Miss Eng’g: Blast from the Past

A Miss Eng’g Contestant

Femulate readers may be familiar with the fabulous Miss Eng’g (Engineering) womanless beauty pageant at the College of Engineering, University of Philippines-Diliman. I have written about the pageant in the past, but not so much lately.

Over the weekend, a former pageant contestant commented on a Miss Eng’s post from 2011. Since most current readers will not see that post or the recent comment, I am repeating it here.

Anonymous left the following comment:

I always wondered if the “girls” were experienced in dressing before the event, or did they do this for the 1st time. I remember reading an article about one of the girls and their girlfriend helped them out, but looking at some of the girls they are quite experienced looking.

Our weekend commenter responded:

I was a Ms Engg contestant myself but in early 2000s. I wore my female cousin’s 18th birthday gown. It was very uncomfortable because the dress was so tight I almost couldn’t breathe (my mother made me wear a girdle (?) because I had beer belly for me fit into the gown). Not to mention walking/standing on heels. I had fun though as it was my last semester of uni so it was like me saying goodbye to college life with a bang.

Lucky guy!

Wearing StyleWe

Marian Andersen, a Femulate reader and femulator

Throwback Thursday: Ms. Engineering 2011

The following comment to a post from December 2011 came across the Mojo Wire yesterday. It came from the winner of the 2011 installment of the spectacular Miss Eng’g womanless beauty pageant, which I wrote about here on a number of occasions. I decided to use the comment as a new post because you would have likely missed it at the bottom of a 9-yar-old post.

Hi, it's Ms. IE Club 2011.

I stumbled upon this page again because a friend was trying to search for our Ms. Engineering photos haha. Sadly, this blog and other YouTube videos are the only remaining memories of our Ms. Engineering batch because our Facebook page got deleted :/

I thought I could share with you my personal experience in joining and winning the crown. Our batch was probably the most famous one because we had one candidate that went viral because she looked like one of the famous actresses at that time (i.e., M.s GPs looking like Melissa Ricks).

I'd just like to echo Shukun, pretty much what Shukun thought about me was spot on. (See Shukum’s comments after this post.)

Preparation for the pageant was fun and challenging; practicing my catwalk in heels (I watch VS fashion shows as reference. Hello Candice!), learning how to dance and soften my hips (how do you even shake it like Beyonce), as well as braving the dreaded waxing day (yep, from shoulder to toe).

I was never the prettiest/hottest/cutest candidate out there. My pre-pageant pics were so-so (see photo above). Ms. GPs and Ms. KEM were really the famous ones there in terms of the pre-pageant photos. So coming into the pageant night, I knew I had my back against the wall.

Personality-wise, what I opted for is a bubbly and sassy lady on-stage. I knew I can pull that off since I'm somewhat like that in real life so it seems natural plus I just didn't have that sexy look as well as looking fierce so no point in trying to push for that. With my looks, I would say I was really pretty haha

During the pageant night, I just made sure that everyone notices me no matter where I am in the stage. I made cute perky waves to the crowds and the judges. Even if I was behind a line, I would point and wave to anyone I saw looking at me (of course not excessively to the point that your an attention grabber).

During my catwalk, I guess watching hours of VS really helped and I was able too pull off those twirls and sassy poses. My talent was just right... as I said I wasn't a dancer and add to that the contestant before was so famous and had a great number. Hard to follow on that.

Announcement of the Top 5 was nerve-wracking. Ms. GPs and I were the only ones left vying for the 5th spot. As expected almost everyone (except for my org) were cheering for Ms. GPs to get in. Also, did not help that I came from the most hated engineering org, so everyone was really against me. I was thinking “please make this a Top 6.” There was not a Top 6, but I was the one selected to be part of the Top 5.

QA time. I didn't think I would win as well because Ms. ARISE just gave the best ever answer in the entire history of Ms. Engg. Her question was “How would you like to be saved by your Prince Charming?” She said, “It does not matter how as long as I know he's there I know I'll always be safe” (something like that). The crowd totally lost it after hearing that.

True enough, the Top 2 was down to Ms. Arise and me. Again, everyone was just cheering for Ms. Arise. but fortunately, they announced that the winner was me (no Steve Harvey moment here).

I saw the score breakdown for the Top 5, which confirmed my guess that among the 5, I was the lowest during the pre-pageant, but pageant night, I had high scores. My QA was high as well.

That night was just surreal. Pretty long night, lots of preparation physically and mentally and just the electric vibe of the whole audience. It was an honor to represent my org and give it all my best, whether I won or not. I was just so happy to see the all-out support of my org and other fans I've gained. The crown was just the cherry on top.

Thanks Shukun for your wonderful comments! (BTW, are you from KEM?)

Hope you all liked my experience. Ask me anything you want! I'll drop by this blog from time-to-time.

xoxo,

Ms. Engineering 2011

Wearing Collette

Paula, a British professional femulator in the 1930’s

"Little Miss Gay” Beauty Pageants

By Starla Renee Trimm

I have previously discussed at some length the proliferation of elaborate womanless beauty pageants in the Deep South of the U.S. We’ve noted the irony of parents dressing their sons like beauty queens while openly condemning trans people. In a different culture halfway around the world, a similarly befuddling phenomenon exists in the form of “Little Miss Gay” pageants in the Philippines.

(Caveat: I am in no way an anthropologist. I do not speak, read or understand Tagalog. I am not offering any judgments or concluions in this brief overview, which is based solely on what I have obsrved on the Internet. I simply suggest that this is an area ripe for study by those better suited to the task than I am.)

Despite living in a society dominated religiously by Catholicism and facing widepread opposition, the LGBT community in the Phillippines is quite active. As in the U.S., there are circuits of “Miss Gay” pageants in which femulating men compete. But where the similarity ends is that while such pageants in America are strictly adult events, in the Phillippines they reach far down in age to include young boys competing for the title of “Little Miss Gay.” Such events are sometimes staged in conjunction with adult pageants, while other are unaffiliated affairs sometimes sponsored by schools or churches.

(Just as a note of annotation here: it should be pointed out that the English word “gay” as used in the Philippines isn’t strictly a term referencing sexual orientation. It is more generically applied to anyone in the LGBT community, even heterosexual crossdressers.)

As in the U.S. womanless pageants, the “Little Miss Gay” events can often be very elaborately staged affairs, even in impoverished communities. And the attention given to the femulations is even more intense and detailed. While U.S. schoolboys in womanless pageants are mostly doing it as a one-time lark, some of the Filipino boys regularly compete in pageants. Many of them adopt female names and personas and some even grow their own hair out to feminine lengths and have it cut, styled and colored like a girl. And the parents – the power behind the crown as in U.S. female child beauty pageants – will spend prolifically on their son’s pageant wardrobe.

Another difference from American womanless pageants is that while the U.S. affairs are strictly PG-rated, the Little Miss Gay events sometimes find children dressing, dancing, singing or acting in what we would consider a very inappropriate sexually provocative manner. It is very off-putting and creepy to Westerners (like me) to learn about this phenomenon.

Who are these boys? Are they gay and/or trans and embracing it at an early age? Are they being exploited by their parents or worse, is there some degree of coercion or abuse behind it all? As I said, I’m not academically equipped to find answers and only suggest that the phenomenon is one that merits further study and investigation by more qualified people.

(Editor's Note: Philippines is also the nation where very realistic womanless beauty pageants are conducted at the university level, for example, the Miss Eng'g pageant, which has been mentioned here numerous times in the past.)

Wearing New York & Company (Source: New York & Company)

Contestant Number 7 in the South Hill, Virginia, Relay for Life Womanless Beauty Pageant

The Engaging Miss Eng'g

The Miss Eng'g (Engineering) womanless beauty pageant at the College of Engineering, University of Philippines-Diliman is one of the best, if not the best womanless pageant conducted at an educational institute or anywhere else for that matter. This year's edition of the pageant was held on March 9 and the Miss Engineering Facebook page has hundreds of photographs documenting the pageant including an album of spectacular evening gown photos (samples above and below).

Wow!

In the 1969, I was a student in the UConn School of Engineering and I cannot imagine my fellow engineering students participating in anything like this. Me, yes, but not the other students in my school!

(Thank you Aunty Marlena for the heads-up about the pageant!)

Wearing Zuhair Murad

A contestant struts his stuff in the evening gown competition of the 2018 Miss Eng'g womanless beauty pageant.

Grab Bag or Purse or Pocketbook

Thank-you

Thank you all who passed along your kind thoughts to ease my grieving over the death of my dear cat.

She was the friendliest cat I have ever known. If you were her friend, she would start purring as soon as she saw you and would run over to greet you.

She will be irreplaceable and it will take a long time to get used to living without her.

Thank you all again!

Miss Eng'g

Auntie Marlena informed me that the 2017 installment of the Miss Engineering (Miss Eng'g) Facebook page is up and running and full of photos (like the one on the right) and videos from the amazing womanless beauty pageant put on annually at the College of Engineering, University of Philippines-Diliman.

Payless Closing 400 Stores

Payless Shoe Stores filed for bankruptcy and will be closing 400 stores. Here is a list of the store closings. My favorite Payless stores were not on the list; I hope your favorite stores miss the list, too.

Adam/Amanda

Actor Jackson Rathbone femulated on a 2009 episode of television's Criminal Minds playing a perpetrator with a split personality (Adam/Amanda).

In the past, I have seen photos of Jackson's excellent femulation (see below). Patty just alerted me to a behind-the-scenes video of the episode including Jackson's transformation from Adam to Amanda. It is worth the watch to see Jackson's femulation in motion.

Trans Health & Law Conference Workshop Schedule

The workshop schedule for the April 29th Trans Lives Conference at the UConn Health Center has just been published here and my "Makeup Basics for Trans Females" workshop is in the 9:30 to 10:30 AM slot. I hope to see you there!

Wearing Caroline Constas top and Cinq à Sept skort.

Jackson Rathbone femulating on TV's Criminal Minds.

Miss Bebot (Beyond Miss Eng'g)

In the past, Femulate has noted the Miss Eng'g pageant at the College of Engineering, University of Philippines-Diliman, which many acclaim as one of the best womanless contests in existence. It turns out that the Miss Eng'g pageant is just the tip of the iceberg; the Philippines is a hotbed of womanless pageantry.

The word "bebot" is Filipino slang for "pretty woman," similar to how the word "babe" is slang in many English-speaking countries.

"Bebot" is also used as the name of a variety of womanless beauty pageants, for example, "Miss Bebot," "Ms. Bebot," "Mr. Bebot," etc. These contests are held throughout the Philippines... in grade schools, high schools, colleges, civic groups and beyond. For example, at one Filipino hospital's Christmas party, the male nurses competed in a Miss Bebot Contest (photo above).

On Pinterest, Kelly Crossita has a collection of photos from various Bebot pageants. I think you will enjoy the view.

Wearing Metrostyle.

Contestant Number 6 in a Filipino Miss Bebot womanless beauty pageant.

The Other Woman

After 21 years of marriage, he gave me the news. He is finally becoming himself — but I am more lost than ever

I saw a headline recently reporting how proud Bruce Jenner’s mother is of him (her). While that’s both noble and supportive, what I haven’t seen are stories about the private struggle — the husbands, wives and children who suddenly find themselves faced with difficult choices.

I’m here to tell you one.

Read the rest of Diana Matthew’s Salon story here.

 

 

 

Wearing Anthropologie.

 

 

 

The winner of the 2015 Miss Eng’g womanless beauty pageant
(Thank-you, Cheryl for the photo)

Miss Eng’g 2015

Miss Engineering (Miss Eng'g, for short), one of the premiere womanless beauty pageants, will be held on March 6 at the College of Engineering, University of Philippines-Diliman. The Miss Engineering Facebook page already has photographs documenting the pageant including an album of spectacular evening gown photos (samples above and below).

Wow!

(Thank you, Cheryl, for the heads-up about the Miss Eng'g pageant.)

 

 

 

Wearing Julie Brown.

 

 

 

Contestant in the 2015 Miss Eng’g womanless beauty pageant.

My My My

My Wife

Many of you have passed along positive thoughts concerning my wife’s surgery. I thank you for that and wanted to pass along a progress report. She is doing very well and is transitioning from using a walker to a cane.

My Blog

Nursing her back to health has taken its toll on this blog. I barely manage to publish a new post every day. I probably missed a few days and would have missed more, but the always lovely Paula Gaikowski filled in and provided three posts where there might have been none.

My E-Mail

Responding to e-mails has taken a back seat and I am way behind, but promise to catch up as soon as possible.

My Favorite Womanless Beauty Pageant

In case you don’t read the comments to the posts here, I just wanted to pass along Tampa Sheila’s comment to the recent Miss Eng’g 2013 post in which she explains that you don’t need a Facebook account to view Facebook pages and images.

For example, click on this link to the Miss Eng’g Facebook page and when your browser opens the page, click on the Photos link to access individual photos and albums containing more photos.

Caveat Emptor: There are a LOT of photos on the Miss Eng’g Facebook page, probably numbering in the thousands.

My Sources

Readers occasionally suggest that I indicate the sources of the images I use in the blog.

If I know the source, mousing over the image will reveal the source. If I don’t know the source, “Femulate Archives” will appear as the source. Problem is that I have been collecting these images for nearly 15 years and the collection contains nearly 65,000 items, so please forgive me for not remembering where they all came from.

Actors Peter Capaldi and Craig Ferguson femulating as the Ugly Sisters, December 1981.

Wearing Halston.

Miss Eng'g 2013

Miss Engineering 2013 will be selected in the ultimate womanless beauty pageant on December 19 at the College of Engineering, University of Philippines-Diliman. Although the pageant is next Thursday, the Miss Engineering Facebook page already has hundreds of photographs (with more to come) documenting the pageant and its preliminary events.

It is still snowing here as I type this and I have pretty much abandoned any hope of going to the Avon representatives holiday party tonight.

Thank you, Juliet Ventura for alerting me about Miss Eng'g 2013.

 

 

 

Actor Raul Gonzalez femulating in television’s Desplerta America, 2013.

 

 

 

Wearing Diana von Furstenberg.