Any Womanless Femulators?

Womanless events bring out the curious among us (including myself) who wonder if any of the participants belong to our team.

In almost every womanless event, there are one or two "girls" participating who are outstanding... so outstanding that you wonder if it was really their first time... rather than being a civilian, are they actually one of us. Or they may be first timers, but their experience releases their inner girl and they so enjoy being a girl that they become one of us.

Saturday's post revived those thoughts around here and I wonder if there is any truth to them. So are any of you readers past participants of a civilian non-trans womanless event?

If you were a beauty queen or a fashion model or a bridesmaid in a civilian womanless event I would love to hear and share your story and photos (I just know that you have photos.)

Or is there really nothing to our urban legends?

(I asked this same question in February 2015 and the response was a little underwhelming. One person admitted to participating en femme in an adult prom fundraiser and another was an 8-year-old chorus "girl" in a summer camp production of Oklahoma, but no one admitted to being in a womanless beauty pageant, fashion show, wedding.)

Wearing Helmut Lang tank, Self-Portarit skirt, IRO jacket and Chloe clutch.

Contestants in a recent womanless beauty pageant.

Candid Camera

During the past few days, I received unsolicited photos from people attending the awards dinner at Hamvention. I appreciated the photos because my iPhone photos from the event were not the best, (and I am still kicking myself in the dupa for not using my Canon Powershot camera, which was buried in my purse).

There are some nice photos in the batch I received, but I think my favorite is the candid shot above taken by a famous ham radio operator from Sweden. At the time, I was deep in thought going over my acceptance speech in my head and unaware that a photo was being taken.

I love Lucy's suit!

Ken Chan in Destiny Rose on Philippines television.

Too Busy Being Girly

Wearing Yigal Azrouel.

Oliver Thornton and Maulik Pancholy in a 2016 stage production of The Taming of the Shrew.

No Girls Allowed in 1970

There are numerous videos online depicting various womanless events – beauty pageants, fashion shows and weddings, in which males trade in their trousers for dresses and walk on the distaff side of street temporarily. Most of the online videos are contemporary, but there are a few vintage videos, too.

Zoe alerted me to one from 1970 featuring 28 members of a Boy Scout troop from Henry County, Virginia, who participated in a girl-less beauty pageant, which begins at approximately the 24 second mark of the video.

Don’t you just love the styles the “girls” are wearing? Reminds me of some of the outfits I was borrowing from my mother and sister back then.

Wearing Lands' End.

Miss David Bowie

Girls on Film

Janet Leigh in Psycho

Reading Marie's First Time post, it struck me how much movies have influenced my desires to femulate.

When most guys see an attractive woman, they want to bed her. When I see an attractive woman, I want to be her. And where am I most likely to see attractive women who I want to be – on the movie screen.

Film actresses are often hired because they are good looking; if they are also good at acting, that’s just icing on the cake. (I know that isn’t politically correct, but that’s the way it is.) So, I am more likely to see an attractive woman in a film who I want to femulate rather than on the street or at work or at Hamvention.

In addition to showcasing women I want to be, films also have encouraged me to femulate. When I saw gents like Tony Curtis in Some Like It Hot or Christopher Morley in Freebie and the Bean successfully portraying women, they showed me that I might be able to successfully portray a woman, too.
    
Back in the day, actresses Suzanne Pleshette, Jacqueline Bisset, Tippi Hedren, Janet Leigh, Eva Marie Saint and Grace Kelly were the women I wanted to be. Instead, I became my mother.

Wearing Edith Head.

Jonny Beauchamp (left) in a 2015 episode of television's Penny Dreadful.

Marie's First Time

My recollections are mixed about when I discovered/suspected I was not all male or should I say, had some female hiding in my inner core. My first positive but fearful incident occurred at about age 12 or 13 when one day I discovered my nipples were suddenly hard and sore and had a pronounced bud of perhaps a quarter in diameter, which was tender to the touch. I was terrified – am I turning into a girl? After a week or so, all the sensations and buds receded and I continued life as normal.

At about age 16 several things happened. Almost every day I walked past an upscale dry cleaner who usually had several ball gowns on display in the window and I found myself admiring them.

My movie heroes were John Wayne’s portrayals in westerns and war movies, but occasionally, I saw a Technicolor musical. Often these starred glorious women like Debbie Reynolds, Lana Turner, and Elizabeth Taylor. I always was fascinated by the delicious-looking clothes and in particular remember one scene in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof where Elizabeth Taylor was wearing a body-clinging slip. I thought that was fantastic and began to envy women for their ability to wear the clothes that looked great and offered freedom of expression and mood in sharp contrast to the dull drab colors and styles of men’s attire.

My next shocker came at summer camp where everyone wore shorts. My first day there I put on the uniform and when I stepped out of the tent, I got some whistles and comments from several girl campers about my great gams, which were “too good for a boy.” Was I embarrassed!! But I cataloged the incident in my brain.

The next adventurer was self-induced. While baby-sitting for a relative, I discovered an evening gown – probably a bridesmaid’s – hanging in the hallway in a pink plastic bag. Carefully I raised the plastic and found a gorgeous green velvet floor-length gown with a princess neckline. I was drawn to trying it on. Quickly I took in into the spacious bathroom, took a very quick shower, then stepped into heaven and zipped up the back. My cotton boy socks filled out the bodice wonderfully. The off-the-shoulder style added a degree of daring and romance. It reminded me of Scarlet O’Hara in Gone With The Wind and her gown made from the living room draperies.

I was ecstatic, but after a few twirls in front of the full-length mirror, I was seized simultaneously with near euphoria and panic. Quickly, but very carefully I unzipped and let the green velvet cloud slowly slide to the floor, where after gracefully stepping out of its warm circle, I very gingerly hung it up, covered it in its plastic protective cocoon and returned this marvel of femininity to its original position.


I invite all Femulate 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.

Wearing JustFab.

An all male cast performs Guys and Dolls at the UK Caldicott Prep School in 2015.

Off-Kilter

An Avon Lady selfie

Post-Hamvention, I am still playing catch-up at work and at home, so that is why my blogging schedule is off-kilter!

***

I found another video from Hamvention in which I sort of appear. "Sort of" because the video shows me sitting in the second row of an audience at a forum/presentation, but my visage is blocked by a guy sitting in front of me.

Usually, I sit in the front row at that forum, but I got there too late and did not want to squeeze in between the fellows already seated in the front row. Wait 'til next year!

***

Hamvention Thursday, I had dinner alone in the hotel restaurant.

The restaurant adjoins the hotel lobby and I noticed a constant parade of young women checking in at the front desk, as well as other young women milling about the lobby.

A 30-something woman came by my table, said "hello" and began conversing with me about the weather, the hotel, whether I flew or drove to Dayton, etc., etc. I held up my end of the conversation, but eventually she started talking about the banquet we were attending.

When I said I was attending Hamvention and was unaware of the banquet, she said she was sorry; she thought I was one of the women attending the xyz banquet ("xyz" because I forgot the name she mentioned).

I asked, "What's xyz?" and she explained that it was a line of beauty products. Evidently, saleswomen from all over the midwest were at the hotel attending the banquet, but I was not one of them, although I was flattered that she thought I was!

Source: PopSugar

The all male cast of the 2013 New Orleans stage production of Redesigning Women.

Five Seconds of Fame

My ham radio sister, Alison, WA1YKL, spotted me in a video from last week's Hamvention. Coincidentally, the video was shot by the fellow who won last year's Special Achievement Award. I appear for about five seconds starting at the 1:00:46 mark.

Wearing TRYB212 dress, Aquazzura sandals and Ranjana Khan earrings.

Justin Kirk in television's Angels in America (2003).

Bits and Pisces

I received my Special Achievement Award twice at Hamvention. First time was at the awards dinner Saturday evening and the second time was on Sunday in the main arena in front of thousands of people who were waiting for the prize drawing to commence (photo above).

∞ ∞ ∞ 

The site of the awards dinner was Dayton's Carillon Historical Park, specifically in the Park's museum, the Heritage Center of Dayton Manufacturing and Entrepreneurship. It is a beautiful site for an awards dinner and includes a full-size carousel that you can see me riding in yesterday's post.

There were about 80 people at the dinner including the other award winners and their guests, past award winners, folks from the award's sponsor Dayton Amateur Radio Association) and representatives from the ARRL. I knew about one third of the guests, either by reputation or by personal contact. The rest were strangers to me.

I was overwhelmed by everyone's friendliness and attentiveness. Strangers, both male and female, went out of their way to meet me and chat and in one case, invite me to their home, as I described here yesterday.

My award was the first to be presented and my acceptance speech went well. I spoke for about five minutes describing how I got into ham radio by mistake. My speech was very radio-centric, so I won't bore you with the details, however, it was well-received; the audience laughed when they were supposed to laugh and I received a standing ovation. The icing on the cake was when the other three award winners referred to my acceptance speech in their acceptance speeches!

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Sorry, but there were no video or audio recordings at the awards dinner. Folks took a lot of photos, but I only have a handful of iPhone shots.

∞ ∞ ∞ 

Throughout the weekend, about 20 readers of this blog visited me at Hamvention. Two were femulating, while the rest were in male mode. I have met most of them at past Hamventions, but some were new encounters, although I have been in touch with some of the "newbies" for years via e-mail.

In addition to visits from Femulate readers, countless civilian hams, mostly strangers, came by to congratulate me for the award.

Civilians, ham and non-ham alike, bought my presentation even those who were aware of my male roots. The pronouns were always correct and the gents treated me like a lady holding doors open for me and clearing the way for me through the throngs filling the convention halls.

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For you radio readers, I will mention that I made one purchase at Hamvention: an Elad FDM-S2 receiver.

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Before I close with the following anecdote, I want to add that I think I covered most of the highlights. If you have any questions, please ask and if I think of anything that I forgot, I will cover it in a future post.

It was a remarkable weekend and I had the time of my life. Sadly, the weekend flew by and seems like a blur to me now. I wish I could do it all over again!

∞ ∞ ∞ 

Back at work on Tuesday, a woman in my group who works from home e-mailed me to ask about my vacation. I told her I went to Hamvention and took home the Special Achievement Award.

Ten minutes later, she e-mailed me that she had never heard of it, so she looked up the Hamvention website and saw the write-up about the award.

Uh-oh!

If she saw the write-up, she must have seen my photo next to it. But she did not mention the photo, so I assumed she was being polite and did not want to embarrass me.

She is a good friend who I have known for years and I did not want to make her feel uncomfortable, so I e-mailed her back, "I guess the cat is out of the bag."

Her response was vague, so I asked her if she saw my photo.

"No, I didn't see your picture. I saw the photos of the other winners and I was looking for yours, but I did not see it," she replied, "Let me look again."

Fifteen minutes later, she wrote, "OMG!!!!!!!!!!! I couldn’t find you. I was staring at this beautiful lady and didn’t see you! Duh! YOU are the beautiful lady!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !! I was staring at your photo for like 10 minutes… Damn, your presentation is amazing!"

And so it goes!

Wearing Free People.

West Point cadets femulating on stage circa 1915.

The Women

When I first started going to Hamvention back in the late 1970's, there were very few female attendees. But since then, I have seen more and more women attending Hamvention each year (and I have done my part by attending as a woman since 2010).

The women I have encountered at Hamvention have embraced me as a member of their gender even those who are familiar with my roots.

∞ ∞ ∞

A woman I had never met before and who is the wife of a prominent ham, came up to me after the awards dinner ceremonies. She introduced herself and then asked me if I prefer being called "Stan" or "Stana."

Once that was settled, she went on and on praising me profusely saying what an inspiration I was and how brave I was to do what I do. Then she added that the women at her table were very impressed with my makeup and wanted to know if I gave lessons. And then she invited me to her home. She lives 20 minutes from me, so I accepted the invitation and wait for her to get back to me to confirm a date.

∞ ∞ ∞

One female ham I have known for many years and who is very familiar with my roots, lives in Connecticut, but I usually only see her in Ohio at Hamvention. She staffs a booth near my booth and we always meet up at one booth or the other to chat and catch up, as was the case Friday morning, when she stopped by my booth. After talking for about ten minutes, she had to go, but before she left, she said, "By the way, you look beautiful!"

I was speechless, but managed to squeak out a "thank you."

Then she added, "I really mean that!"

∞ ∞ ∞

Now that I had been accepted as a member of the women's club, I decided to join the Young Ladies Radio League (YLRL), which bills itself as "an organization for women with amateur radio licenses and like radio itself, extends to women all over the world."

So I moseyed over to the YLRL booth, where I was greeted as an old girlfriend and encouraged to complete their membership application. The three women staffing the booth couldn't have been nicer and willingly accepted me as a member of their organization ― even one of the women who must have been familiar with my roots because she congratulated me for my award having seen my photo and bio in the Hamvention program.

∞ ∞ ∞

With all the recent malarkey about bathrooms, I was a little nervous about using the women's restrooms during my trip, but I threw caution to the wind and used the facilities that corresponded with my presentation. No one called me on it and some of the women I encountered in the restrooms, smiled and/or greeted me with a "Hello," so I guess they felt I belonged.

∞ ∞ ∞

The booth across the aisle from my booth always hires two or three 20-something women ("booth babes") to hand out stickers and literature during the convention. They always seem surprised that my booth has a 60-something booth babe (me), but they seem to accept me into their club. They were very friendly and were willing to chat about the biggest booth babe pitfall ― wearing high heels. For what it's worth, I was still wearing my heels long after those young whippersnappers switched to flats!

Wearing Caroline Constas.

An all-male cast performed Twelfth Night on stage in Buffalo, NY, 2015.