Someday Funnies

Wearing StyleWe

Femulating ballerinas, circa 1950

Say “Cheese”

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

Three – One to climb the ladder to change the 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, 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? At least, if I pass 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 had a photo on my desk at work of myself en femme.

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

Wearing Rue La La

Glenn Tryon (left) femulating in the 1925 film Madame Sans Jane.

Someday Funnies

Wearing Boston Proper

Sydney Chaplin femulating in the 1926 film Oh! What a Nurse!

One Regret

One regret I have is that I did not come out of the closet sooner.

For about 60 years, I have explored the other side of the gender divide, but I have only been out of the closet for about 15 years.

During the first 40 years, my female presentation was limited to home, support group meetings and transgender conventions, which were all closets in one way or another. In my mind, I stepped out of the closet when I began doing outreach and flying solo in public as a woman. 

Once I was out of the closet, I realized that I should have gotten out sooner... much sooner. It was so wonderful to live as a woman and it was so much easier than I ever imagined. 

That's what kept me in the closet ― I thought it would be too hard, if not impossible to navigate society as a woman because I was too tall and that would give me away. But I was so wrong. Either I passed successfully as a woman or our society has become so nonchalant about dudes who dress like ladies, that no one minded me being their presence. Ether way, it was a win-win situation.

“Youth is wasted on the young” was so apropos in my case. I should have exited the closet and experienced the world as a woman much sooner. 

So I urge anyone who is on the fence to get off the fence. Sitting on the fence is not very comfortable, whereas living as a woman is the most comfortable place in the world to be.

Wearing Elbis NY

Femulators celebrating Carnival in Rio de Janeiro in 1913.

Someday Funnies

Wearing Chicwish

A bride femulation, circa 1935. This photo along with the Femulator photo, “Femulating in 1930,” that appeared here Saturday came from an auction house offering, described as follows: A rare album with more than 150 exceptional photographs, all featuring highly stylized and elegant men crossdressing. The album primarily features a male couple, who are dressed in exquisite outfits, including evening gowns with elaborate accessories, a wedding gown (including a marriage scene with one figure in a suit), and fanciful costumes, and are posing in front of cleverly designed backdrops (such as shimmering hanging textiles, artfully arranged corners of rooms, and a screen decorated in stars). The album features a number of sittings and combinations of figures, hinting at the both the delight and seriousness with which each tableaux was designed and executed. The resulting photographs are well composed and printed. Both the scope and early date (1930-41) of this album add to its rarity--our research has not uncovered an early body of work that similarly documents a committed investigation of form and identity.

Worshipping as Women

Responding to my Whose Saree Now? post, Priya reminded me of the Kottankulangara Festival, an annual Hindu festival in Kerala, India, where over 5,000 men and boys irrespective of their religious faith dress as women and girls. The festival takes place at the Kottankulangara Devi temple at Chavara, Kerala, which is sacred to the goddess Bhagavathy. 

Every year this festival is celebrated on the 10th and 11th day of Meenam (mid-March). On the festival day, thousand of devotees visit the Temple to seek the blessings of the Goddess Bhagavathy. The men dress up in the female attire of their choice. Some wear Set sari, Pattu sari, half sari or even dance costumes.

While some of the devotees are dressed up by their female family members, there are a number of beauticians, makeup artists and clothiers around the temple, who charge between $6 and $26 for decking out the faithful. 

Priya sent me links to the following articles about the festival:

• The Kerala temple where thousands of men dress up like women every year
  
  
• At this Kerala temple, thousands of men dress up as women to get deity's blessings
  
  
• Worshipping as women: Check out this unique Kerala festival for men

And YouTube has a slew of videos related to the festival. This video, in particular, provides a sample of the excellent quality of the femulations by the festival attendees.

In India, the general public’s tolerance (or lack thereof) of crossdressing is about the same as in the USA. So I found it interesting that attendance at this festival en femme is so acceptable among the civilians. I guess the festival’s acceptance is due to its religious aspect. Even young boys are encouraged to crossdress when religion is involved!

And so it goes!

Wearing Mayloz

Men worshipping as women at India’s Kottankulangara Festival

Someday Funnies

Wearing StyleWe

Femulating in 1930

Someday Funnies

Wearing Bebe

Femulators flaunting femininity in a Paris bar in 1927.

Throwback Thursday: First Holy Communion

(Originally posted on September 2011)

Molly and Desmond were elated that they were able to pull it off.

Their son Clarissa was about to make his first holy communion, but he could not wear a dress to the ceremonies. The archdiocese insisted that boys had to wear blue suits (jackets and trousers) despite the fact that in this day and age, most parents raised their sons to be sissies.

Molly and Desmond pleaded Clarissa’s case to their parish’s pastor, Father Maxine, and to the parish nun who organized the first holy communion, Sister Bernard. There they found sympathy, but not much hope for their cause.

Then there was a miracle!

The archbishop of the diocese retired and Pope Raylene II appointed a woman, Archbishop Rhonda, as the new archbishop.

With this turn of events, Father Maxine and Sister Bernard contacted the archbishop about the dress requirements and in response, she decreed that both boys and girls could wear dresses to their first holy communion ceremonies.

So it came to pass that on the Sunday of Clarissa’s first holy communion, Clarissa shed tears of joy when he paraded down the church aisle with the other sissies wearing adorable first holy communion dresses, while Molly and Desmond proudly looked on wearing his and her skirt suits, (Molly’s in baby blue and Desmond’s in dusty pink); a complete feminine family just as Goddess intended.

Wearing Boston Proper

Someday Funnies: Whose Saree Now?

Wearing Sanya Gulati

Femulating in Mumbai