Actor Michael Andrews femulating in the film Malibu Express, 1985.
Wearing Eva Franco.
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Got Ephemeral Femulating Memories?
With all the time I have spent scouring old yearbooks looking for incidences of “civilian” femulation, I have been thinking about other ephemeral items from the past relating to crossdressing and feminization. Specifically, I thought it might be an interesting feature in your blog to have readers submit memories of long-lost items they may have seen or heard in their younger years, whether print, photo, media or whatever, that made an impression long before our modern age of Internet saturation.
I have three examples from my youth that will provide an idea of the kinds of items I’m talking about. All three made quite an impression on me in my adolescence/teen years, and I would love to be able to see them again!
- An episode of the game show To Tell the Truth circa early 70’s, featured a young man as a guest contestant who, as a joke, had been dressed up by some female friends and entered in a local beauty contest. To their amused surprise, he actually won! The guy and the two “imposters” trying to fool the TTTT panel were all nicely femulated for their appearance on the show. (Note: The Game Show Network has shown some old TTTT episodes, but I do not get GSN,and have no idea whether this episode has ever been rebroadcast. If it does show up, somebody needs to put it on YouTube!)
- A filmed humorous “human interest” item used as filler on a circa mid-70’s newscast (whether network or local, I do not recall) concerning a beauty school hairstyling competition in which they recruited several long-haired males to act as models. There were brief clips of them getting rolled, dried and teased, as well as the quite elaborate finished feminine ‘dos. It appeared like both the stylists and their somewhat embarrassed subjects had a lot of fun!
- This last item appeared in a Sunday newspaper magazine supplement (similar to Parade) in the mid-70’s or thereabouts. Similar to the first item, but this involved a photo contest rather than an in-person pageant. In Britain, a local newspaper sponsored a mail-in beauty contest. Some fun-loving young birds took a male mate, did his hair and makeup like a woman (no clothing involved, as these were headshots only) and submitted his photo under the fake name of “Eileen Hussy.” I recall that his hair was not terribly long, but was sufficient to create a nice feminine teased “bubble” style. While he did not win, he was among the finalists, and the article featured a reprinted excerpt showing “Eileen’s” pic among all the female competitors.
So there you have some of my distant memories of “femulating ephemera.” I’d love to hear those of other readers!
I wanted to be Tuesday when I grew up
Actor Michael Andrews femulating in television’s Murder Me Murder You, 1983.
Wearing Sea.
Monday, March 18, 2013
Monday Musings
Spiegel had a 30% off sale this weekend and I bought two dresses I had been yearning for ever since they appeared in their spring collection. The list prices of the two dresses were already reduced by 12%, so the dresses were actually discounted 38% off list price. How could I resist?
The Zoe Mod Dress (orange multi-color) and the Deco Dress (in blue and white) are on the way. The Deco Dress runs small, so I hope they fit and I won't be disappointed.
I spent most of Sunday doing my income taxes (and that is why today's blog is a little late). To show you where my priorities are, according to my tax records, I spent $1460 on women's wear for myself last year and $97 on men's wear!
Saturday night, I watched Men in Black 3. I liked Men in Black, was disappointed with Men in Black 2, but was pleasantly surprised by Men in Black 3 and I enjoyed the film very much.
I did not expect it, but there is one trans moment in the film. Agent J (played by Will Smith) travels back in time to the year 1969 and visits Andy Warhol's Factory during a "happening." As he passes through the crowd in The Factory, a beautiful female greets him with a very deep masculine voice. According to IMDB, the "Transvestite at Happening" was played by Javier Rivera AKA Rebecca Glasscock, “who was one of the nine contestants cast for the first season or RuPaul's Drag Race.”
Have a good week. Mine ends with a trip to UCONN on Friday to present a workshop titled "Femulate: The Art of Becoming Womanly" at the True Color Conference.
Sunday, March 17, 2013
Saturday, March 16, 2013
Friday, March 15, 2013
She’s tall!
5'8" - Marthe Keller - actress, film The Marathon Man
5'9" - Jennifer Hudson (photo right) - singer
5'9" - Jennifer Lawrence - actress, film Silver Linings Playbook
If you are new here, you may wonder why the list.
Since the average femulator is taller than the average female, tall femulators might worry that their height might give them away (if they were concerned about passing). The list demonstrates that there are tall females out there to assure the tall femulators that they are not alone.
I used to worry about being tall.
I held back going out in public en femme for a very long time because I assumed that my height would prevent me from passing. But after overhearing comments from passerbys that I was an "Amazon" and a "dyke" and having a tall saleswoman at Nordstrom ask me how I liked growing up tall when I was a girl, I don't worry about my height any longer.
Happy Birthday, Kate Bornstein
Femulators partying at El Dorado in Berlin, 1935 1933.
Wearing Terani Couture.
Thursday, March 14, 2013
Southern Belle Boys
Starla continues to amaze me with more new femulation finds in the online high school yearbooks. She sent me 89 new ones* that are now in the Yearbook Femulations flickr archive.
What also amazes me is how many schools have held femulating events over the years. So I ran some numbers on the over 2600 images in the archive to find the epicenter of high school femulations.
With the popularity of womanless beauty pageants in the Southern United States, it was no surprise that the South had 10 states in the top 15 (based on the number of images in the archive).
Texas and California were number 1 and 2 respectively, again no surprise, but I was very surprised to see Oklahoma (ranked 28th in population) in the number 3 slot beating out the more populous Florida (ranked 8th in population).
Here is the ranking of the 50 states and the District of Columbia:
| 1 Texas 338 | 14 Pennsylvania 72 | 27 Wisconsin 27 | 40 North Dakota 7 |
| 2 California 240 | 15 Tennessee 68 | 28 Massachusetts 26 | 41 Wyoming 7 |
| 3 Oklahoma 190 | 16 Indiana 62 | 29 Maryland 24 | 42 Utah 5 |
| 4 Florida 153 | 17 Oregon 52 | 30 Arizona 23 | 43 Alaska 4 |
| 5 Louisiana 122 | 18 South Carolina 49 | 31 Kansas 20 | 44 Montana 4 |
| 6 Michigan 101 | 19 Mississippi 47 | 32 Nevada 18 | 45 Delaware 3 |
| 7 Georgia 96 | 20 Missouri 42 | 33 West Virginia 12 | 46 Hawaii 3 |
| 8 Alabama 94 | 21 New York 41 | 34 Idaho 10 | 47 Maine 3 |
| 9 Arkansas 92 | 22 Kentucky 37 | 35 Connecticut 9 | 48 New Hampshire 2 |
| 10 Ohio 91 | 23 New Jersey 36 | 36 New Mexico 9 | 49 Vermont 2 |
| 11 Illinois 90 | 24 Washington 34 | 37 South Dakota 8 | 50 District of Columbia 1 |
| 12 Virginia 84 | 25 Minnesota 32 | 38 Colorado 7 | 51 Rhode Island 1 |
| 13 North Carolina 77 | 26 Iowa 28 | 39 Nebraska 7 |
* To view the latest additions to the collection:
Method 1: Open one of the Yearbooks sets (A through Z) and you will find the newest uploads at the end/bottom of the set. (The oldest uploads appear at the beginning/top of the set.)
Method 2: Open my photostream and you will find the newest uploads at the top of page 1. The uploads get older as the page numbers get higher with the oldest uploads on the last page.
By the way, the contents of the Yearbook A through Z sets are organized according to school name, for example, the photos from Hard Knox High School would be in the Yearbooks H set.
Happy Birthday, Diane Arbus and Hank Ketcham
Kim Christy, professional femulator, 1975.
Wearing Jason Wu.
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
How do I read?
If we had the resources that are available today when we were school-aged, I would be wearing a dress today and I might even have different plumbing.
That is what I wrote in response to an e-mail from Paula in which she commented on how common femulating has become among young people today. She referred me to a forum on Reddit as evidence.
Perusing the forum, I learned something new, i.e., the question "How do I read?" --- which is another way of asking, "How well do I pass?"
I visit deviantArt regularly. It "is an online community showcasing various forms of user-made artwork," according to Wikipedia.
It seems to me that most of the deviantArt community is comprised of young people and that there is a strong femulating presence in that community. This is another indication that today's youth, especially art-oriented youth, in this case, are very open about femulating.
During my latest visit to deviantArt, I encountered photos of a young femulator from the UK who attended her senior prom in the manner that I wish I had attended mine 44 years ago.
How does she read? Beautifully!
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
Milestones
As we progress as femulators, we pass common milestones in our journey en femme. The following lists those milestones roughly according to their degree of achievement. Your mileage will probably vary. - Drive your vehicle.
- Join a trans support group and attend their meetings.
- Attend a trans convention.
- Somebody refers to you as "she" or "her."
- Somebody addresses you as "Ma'am" or even better, "Miss."
- Go shopping (at a mall).
- Dine at a restaurant.
- Get a makeover.
- Have your nails done.
- Shop for a wig at a brick and mortar wig store (not on-line).
- Get fitted for a bra at a lingerie or department store.
- Use public transportation.
- Attend a religious service.
- Use the women's dressing room to try on clothing.
- Use the ladies' restroom.
- Go to work en femme on Halloween.
- Vote.
- Legally change your name.
- Go out on a date.
- Kiss.
- Live full-time as a woman.
- Have sex as a woman.
Happy Birthday, Barbara Feldon
Pauline, a Femulate reader during her first time out en femme.
Wearing Newport News.
Monday, March 11, 2013
Boys Being Girls Again
Hi Stana,
Just posted - Ernest Ward Middle School has held another excellent pageant, with once again some incredibly good femulations.
Note that the last couple pages of that gallery are shots of the "real" girls hosting the pageant. Although, really, the other "girls" really hold their own in comparison!
There's something both fascinating and, frankly, mildly disturbing about a womanless pageant of such high quality at this age level. I mean, the dresses are up-to-date, the make-up impeccable, good-quality wigs, and the boys have clearly been well-coached in deportment, posing, etc. Someone takes this annual project very seriously, and this is one of those exceptional pageants that goes well beyond the level of a silly lark or farce.
I'm guessing that whoever coordinates and organizes the event is probably heavily into "normal" teen female pageants, perhaps a professional pageant coordinator or coach. They certainly know what they are doing, as you don't get these sorts of results from leaving the contestants on their own, where they would typically be subject to the preparatory ministrations of amateur friends and family.
And it stimulates suspicion that there may be more behind the motivations involved than mere fun and games. The stereotypical "older woman/women feminizing young boys" scenario is a common staple of TG fiction, especially in the "sissy" sub-genre. Most of these stories fall into the category of unrealistic "too good to be true" set-ups. And yet, such situations DO occur in real-life, albeit much more rarely than the fantasy readers and writers would like to believe.
Is it possible, when confronted with a middle school age "pageant" of such exceptional quality, that we are dealing with a person or persons running the show who is/are actually "into" femulating young teen boys? I'm not saying that this is necessarily the case or, if it is, that it rises to the level of something immoral or questionable. But it is something to wonder about, which is why even though we enjoy seeing the results, we may well be left with mixed feelings and some level of discomfort.
Maybe I'm over-thinking the whole thing. But I'm just saying.....
Yours,
Starla
***
I too often wonder about the perfection of such femulations.
It could just be some very competitive people behind the scenes or wearing the evening gowns. Or it could be something else.
I would love your comments on this topic.
Happy Birthday, Lady Chablis
Fernanda, a Femulate reader during her first time out en femme, Mexico City, 1970.
Wearing Theory.
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