On the Road

This is the only photo I have of me and my Subaru. I must get more photos with the favorite car I ever owned.

I have driven my Subaru thousands of miles cross-country cross-dressed. My experiences as a woman driver were revealing to me.

(Funny story: After I purchased my Subaru back in 2007, a lesbian friend remarked, "How appropriate," because Subaru's are reputed to be the vehicle of choice among lesbians. I had no idea!)

• If I wear shorts or a short skirt or short dress when I drive, tractor trailer drivers will occasionally honk in appreciation of the view. Even though I am an old lady, I have had this experience more than once.

• No surprise here, but male drivers will take advantage of woman drivers. Men drive more aggressively when they cross paths with me. They assume that I will back off and give them the right of way, which I usually do, not because I am meek and mild, but because I am crossdressed. I do not want to get into an accident, then have to deal with civilians and police as an outed crossdresser, which showing my driver's license will clearly reveal.

•  Following up on the previous point, I drive legal as a woman driver. I closely follow all the rules of the road because I don't want to deal with police as a crossdresser. My understanding is that in my neck of the woods, dealing with the police is not an issue because they have been trained to deal respectfully with our kind. Beyond my neck of the woods, who knows? In any case, who wants to deal with the police respectfully or not?

• Car trouble as a woman driver is a piece of cake. You won't break a nail or get a smudge of car grease on your skirt fixing the problem. Being an AAA member is one solution, but instead of waiting for AAA to show up, just look helpless and soon a gentleman will stop by and do the dirty work. It happened to me once while shopping at a strip mall. When I returned to my car with my purchases, my car would not start, so I opened the hood to see if that would help. It did! Within minutes, two gents in a pickup truck pulled up, assessed the situation and determined that my battery was dead. They carefully explained to me how to start the car by popping the clutch and I was quickly on my way.

•   Passing is easy as a woman driver. Just use your turn signal to indicate what you are doing and when the passing lane is clear, speed up to enter the passing lane. After you passed, use your turn signal again and return to the travel lane. Seriously, passing as a woman is easier sitting inside your car. Tinted glass and reflections off the glass camouflage your appearance, so your are less likely to be read sitting in your Subaru. Waiting at a traffic light one night, a guy in the lane next to me rolled down the window on the passenger side of his car and tried earnestly to engage me in conversation. I ignored him, but I assumed that I passed especially since it was dark.

• During long roadtrips, you are likely to need to use a restroom. I have no fear about using the ladies' room in Connecticut because I know the state laws protect me, but I feel less comfortable using the ladies' rooms in other states because their state laws may not protect me. However, I will feel even more uncomfortable if I don't use the ladies' room, so I do what I have to do and have never had a problem. For what it's worth, I have successfully relieved myself in ladies' rooms in the following states: Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia.

And so I go.

Wearing Elizabeth and James.

Artur Chamski on Polish television's Twoja Twarz Brzm Znajomo.

The Breakfast Club

By Paula Gaikowski

My dziewczyna Paula has been getting out a lot lately and she is dying to tell you all about it!

I had two road trips in the recent month and of course had time to get out as Paula

The first trip was to suburban Philadelphia.

When I am on the road, I tend to wake up very early, like 4:00-4:30. So I decided to organize my clothes and started trying on different outfits. Well I decided to get all dressed up with makeup and all – just as I would if I were going to be able to spend the day as a business woman. So there I am all dolled-up, and its 6:30 AM and the dining room is open, so off I went purse, laptop, looking very businesslike.

The waitress brought me coffee and addressed me as “Ma’am.” In one respect, it was remarkably mundane, however, the fact that I am out in the world doing everyday things as a woman is marvelously wonderful.

I truly want this every day.

I went back to the room and Cinderella morphed back into Cinderfella. I was so sad.

I must have missed some makeup because later that day one of my co-workers asked, “Hey, what’s on your eye?”

Thinking quickly I replied, “Oh, car trouble must be grease.”

A lady I’ve known many years quipped, “Yeah right!!”

I blushed and moved the conversation back to business.

I had nice weather in Long Beach, California the next week and decided to wear one of my skirt suits that I love so much. I loved my new glasses and had so much fun using my new makeup mirror that you can see to the right in the photo. Having a magnifying mirror made makeup application so easy.

I can’t stress enough what a help a mirror like this is! Please listen girls, the detail you get from the light and magnification is so helpful. It also solves the problem of putting on eye makeup without glasses. For once I could see in detail how I was putting on shadow and eyeliner! It’s lightweight and travels well; I use my hip pads to protect it in my luggage, at Walmart.

I had fun going to M·A·C and having an edgy young makeup artist teach me how to put on eyeliner the correct way. When it was all said and done, I was into it for $50, but oh so much fun and well worth the advice and experience of just being out there in Girl Land.

I bought a bottle of water at the front desk and had a conversation with the clerk, then went to the California Fish Grill and had dinner. While waiting to order, I could see out of the corner of my eye a guy about 45 looking me over, his gaze focused on my backside, then my legs.

“My gosh,” I thought, “He’s checking me out!” Whether or not I’m to his liking didn’t matter; just the fact that he is appraising me as a woman as a “possibility” is all it took for something to stir inside, something long hidden and forbidden coming to the surface.

I grabbed my dinner and walked out and felt my face blush.

Wearing Bebe.

Jack Clarke (right) of the Royal Canadian Air Force competed for the title of Miss Toronto, 1941. He was encouraged to enter the female beauty pageant by his squadron mates, who helped transform him into a viable competitor. (Source: One of the Boys by Paul Jackson)

My First Time: Stana in Wonderland

This is the first installment of a new Femulate series in which I invite readers to share their first crossdressing experience. Try to recall that moment the first time you tried on a woman’s garment and began the process of unveiling and exploring your feminine self. 

To entice you to share your first time story, I will give away a free copy of my e-book Fantasia Fair Diaries to all whose stories I use in Femulate.

To kick off My First Time, I will tell you my own story.

My Self-Portrait

I was a renaissance boy.

Growing up, I was interested in many things and some of those things resided on the feminine side of the street called “Life.” My parents did not dissuade me from my feminine interests and my sister accepted my interests because it gave her an in-house feminine playmate.

So I thought that playing house was just as “normal” as playing baseball. And even though some of my peers let me know that I might be a “fairy” because of my feminine proclivities, I ignored them and happily skipped on board the Good Ship Lollipop.

And so it went until one day at the age of 12, I was home alone and heard a voice calling me. The voice was emanating from my parent’s bedroom. More specifically, the voice came from the drawer of my mother’s bureau that contained her intimates.

I felt like Alice in Wonderland as I opened the bureau drawer and my mother’s nylon s beckoned, “Try me!”

I carefully removed a pair of my mother’s nylons from the drawer and rolled each one up my prepubescent hairless legs just as I had seen my mother do so many times in the past. But something was missing.

When my mother put on her nylons, she finished by attaching each nylon to the garters of her panty girdle. My briefs did not have garters, so the nylons were loose on my thighs and slipping to my knees. I needed a girdle. Conveniently, my mother stored her girdles in the same drawer as her nylons, so I borrowed one from my mother’s stash and squeezed my chubby figure into it.

As I carefully attached my nylons to the garters of my girdle, I was impressed on how well the girdle shaped a chubby boy into a feminine figure. But something was missing.

Although I now had a nice figure from the waist down, my girdle pushed some of my body fat up over the top of the girdle joining up with my boy boobs to create an unsightly muffin top. This will never do, so I revisited my mother’s bureau and found the perfect solution: a long line bra. After I slipped on the bra, everything seemed to be in place and I opened my mother’s closet to look at myself in the full-length mirror hanging on the inside of the closet door.

Wow! I was impressed with the female figure that I saw in mirror. I thought I looked a lot like those women I saw in the Playtex and Maidenform advertisements!

As I admired the girl I saw in the mirror, I noticed the stacks of shoeboxes stored in the back of my mother’s closet. I did not hesitate as that voice urged me to go for it. So I searched through the shoeboxes and retrieved a pair of high heel pumps that I quickly slipped on and then revisited my reflection in the mirror.

Wow again! Not only did I have a figure that rivaled a shapely female, but now my legs were as shapely as any female’s!

After admiring myself for a few minutes, I decided that I better disrobe before someone came home. So I carefully removed all my mother’s finery and returned them to their proper place. But my Pandora had escaped and I would often return to my mother’s wardrobe to adorn myself as the girl I discovered in my soul.

Wearing Boston Proper.

David Castiblanco

The Dress

Bebe for me?

When I go to Dayton for the Hamvention in May, I will collect my Special Achievement Award at the Hamvention awards dinner. As I wrote here yesterday, I viewed last year's awards dinner on YouTube and the main reason I did was to see how the attendees were dressed in order to gauge how I should dress.

The men were dressed very nicely in jackets or suits and ties, but it was difficult to determine how the women were dressed because there were not many women visible. The only woman to speak at the dais was wearing a lovely dress, which was in sync with how the guys were dressed. There were other women seated in the audience, but it was hard to tell how they were dressed. I assume they were similarly dressed, that is dressed appropriately for an awards dinner.

So I got to thinking about how I will dress for the awards dinner.

I looked through my wardrobe and came up with a half dozen dresses that would be appropriate.

But then I reconsidered. This is big ― a once-in-a-lifetime event and I should buy something new to celebrate the occasion.

I’m thinking little black dress, but not just a boring LBD… rather, something a little more spectacular. Or maybe an evening gown.

I have some time to decide. And I welcome your advice.

Wearing Bebe.

Caleb Goh channels Audrey Hepburn in the 1998 film from Singapore That's The Way I Like It.

The Voice

...not!

As I mentioned here last week, I am the recipient of a ham radio award, the 2016 Special Achievement Award. I will receive the award when I make my annual trip to Dayton, Ohio, in May to attend Hamvention.

I viewed last year's awards dinner on YouTube and saw how the attendees were dressed ― men in jackets and ties, women in dresses or tops and skirts.  I also noticed that each award recipient spoke briefly  (5 minutes, more or less) after they received their award.

I will have no problem speaking for 5 minutes; I could probably speak for 55 minutes, but it is how I will speak that is a little worrisome. I plan to accept the award as a woman, so in addition to looking like a woman, I should speak like a woman, too, don't you think?

Many years ago, I bought Melanie Anne Phillips VHS video course "Melanie Speaks," which is intended to teach you how to speak like a woman. I watched the video and was impressed with the Melanie's method, but finding free time to practice with the video at home was a problem. So I copied the audio portion of the course to a cassette tape and practiced during my 35-minute commute to and from work.

In about three weeks, I got the hang of it and the voice that came out of my mouth was scary... in a good way! I sounded like a natural born woman!

Although I could sound like a woman, I seldom used that voice because I was embarrassed to do so with friends and acquaintances who were familiar with my usual soft male voice. And when I was out among civilians, my soft male voice usually did not give me away. So why bother?

But I think I will bother for the award ceremony as well as my whole weekend in Dayton. I want to make a good impression. Dressing as a woman, but speaking like a man would impress, but not in a good way.

So as a refresher, I listened to Melanie's course again and have been practicing and practicing and practicing some more. I am using a digital voice recorder to hear what I sound like and I think I am sounding pretty, pretty good. When I reach the point of no return, I will post an audio clip for all of you to hear and critique.

Wearing Forever 21.

Freddie Fenwick, Arthur Holland, Leonard Young and Ross Hamilton entertain Canadian
troops during World War I appearing as "The Dumbells" in The Duchess Entertains.

The Dark Side of Trans “Visibility”

The "transgender tipping point" was a welcome milestone—it's also made trans adults and youth more visible targets

...one of my close friends, who is trans and who hadn’t heard of the holiday (International Trans Day of Visibility), responded with a scowl when I told her about it.

“My goal isn’t visibility, my goal is survival,” she said. “The Jews were extremely visible in 1930s Europe, how much good did it do them?”

Please read the rest of Arthur Chu's thought-provoking article on Salon.

Wearing Boston Proper.

Dave Thomas Brown on stage in The Legend of Georgia McBride (NYC 2015).

Tricia's 2nd Favorite Photos (of Tricia!)

Some weeks back, Stana was kind enough to run my photos and story about Tricia’s favorite photo of her in her replica 17th Century ball gown, plus a “normal” shot.

There appears to have been a lack of this genre on Femulate in recent times, so the “ever helpful” Tricia is quite happy to volunteer another duo of photos.

In addition to the “Lady Patricia” gown, I have always fantasied about the Gone With the Wind sweeping down the staircase” style of period dress. So via the US website, www.recollections.biz, I was able to purchase the gorgeous gown you see in the shot. I teamed this with a red head curly wig and other accessories and again, together with my very favorite and ever so skillful makeup artist, was able to have a makeover and if I do say so myself, “look the part.”

No so much as Scarlett O Hara as “Scarlett O’Tricia.” The only drawback was that I could not order a hoop crinoline with the gown to fill it right out. Tricia has a very large “Sheduior” with all manner of male hobbies to provide “nook and cranny” places to hide her femme things. However, a hooped crinoline would have been just too hard.

The “normal shot” has some history as well. In addition to period dress, Tricia just loves classy evening gowns and the one I am wearing came from Light in the Box, one of the well-known Chinese online retailers. Very cheap for the amount of work involved in the dress, but I made a critical error in the bust measurement in the first one and left it at that, until such time as I wore it and the strawberry blonde wig you see in the photo. Then I just had to reorder it in the correct size for as is evident, the hair color and style, plus the superb makeover, make Tricia look at least 20 years younger than her male self. I just love the beading, the color and especially the brush train…

The “downer” with this hair and dress combination came at the Seahorse Society Ball in Sydney in August 2014 when the makeup artist was substandard and made Tricia look not much better than a “man in a dress.” That event was supposed to just about be the pinnacle of Tricia’s crossdressing career, so the night was a bit of a letdown. What was especially disappointing, given Tricia’s SO knows about her, but does approve, it took months of planning to organize a “legitimate” side trip in order to get to the Ball. That “excuse” is unlikely to work ever again.

But there was a funny side. The ball is held at a hotel close to Sydney airport. At “pre ball cocktails” there was circa 200 attendees all “frocked up to the nines” milling in the bar, foyer and reception area. In the same area was a large group of goggle-eyed tourists. Tricia doubts what they saw that night was included in their “Australian holiday sightseeing tour package!!!” Sydney Harbour and kangaroos for sure, but not a very large group, (of in some cases, 6’3”) "women" in killer high heels

Happy dressing everyone!

My open invitation to post your favorite photo along with the story behind it and the reason it is your favorite photo still stands, so don't be shy, send me your fave foto. ― Stana

Source: Intermix

A student in Belfast, Ireland femulated the school principal for charity.

Diane's Favorite Photo (of Diane!)

Hi Stana,

Here is a pix taken at 70th Birthday at Carla's in San Jose.

Hope you can post on your blog.

Hugs,

Diane

That's two days in a row that Femulate has featured photos from San Jose. The Capital of Silicon Valley must be a hotbed of Femulate readers!

Anyway, you don't have to be from San Jose to see your photos here. My open invitation to post your favorite photo along with the story behind it and the reason it is your favorite photo still stands, so don't be shy, send me your fave foto. ― Stana

Wearing Nicholas.

Canadian soldiers performing as the Dumbells during World War I.

A Day at Comicscon

By Michelle Nelson

This was my first ever comicscon, first Silicon Valley Comic Con in San Jose, California. I have been to numerous Star Trek cons and I'm not that hugely into just comics and their art, but since it was local and I had been wanting to experience a comicscon, it was perfect.

I knew it would be big, but I was still amazed by the size of it, overwhelmed actually. The San Jose Convention Center is immense with three huge halls that were opened up to make one vast space. And every square inch of it was filled with something ! Not to mention the many halls and auditoriums where the talks and seminars were held.

And the crowds... I'm pretty sure this was the largest group of people I've ever been with in my life. I thought I'd be clever and get there early and did, but still had a hard time finding parking, and then ending up in a long, long snaking line just to get in. Guess everybody else had the same idea!

There were also three fascinating mini-museums, "Rancho Obi-Wan," a large private collection of everything Star Wars; the "Cartoon Art Museum" with original stills and cells and probably the best, the "Stan Lee Museum." So neat to see things drawn by his own hand. I didn't catch his seminar, but apparently he's still going strong at 92 ― good for him!

I actually went to only one seminar. I hated to take time away from other things waiting to get into them, but it was an incredible mix of science fiction and real science. For some of them, you waited in large holding areas to get in, but I was told by others that this was good because they were clearing the rooms after each talk, so people couldn't just squat and stay the whole day, as at other cons.

The vendors area made me think of a big box store with rows and rows and aisles and aisles, closely packed. At times, it truly was hard to even get through them ― you just sort of went along with the flow. I hate to keep repeating it, but I was again blown away with everything that was there ― so different from other cons I've seen.

I did make one big purchase, a replica of Gort, the robot from the The Day the Earth Stood Still (the 1951 original, not the grossly disappointing remake!) More than I should of spent I suppose, but what can you do, I had been wanting a larger one for along time. Also bought two poster prints.

The other great thing was seeing all the cosplayers, something I was looking forward to. Many I didn't recognize, but so much work went into them, it's hard to believe they are homemade in most cases. Large numbers of super heroes of course, and also something I'd heard of but hadn't seen before ― gender/swapped heroes and villains. Lady Lokis, Thors, Capt. Americas, like that. It actually seemed like there were more of those than the originals! And Victorian-themed superheros ―  they were quite fun too.

I knew I'd be going to this as Michelle, but then thought I too might fully experience the con by going Time Tunnel television series. How they always dressed really nicely ― dresses, heels, jewelry and then labcoats! It seemed funny to me even back when it was on.

in costume, which wasn't really too hard to come up with. I had gotten something together for Halloween and thought it would fit in just fine here. I was playing one of the lady scientists or engineers (forgive me, Lee Meriwether) from the old

There was also a large display by what looked to be almost professional cosplayers showing how they make various parts of their outfits. One of the people there complemented me on my crossplaying.

I got only one other comment along this line. Right at the start I was at a parking kiosk, chatting with a lady ahead of me on how we were already in a line before even getting in! She was wearing a dalek dress and her son, about ten, was dressed as the David Tennant version of Doctor Who. And he really looked like him with a blue suit, tie and hair brushed up. So the kid comes right out and asks me, "Are you in drag?"

Wow, busted. I said I was and he said he didn't know until I spoke. His mom said she didn't know either and we continued our chatting! I saw them a few times in passing throughout the day and they always waived.

There were many kids and whole family groups dressed, too, and themed couples and groups. I can only once again respect the work people put into this. Mine was about as simple as you can get, but even it got many compliments and photo requests ― amazing. I guess if you put even a little effort into something, people appreciate it.

I don't know how much going in costume increased my enjoyment of the con, but it was fun. Talking to other cosplayers about, who and what we were, taking photos together and I might add here, everyone was polite about taking photos, always asking first. I did feel a connection I don't think I would have otherwise.

One funny thing, Woz was said to be walking around the show, just like anyone else, possibly in costume. I didn't see him, although for all I know he could have been right next to me in costume and I would have missed him!

I thoroughly enjoyed the con. The only drawback was the crowds and the long lines for just about everything. But that's hardly the con's fault ― genre stuff is just so popular. It was actually handled quite well, considering. There were many entry/exit gates, where you checked in and out each time. The badges were wristbands each with a chip in it; what do you expect in Silicon Valley, I guess. Security people were present, but unobtrusive.

My only real complaint was that there was only one food concession on the whole floor. I had lunch early, but the line for it was reaching grotesque lengths as the day wore on. But my complaints are all related to just the number of attendees,and you can't blame people for going.

The only other thing I suppose was that the area for the celebrity photo ops was completely curtained off; you couldn't even get a glimpse of them. I did get one photo op though and a free one at that! One area had a green screen and after you were in front of it you would be placed in a still from one of the Hunger Games. You even got a 4x6 print of it. It was of course a promotion for the latest movie, but still, mighty nice. And it was in one of the very few uncrowded areas, too.

I suppose the thing to do would be to go both days, spend one at the seminars and one shopping and viewing or mix and match. And get your pass early online. They send it right to your home, so aside from just being sure of getting one, you bypass all the pre-check-in, let alone trying to get in at the time. Whenever I happened to pass by the entry area, it was filled with people trying to get passes!

I'd say it was no question about it being a rousing success, so I'm sure it will be back next year. My recommendations for this or any con really, would be to get your pass online, go early, do both days and have an early lunch!

Wearing Blank Itinerary.

Richard Schaefer, crossplayer

Guy Poses As A Woman On A Dating Site...

...And Learns Just How Gross Dudes Are

Lynn e-mailed me this link to a story about a man who posed as a woman on a dating website in order to be on the receiving end of the suggestive and lewd comments that some men send to women on such sites. By doing so, he did indeed learn how gross some dudes can be.

Reminds me of the time I posted the accompanying photo on Hot or Not. I did it because I thought that the experience would provide me with interesting fodder for the blog.

Over a long holiday weekend, I received 2054 votes and an average score of 8.1 on a scale of 1 to 10 (1 being "not" and 10 being "hot").

I received a few comments, but none were lewd or suggestive and one fellow made my day when he wrote, "Is your age correct? no way you look that hot at 60!"

When I assured him that my age was correct, he wrote back, "wow, amazing, :)"

And so it goes!

Wearing Jay Godfrey jumpsuit, Chloe handbag and Miansai bracelet.

This photo has been kicking around the Internet for awhile and is reputed to be two brothers dressed by their mother for Easter 1958. Actually, this photo is from Petticoat Pond and is intended to illustrate how nicely girls dressed for church and other occasions in the mid-20th Century. 

My mother dressed my sister in a similar manner back then, while I wore a suit or a sports jacket, tie, trousers, etc... the boring boy uniform of that era. I so wanted to dress like my sister and since I was a little older, maybe Mom would let me wear nylons and heels and maybe a little lipstick and rouge, but it never happened.  

Happy Easter to all my sisters, who had similar dreams!

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