Play Drag Ball

Yesterday, we learned about Geschlechtertausch (Gender Swap) thanks to Aunty Marlena. Today, thanks to Aunty Marlena again, we can view photos on flickr from one of the better womanless beauty pageants this school year: the Jackson (Alabama) High School Baseball's "Dude Looks Like a Lady" pageant.

UPDATE: Sorry, but the photos of the pageant were removed from flickr. The flickr link now only displays the cover of the program for the event. And so it goes. 

 

 

 

Actor Alex Grelle femulating on stage in Scarrie: The Musical in 2012.

 

 

 

Wearing Ramy Brook.

Geschlechtertausch

Aunty Marlena discovered that Geschlechtertausch (Gender Swap) is a popular event among students in German high schools and she sent me a load of links showing examples of German boys and girls as girls and boys on Gender Swap Day. Instead of listing all those links, Google Geschlechtertausch yourself and Google will turn up hundreds of images for you just like the ones below.

 

 

 

Femulators competing in the 1974 installment of the National Cotillion.

 

 

 

Wearing Delphine Manivet.

Boys and the Joys of Body Shapers

 

 

 

Femulator in street style circa 1965.

 

 

 

Wearing Melissa Masse.

Diana Prince Vs. Wonder Woman

I am very tired of maintaining a double identity. Compartmentalizing my life is work; I don't know how many brain cells I use trying to remember who knows what and how much they know. And I feel dishonest about it in a lot of ways. I am out to a lot of people and I have the green flag from my employer to come out at work. But I do not want to upset the applecart at home, so I will soldier on like Clark Kent and Diana Prince.

 

 

 

Marie-Christine Bouvier, a beautiful femulator from Germany.

 

 

 

Wearing Rachel Pally (top), Tibi (skirt),
Loeffler Randall (bag) and Edmundo-Castillo (shoes).

2934/7

Today marks the seventh anniversary of Femulate!

After 7 years and 2934 posts, I think I deserve a day off, so I will leave you with something different and I’ll see you tomorrow.

 

 

 

 

Proud mother and her son, a womanless beauty pageant queen.

 

 

 

Wearing Victoria’s Secret.

What’s on his mind is on his derriere

 

 

 

Jack Benny femulates as Gracie Allen on television’s The Jack Benny Show, circa 1955.

 

 

 

Wearing Dsquared2 (top and shorts) and Alexander Wang (shoes).

Pattern

Saturday morning, I stopped by my sister's apartment to drop off her Avon order and found her going through a box of stuff from my mother's apartment. (Mom died years ago, but only recently has my sister begun going through Mom's stuff.)

"Here --- this is yours," my sister said to me and handed me a stuffed manilla envelope.

"What is it?" I asked.

I opened the envelope and withdrew its contents: five old dress patterns for styles from the mid- to late-1960s.

"What do you mean these are mine?" I asked.

"Mommy bought them to make dresses for you," she explained.

"Huh!"

"She even made one dress for you --- this one," she said, as she pointed to one of the patterns I held in my hands.

"She was going to give it to you as a birthday gift. But then she changed her mind because she didn't want to embarrass you."

(Note that although my sister and I are very close, she does not support me much on the trans front.)

"So, she knew," I replied.

"Dad knew, too, and he talked her out of giving the dress to you."

I always suspected that my parents knew and now my suspicions were confirmed.

"Wow! What happened to the dress?" I asked.

"I have no idea," my sister replied, "Let's change the subject."

I don't know what was the next subject because my mind was still on the dress my mother made for me and how my life might have been different if I had only confided in her.

Femulator in street style circa 1964.

Wearing Phillip Lim.

It Suits Him Fine

Did you mean "soup bowl"?

What came first? The hen or the egg?

Trigger

I received an interesting and thought-provoking e-mail from Beverly commenting on my Sons post last Friday.

Regarding the nature versus nurture argument, Beverly falls on the nature side... that our gender gifts are a natural part of our persona and not the result of nurturing by our environment. However, Beverly added that "there has to be a 'trigger' somewhere to bring out whatever it is nature has gifted us with."

I wondered about my trigger. On Wednesday, I wrote here that discovering the world of female impersonators moved me to try female impersonation myself at the age of 12. However, I had been exploring my gender gifts years before that, so female impersonation was not necessarily my trigger. But it was so long ago, that I am not actually sure what was my trigger.

Digging way down deep in my memory, I can only recall one event that may have started it all.

I was probably between the ages of 6 and 9 and for a day or two, I wanted to be a circus clown when grew up. I remember I was home alone with my mother (my father and sister were out) and I covered my face with my mother's cold cream to simulate a clown's white face. What a mess!

I showed my handiwork to my mother and she volunteered to do a better job. She removed the cold cream and started anew applying various cosmetics to my face.

When she was done, I looked in the mirror and was shocked. Instead of looking like a clown, I looked like a girl. I still remember the bright red lipstick on my lips.

In retrospect, I am not sure if she realized what I was trying to do. I do not recall if I was clear about trying to be a clown. She may have thought I was trying to be a girl and acted accordingly.

Anyway, I was so embarrassed that I insisted that she remove the makeup before my father and sister returned home. She complied.

And I no longer wanted to be a circus clown when I grew up. I wanted to be a woman.

 

 

 

Professional femulator Windy Starr in 1965.

 

 

 

Wearing Cedric Charlier.