5'8" – Lake Bell – actress – film: It's Complicated
5'8" – Emily Blunt (photo right) – actress – film: The Devil Wears Prada, The Young Victoria
5'8" – Melanie Lynskey – actress – TV: Two and a Half Men, film: Up in the Air
5'8" – Giuliana Rancic– celebrity news personality – TV: E! News
5'10" – Kristin Dos Santos – expert – TV: Countdown (to Golden Globe Awards)
6’0” – Ayla Brown – singer – TV: American Idol
Thank you, Peaches, for the Ayla Brown addition.
I am tall. The selection and availability of skirts and dresses in “tall” sizes is limited; even more so if you prefer something that is fashionable.
I am a fashionista and I prefer fashionable over practical, so most of the skirts and dresses I buy are cut for females of average rather than tall height. As a result, a hem above the knee for a female of average height turns out to be way above the knee on me. Not that there is anything wrong with that.
I have shapely legs, or so I’ve been told. My mother often said I should have been a “girl” because I have such nice legs. The SO of a trans-friend of mine calls me “Leggy.” Countless other people claim that I have great legs. So, a short skirt on me is nothing to be ashamed of. And as they say, “If you’ve got it, flaunt it.”
On the other hand, I don’t want to expose everything. So I go by the rule that my hemline should be no shorter than where the tips of my fingers reach down when standing upright (unlike Heidi Klum pictured above). I will admit that at times, I have violated that rule, but most of the time, I try to be a good girl and follow it.
Courtesy of an e-missive from Ms. Jan Brown, I just learned that January is National Drag History Month.
According to the folks at Logo, “This month-long event salutes the richness of drag culture and pays tribute to the courageous queens & kings who have fought for equality while inspiring, educating & entertaining us all.”
In honor of the month, Logo has a bunch of related videos online.
I dunno about you, but as a long-time femulator, I have been accused of being a “drag queen” on occasion, so tonight, I plan to wrap a boa around my shoulders and view a few of the Logo videos.
This was a big deal for me. I was raised a Roman Catholic and my religion was the source of much needless guilt about crossdressing throughout my life. I overcame the guilt years ago and now I was entering the church for the first time en femme.
I thought that my visit would be like spitting in the eye of the Church of Rome. "Take that for all the pain and suffering you brought down upon me for so long." Instead of feeling vengeful, I felt wonderful. Your prodigal son has returned, but your son is now your daughter!
I stopped attending church about ten years ago. I began doubting the existence of a God about that time and about a year ago, switched from being an agnostic to an atheist.
“You’re too scientific,” my daughter said upon hearing that news.
I don’t know about being “too” scientific, but I do hold science in a much higher regard than religion.
So, why did I feel “wonderful” when I attended Mass en femme at Saint Pat’s last June?
Do I have some doubts about atheism like I do about religion?
Did I feel spiritual because I was in such a spiritual place?
Was it nostalgia for something that had previously been part of my weekly routine?
Was it simply the thrill of being out en femme in a new venue?
Joanne Herman wrote an interesting article in The Huffington Post.
Most of my jewelry is of the inexpensive costume variety. However, I recently received a gift certificate for LuShae Jewelry and I was able to add some real bling to my jewelry box.
"With all hormone and surgical enhancements banned from the competition, contestants rely entirely on tricks of makeup and wardrobe."
I came upon Genderfork a few days ago and added it to my blog list.
Since my last Famous Females of Height List update, I have received additions from you readers. I thank you for your input.
I did bring two outfits to wear for my two planned outings. I did not want to waste packing for two, so I modeled the second outfit (the other sweater dress that I recently bought from Vicky’s) for my Canon Powershot.
The best photo of the shoot appears above right.
This was not a one time occurrence. Rather, it occurs any time I am out en femme.
Reviewing Wednesday evening is a good example of what I do.
As I exited the hotel to drive to the restaurant, a young man was smoking a cigarette outside the exit. As I walked out the door, he gave me the once-over and I began trying to read his mind:
Why are you checking me out? Do I look pretty to you or do I look pretty bad? Am I the first tranny you ever saw? Just in case, I will sashay to my car to try to affirm my womanhood in your eyes.
Entering the restaurant, I encountered a 30-something maître d’. He smiled, welcomed me, and asked to take my coat.
As I removed my coat, I began mind-reading:
Do you think I am a woman or a man in a dress? Are you treating me nicely because you don’t care what I am, as long as I have money to spend or are you treating me nicely because I am an attractive female customer?
After he took my coat, he asked me to wait a second while he checked to see what tables were available and I continued mind-reading:
Are you looking for a table in a dark corner to hide the tranny or are you just looking for a table for one?
Turned out that the table was on the veranda amidst other customers.
After the maître d’ showed me to my table, a pretty 20-something busgirl came to my table to remove the extra place setting. She smiled broadly as she said “Good evening.”
After I returned my “good evening,” I tried to read her mind;
Why are you smiling at me like that? Are you on the verge of laughing at the man in a dress or are you just being very cordial?
Next, a 20-something waiter arrived to take my drink order. He also had a big smile on his face and was very cordial.
Are you on the verge of laughing at me, too? Has the word spread amongst the whole restaurant staff that a tranny customer is in their midst?
It seems I had the only male waiter in the restaurant. The other two that I saw were female and were young and pretty to boot. When I caught their eye, they smiled and said, “Hello.”
Are you checking out the tranny, too, or are you just being cordial?
Two women customers sat opposite me at a table situated 90 degrees to mine. If I looked straight ahead, I looked at them. I did not want to be rude, so I tried looking out the window to my left or into the restaurant on my right, but my vision always reverted back to them and I am sure they were aware of my predicament.
Finally, the younger of the two looked my way, caught my eye, smiled and asked me, “How are you?”
That broke the ice and we three made pleasant small talk for awhile and as I wrote in my previous blog posting, they seemed to accept me as another woman, but that did not stop my mind-reading:
Was my voice too low when I last spoke? Did I give myself away? Did I put some doubts in their mind about my womanhood? Will they kick me out of the “girls’ club” now?
If they had any doubts, they did not indicate it because we continued speaking off and on until they left.
That’s me: always the perfectionist, never satisfied, always worried that my femulation is lacking in some way.
Mind-reading does not prevent me from enjoying my times out en femme, but I wonder if I would find more enjoyment if I did not worry.
On the other hand, maybe my concern about my femulation makes me a better femulator. I want to be the best woman I can be, so perhaps the mind-reading helps me to achieve that goal.
I left work at 5:30 PM and returned to my hotel room five minutes later to prepare for an evening out en femme.
Wednesday evening, I plan to go out to dinner en femme. 
Is there is a disproportionate left handedness among the transgendered?
Back in the fall, when I was looking for a dress to wear to the formal I attended in November, I received an e-mail inviting me to visit a new web site called Rent the Runway.
On The Tonight Show last year, Conan O'Brien told a joke at the expense of the transgender community. I was disappointed and the joke left a sour taste in my mouth because I like O'Brien.
Monday morning, the first thing the boss tells me is that I have to go on a roadtrip next week, which means I will have three evenings to myself to do whatever I please.
One of the retailers that sends me an e-mail daily is Newport News. Today’s e-mail advertised their “new, femme cargo pant.”
I looked at the pants and the only thing feminine about the pants are the female models wearing them. I imagine the pants are cut and sized for females, but otherwise they look exactly like homme cargo pants.
What’s good for the goose is good for the gander, so I would not put it past a retailer trying to palm off women’s clothing on the male population by calling the women’s wear “macho” or “manly” or somesuch with males modeling the clothing.
Works for me!
Updated Below
Petra Bellejambes of Voyages en Rose fame bestowed a major award upon yours truly: the Beautiful Blogger Award.
Femulate closes 2009 with some new additions to the Famous Females of Height List:
The story about the Pawlenty Newsweek interview came over the mojo wire late Monday night just as I was preparing to go to bed.
Transgender advocates slammed Pawlenty over anti-transgender remarks in Newsweek interview.
Year-end reviews appear everywhere this time of year*, so I thought I would jump on the bandwagon and present my own year-end review.
Have yourself a merry little Christmas!
Yesterday, I had a spectacular outing en femme.
I am going out en femme Wednesday evening for a holiday dinner at a nice restaurant with some friends from the transworld.
Tuesday before Thanksgiving, I mentioned how I lost ten pounds since mid-September and I wanted to keep it off, so Thanksgiving would be a challenge for me.
A few days ago, I read an article about James Bond films on the Internet and I realized that some of the actresses in the 007 flicks qualify for the Famous Females of Height List. In fact, two tall 007 actresses (Diana Rigg and Famke Janssen) have been on the list for awhile now.
Overnight, I dreamed I was packing to attend a transgender convention. My mother was helping me pack and offered to lend me anything I needed.
Throughout the dream, I kept refusing whatever items she offered because I already had those items in my wardrobe.
Finally, she said with a knowing smile, “I bet you don’t have any of these.”
And with that, she revealed a storage area in the back of her closet that was full of girdles from the 1950s and 1960s.
That got my attention and as I began perusing the girdles to decide what to borrow, I awoke from my dream.
The dream interests me because I never confided in my mother about my crossdressing. I am sure that she knew, but she never brought up the subject.
Almost to her dying day, she often asked me if there was anything I wanted to tell her. At those times, I thought she was just trying to make conversation, but in retrospect, I think she was offering to lend a friendly ear.
I so regret not confiding in my mother. I believe my life would have been different if I knew my mother supported her “daughter.”
She writes, “The problem arises when women dress like men would dress if they were women. When that happens, even a breathtaking babe can turn into an asexual android on a mission to kill. Somehow, as she zips her skirt, the ovaries take leave, and in the process of buttoning her shirt, a figurative Adam's apple bulges in her throat.”
Read the rest of the story here.
By the way, being a fanatical film fan, I could not help noting Ms. Barkai’s erroneous statement that Meg Ryan appeared in the film Working Girl. Methinks Ms. Barkai confused Ms. Ryan for Melanie Griffith.
Read the rest of the story here.
It was no big surprise since my old company was "old school" with very few females in charge, whereas the new company was a relatively new company with many females in charge in various departments.
One month ago, we had a lay-off. My boss was let go. A male and a female co-worker in my department were also let go. A reorganization followed and my new boss is now a female about 20 years my junior. Also they hired back the female co-worker who was let go, but none of the males that were let go.
My profession was a male bastion for ages. Now my department is run by a female and most of my co-workers are female.
When my profession was a male stronghold, the females in my profession tried to fit into the “old boy’s club.” They wore little or no makeup, their hair was in a short style, and they wore tops and slacks – never a skirt or dress. Their only feminine accoutrements were a purse and maybe some stud earrings.
As my profession becomes a female stronghold, maybe I should try to fit in.
Christmas time is here again.
Simple technique changes sex of a mouse – and reveals the gender war that rages in all of us
