulate's fifth birthday, which was Monday.

So belated Happy Birthday to the blog!

Riff Raff's Big 7-0

Let me say up front that I am not a fan of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. I watched the film once on television long ago and found that it was not my cup of tea (pun intended).

As a result, when Zagria featured its creator on her blog, I did not pay much attention to it. "Richard O'Brien --- who's he?" I thought to myself and moved on.

As a result, I missed the fact that the creator of The Rocky Horror Picture Show is transgender. “There is a continuum between male and female. Some are hard-wired one way or another, I’m in between,” O’Brien revealed in an interview.

Also, I did not realize that O’Brien had a role in the Rocky Horror film.

Mea culpa.

Anyway, Richard O'Brien will be celebrating his 70th birthday next month and Penny, one of my readers in New Zealand, kindly informed me that there will be a big birthday bash for Richard in Hamilton, NZ on March 17 and attendees are encouraged to "dress delightfully."

Why Hamilton?

According to Penny, “Richard O'Brien spent his formative years in Hamilton,and says he based The Rocky Horror Picture Show  on the movies he watched in one of our old cinemas when he was a impressionable teenager.”

Here is a link to a pertinent webpage and Facebook page.

I wish I could attend, but it is a bit of a drive.

More March En Femme

Yesterday, I wrote about my plans to dress to the nines for the Connecticut Outreach Society banquet on March 26.

I also have plans to dress en femme even sooner, but my plans are a little indefinite.

On Tuesday, I become 60-something (rather than 50-something). So I am taking a few days off from work to celebrate the milestone (or is it "millstone"). And I plan to go to the Mohegan Sun casino en femme one evening during the extended weekend to celebrate, but I am not sure which evening.

I know what I am going to wear --- my new sweater dress from Vicky's (see photo), but I don't know when just yet because the weather forecast is not cooperating.

So I may have to postpone my night out until the weather is more cooperative.

Four Today

Today is the fourth birthday of Femulate!

Over 1.7 million hits and 1675 posts later, the popularity of Femulate still amazes me (I guess I am doing something right).

Viewing Femulate's statistics, the most popular post during the past four years is a July 20, 2007 post, Feminine Skirts and Dresses For Men (with 106 comments). Almost four years later, it still leads the pack in the daily stats for this blog.

Hot on its heels is a February 3, 2009 post, 11 Stories About Cross-Dressing. It always falls just short of the number 1 spot, but it is always number 2 and ahead of number 3 by a very wide margin.

Anyway, I thank you for visiting Femulate and I hope I can continue to make this a place you will want to visit.

Best Wishes,

Stana