Stuck with Lemons, Then Make Lemonade

Victoria wrote, “Your comments about gynecomastia have been very interesting.  I developed a rather extreme case as a kid. I've always wondered if that had some impact on my gender-orientation development.”

My response:

I feel there is a connection. This is just my opinion --- I am not a doctor, but I play a nurse on television.

Gynecomastia is “caused by an imbalance of the hormones estrogen and testosterone." (Source: Mayo Clinic)

The excessive estrogen may cause other "problems." So, if you have gynecomastia you may be inclined to be more feminine in other ways because extra estrogen is involved. In other words, gynecomastia is not the cause of the other gender issues, rather what causes gynecomastia may cause other gender issues.

That being said, they can feed off of each other. If you have gynecomastia and the extra estrogen is feminizing you in other ways, you might accept and embrace being feminine and thus, reinforce your femininity.

Does that make sense?

 

Actor Michael Callam (left) femulating on television’s Love American Style, 1971.

 

Wearing IRO.

Femulating in Grayscale

When the Bobbsey twins played dress-up, Nan's taller height was the only way to differentiate her from her sister Bert.

 

Five fashionable girls in Paris, 1960.

 

Wearing Nina Ricci, 1960.

Back to School

It won't be long before the kids are back to school and once back, they will be hatching plans to dress the males as females for a variety of womanless functions, all of which bypassed me in my school days, gosh darn it!

Looking forward to those womanless school days, Starla sent me another batch of femulators that she discovered in online school yearbooks. I thank her again for her finds - 100 in all - and I have uploaded them to the yearbook femulations gallery on flickr.

You may view the new images in two ways:

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 this 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.

 

Frockin’ around the Christmas tree.

 

Wearing DailyLook.

$10 Dress Sale Today

I just bought three dresses for $10 each from Ultimate Outlet. The original prices for the three were $189, $159, and $139… $487 total. (That’s the $189 dress in the photo.) The sale is today only. The link to the sale is here.

Shopping Tall

Michelle Persad writing for The Huffington Post offers the best websites to buy clothes for tall women. That means she is writing for most of us, girls!

I concur with her about JCP, Nordstrom, and Victoria's. I don’t know about her other recommendations because I have not shopped them, but I will now!

The slide show accompanying the article displays 19 tall female celebrities (yes, they are all on my Famous Females of Height List) followed by some fashion tips for tall ladies like us. The tips include a couple of Stana Standards: "Do go for oversized accessories as your frame can pull it off" and "Do stick a pair of tights under dresses that are too short."

Speaking of my Famous Females of Height List, here are some new additions:

5'8" – Dina Korzun - actress - film, Cold Souls

5'10" – Jennifer Coolidge - actress - film, Best in Show - source: Crystal Stephens

6'3" – Gwendoline Christie (see photo) – actress – television, Game of Thrones - source: Bonnie Scott

6'4" – Cupcake Cassidy – stripper – source: Trish Mifflin

 

Miss Glamouresse contemplating her restroom choices.

 

Wearing DailyLook.

Man of the House

The following Ask Me Anything questions are about my relationship with my wife. There are a lot of questions, so I will be brief and to the point in my answers.

Emily: Are you the husband at home in a conventional role?

Yes, I am the “conventional” man of the house.

Dani: Assuming you and your wife still make love together, do you do it as a man and a woman? Or as two women?

Physically, as a man and a woman. Mentally, as a woman in my mind. I have no idea what is going on in my wife's mind.

Pat: Does your wife completely accept you as a femulator?

Rhonda: How much does your spouse accept Stana in her life?  In other words, does she go out with Stana, buy Stana gender appropriate gifts, and do you (as Stana) and she socialize with other TG/CDs?

My wife accepts the fact that I am a femulator, but she does not embrace it completely. She does not go out with Stana, does not buy Stana gender-appropriate gifts, and does not socialize with my trans acquaintances.

However, if she sees something trans-related in the newspaper or on television that she thinks might be of interest, she will call my attention to it. Also, whenever we go shopping, she encourages me to shop for Stana, too.

Rhonda: As a follow-on question, have you and she agreed on limits to Stana's activities? If so, please share.

We have not agreed to limits, but I have put my own limits on Stana's activities; instead of being en femme full-time, I am en femme much less often.

Rhonda: Also, if so, does she waiver and occasionally want less Stana in your and her relationship?

My wife would be happy if Stana was completely eliminated from our lives.   

Lisa: I am wondering if it is concern for your entire family's feelings that motivates you not to go full time.

Absolutely. My wife married a man. I am committed to her and my marriage and try to fulfill that role as a husband as best as I can.

Lisa: I always put my wife and family first, so my second question is whether you think some TG people are being self-centered for failing to take into account the needs and feelings of their loved ones.

Again, absolutely. The spouse is often forgotten and left behind in the dust.

 

A femulating boy and her girlfriend.

 

Wearing ABS by Allen Schwartz.

Mechanics Femulated

Beth sent me the photo above which she took while vacationing in Burlington, Vermont, last week. The sign was in the window of a bicycle shop.

It is a little difficult to read because of the reflection on the window, so here is the information of interest:

	WTF!
	Women - Trans – Femme
	Bike Repair Nights
	Open bike shop for non-male identified folks interested in bike mechanics...

By the way, Burlington is a very diverse city, rated one of the best places to live and Beth noticed a few transwomen during her stay in the area.

The subject of bicycle mechanics is a perfect lead-in to today's “Ask Me Anything” question, which is on the topic of femulation mechanics.

Allison asked, "What do you use for breast forms and hip and rear padding, if anything?"
I don't use anything.

Topside, I am naturally endowed. A combination of too many female hormones and/or a touch of gynecomastia has "blessed" me with a pair of breasts that nearly fill a B-cup. I usually wear a padded bra from Victoria's to fill out the rest of the cup.

Below, I use no padding. I cinch my waist with some kind of foundation garment and my narrowed cinched waist creates the appearance of having hips and a feminine figure.

Viewing my photos, I see instances that adding hip and rear padding would improve my appearance, but it is not a deal-breaker, so I have not done anything about it.

By the way, my boobs were the source of a lot of abuse growing up. Combined with my natural feminine mannerisms, my life was hell at times. Luckily, it all worked out in my favor as I grew older and realized I was a woman.

 

A young man femulating circa 1900.

 

Wearing a “Charlie Brown dress” from La Redoute.

At Home

"Ask and you shall receive" as I found out when I wrote, "Ask me anything." The questions are still trickling in and I always welcome more as I slowly try to answer them all.

Emily and Sheila asked related questions, so I will answer them in the same blog posting. 

Sheila wrote, "When you go out en femme locally (outreach, group meetings, shopping, etc.) and have dressed at home and return home dressed, does your wife or daughter ever see you en femme?"

My wife and daughter often see me en femme when I go out.

Typically, my wife will give me the once over and note any issues with my outfit. In the colder weather, she invariably comments that I will be very cold because my outfits are skimpy.

On the other hand, my daughter always compliments me on the way I look.

Their reactions reflect their fashion sense. My wife is very practical in the way she dresses, whereas my daughter is a fashionista. Like father, like daughter.

Emily asked, "How do you maintain your relationship with your wife; she seems to be aware of Stana or do you have to keep it away from her? It seems from your blog that you do not dress at home, but you do have a huge closet of clothes; how does it work out?"

I do dress at home (to go out, not to hang around the house en femme), so my wife is very aware that I femulate. She would prefer that I did not, but she knows what I am and accepts it.

We three share the same walk-in closet; my girl and boy clothes share one rack in the closet with some spillage of my eveningwear to a second rack. My wife uses the other four racks.

Stana needs more space, but I do not want to encroach on my wife's territory. As a result, my boy wardrobe keeps getting smaller and smaller!

 

Actor Garrit Guadan (left) femulating on stage in Twist, 2007.

 

Wearing DailyLook.

Still Learning After All These Years

Cosmetic queen and makeup maven that I am, I still learned something when I read "101 Ways To Make Your Eyes Pop" on Daily Makeover.

Dustin Hoffman learned something when he played Dorothy Michaels in Tootsie, according to a recent interview.

I learned a lot that maybe I did not want to know when I read "Counterpunch and the War on Transgender People" on Jacobin.

Some good news: Friday the 13th falls on a Saturday this month! Also, I will get back to answering your Ask Me Anything questions next time we meet.

 

The blue brothers, circa 1960.

 

Wearing Alberta Ferretti.

Conferencing and Femulating in Boy Mode

Rhonda asked, "Have you ever thought of coming down to the Keystone Conference in Harrisburg, PA? You should. I went first time to a conference this year and loved it. What T-girl conferences have you gone to?"

Since Harrisburg is nearby (about 4.5 hours on the Interstates), I have considered attending the Keystone Conference.

In the past, I attended Fantasia Fair three times in Provincetown, First Event three times in various locations north of Boston, IFGE Convention twice in Philadelphia, and Transgender Lives Conference once in Connecticut.

My first First Event was memorable because it was the first time I attended a trans conference. Fantasia Fair is the best because of the location (I love P-Town) and because of the friends I see and make attending the Fair.

Pat asked, "Do you wear women’s clothes even when you’re in boy mode? Such as jeans, shorts, shoes, etc. Oh, and panties!"

Occasionally, I dress androgynously, but usually my boy mode attire is strictly from the guy's aisles of Walmart. On those days that I do include girl attire in my boy mode outfit, nobody has ever said anything about my wardrobe.

Funny story: One day when I was en femme leaving home in my car, I passed one of my neighbors coming from the opposite direction in her SUV. She knows my car and I am 99% sure that she saw me behind the wheel that day.

A few days later, I was walking the dogs and I ran into her walking her dog. We chatted for a few minutes and then she remarked that I was wearing women's nylon hosiery.

“Not today," I replied as I hiked up the cuff of one of my jeans legs so she could see that I was wearing beige-colored socks that could be mistaken for nylons if you do not look too closely.

"Oh," she said and we went our separate ways.

 

  Professional femulator, Harry S. Franklyn, circa 1928.

 

Wearing it very well.

I’m So Tired

I misunderstood Emily's question Do you ever tire of femulating? when I answered it on Saturday.

So she wrote back, "My real question was do you ever just yearn to not have these feelings that attract you to femulating? In other words, for me... sometimes after sex, sometimes after a nice time with friends and my wife, sometimes when I've obsessed about femulating, I suddenly get this feeling of 'I wish the desires would go away forever.' Have you ever felt that way?"

Yes, but in a different way than you.

I spend too much time thinking about femulating and thinking about living my life as a woman. I feel it is time wasted and negatively effects my productivity. If I am doing something I don't like doing or if I am doing something, but feeling lazy, thinking about femulating provides a distraction from what I should be doing.

I believe that if I transitioned, I would not think about femulating as much as I do now and that I would be a more productive person as a woman.

So, yes, I am very tired of femulating and should just transition and be done with it.

Comments please?

 

This purported femulator appears in the music video for
Tom Petty’s You Don’t Know How It Feels in 1994.

 

Wearing Brahmin (bag).

Sales Alert!

Ultimate Outlet has a 75% off sale today. Some very nice items at bargain basement prices. Check it out here.