Tuesday, July 19, 2016

Tuesday Thoughts

You Can Look It Up

I just learned that the word I created, femulate, has been submitted for inclusion in an online dictionary "pending investigation."

Dressing Room Selfies

Dunno if you heard about the transwoman who was arrested taking photos of another woman inside a unisex dressing room in a store in Idaho, which does wonders for our cause... NOT.

When I try on clothes in a dressing room, I often take selfies of myself to see how the camera sees what I an wearing. In light of the Idaho case and the general brouhaha about transpeople using facilities intended for the gender they are presenting as, I will think twice about taking dressing room mirror selfies.

I don't want to be accused of being a voyeur if the flash of my iPhone camera goes off while I am in the dressing room. (I usually have the flash turned off for mirror selfies, but sometimes I forget.)

Pinning Womanless Beauty Pageants

Guest poster, Susan King (of  Transitioning Into Tomorrow fame), wrote, "I have been reading the Femulate blog for years. One of the subjects I love are the womanless beauty pageants. So I created a Pinterest board of males who try to femulate for a pageant."

I have my own Pinterest board called "No Girls Allowed," which is a collection of womanless pageants, fashion shows, weddings, etc. And if you use the Pinterest Search option, it will turn up even more womanless pins... lots more!




Source: Nine West
Wearing Nine West.



Dads in Drag
A recent "Dads in Drag" contestant

Monday, July 18, 2016

My Best Friend

My cockapoo lost one eye to glaucoma last year and since then, I have been medicating her other eye to prevent glaucoma from striking again.

A few days before the Independence Day weekend, my dog had a couple of bouts of temporary blindness and by the Fourth, she was totally blind and a basket case ― confused and depressed by what was happening.

I took her to the veterinarian eye specialist and surprise, her eye is healthy... no glaucoma. The eye vet referred her to a neurologist vet, who suggested a number of causes for the blindness that only an MRI would reveal.

By the time we saw the neurologist, my dog was starting to get used to being blind ― still confused, but returning to being herself in many ways. So the neurologist suggested that we see how well she gets acclimated and gave me a prescription for her high blood pressure (which may have caused a mini-stroke and the blindness).

Back home, I spend almost all my waking hours working with my dog trying to get her used to her new world. It has been time-consuming, but rewarding because she is making progress. However, I have neglected this blog and its e-mails, as a result. But I expect that things will get better soon.

By the way, my dog prefers me in boy mode. Whenever I start getting dressed in girl mode, she gets out of Dodge and avoids me until I change back.




Source: ShopBop
Wearing Rebecca Minkoff.




Peter Sramek
Peter Sramek femulates Borbala Peterfy on Hungarian television's Sztarban Sztar.

Saturday, July 16, 2016

The Meaning of Crossdressing in The Meaning of Lila

The Meaning of Lila by John Forgetta and L.A. Rose mentions men wearing womenswear more than any other comic strip in my radar. For example, there were three mentions in the past three weeks.

In case you missed them, here they are for you to enjoy.






Source: Bebe
Wearing Bebe.



A role-reversed wedding party in 1984.
A role-reversed wedding party in 1984.

Friday, July 15, 2016

Shapewear for Your Body

By Susan King

This is another guest blog post by my friend Susan, who is the author of her own blog, Transitioning Into Tomorrow.

Many of us girls require shapeware to get that perfect silhouette. Below is a nice Infographic guide assist in determining which type of shapeware works best with your body type. 




Source: ModCloth
Wearing ModCloth.



Source: Daily Mail
Pammy Rose, UK transgender beauty queen

Thursday, July 14, 2016

Boys Wearing Dresses


Yesterday's post, Sara's First Time, refreshed my memory about young boys wearing dresses in previous eras.

My mother put me in a very girly dress for my baptism, but after the festivities, she put my dress away in her cedar chest and that was the end of my publicly-approved days as a boy in a dress.

Two or three generations earlier, I would be en femme full-time until I was breeched. I wonder what effect that would have had on my penchant for femininity. I'm sure it would have intensified my feminine ways and make the transition to boy mode unbearable.

Anyway, when I first discovered that once upon a time boys wore dresses, I researched the matter to see how widespread it was (it was) and why boys wore dresses in the first place.

According to a piece by Judy Mercer Tescher of the Pendleton Historical Museum in Indiana, "It appears the original decision to place boy infants in a dress was a practical choice to facilitate wearing or not wearing a diaper. Extending the number of years that boys wore dresses is a larger story of societal change, philosophy, industrial and marketing forces, emotional needs and an array of other factors."

If you are curious like I was, I urge you to read Ms. Tescher's revealing article, "In History: Why little boys wore dresses."



Source: ShopBop
Wearing Temperley London dress, alice + olivia clutch and Aquazzura sandals.



German boys and girl participating in Geschlechtertausch, 2016.

Wednesday, July 13, 2016

Sara's First Time

General Douglas MacArthur
At about four years, my mother on wash day would pile up the clothes on the floor for washing. I would go to the pile of women's underwear and play with them. Putting on the panties, bras, slips: both grandmother and mom would laugh! I was not allowed my grandmother's most fine items.

My mother was born in the same month as Shirley Temple and was a fan for a lifetime. Her favorite gifts as a girl were Shirley Temple dresses! Many times they asked if I wanted to try on the dresses! I really did! The ladies got into this from time to time and even went to the point of starting with panties and slips and going to full little girl drag.

One way they found of tempting, was my grandmother had some of her silk little girls panties, that after first trying them on they felt so nice and good, that all my grandmother had to do was hand them to me after a bath, and I never refused!

Once at age five, they did it and mom and dad had words over my dress which was uncommon, they rarely ever had a fight out where others could see! The next Saturday after my bath, my grandmother hands me the silk panties, which I took and it started, with a bouffant little girls slip, on to a blue dress with girl’s frilly socks and topped with patent Mary Jane shoes. These events usually lasted an hour. But this time grand took me and using an electric old style curling iron did my shoulder length hair into little girl curls.

From Colonial times to the early last century, it was common for boys to be dressed as girls up to age 5 or 6. My Grandmother was a fan of General MacArthur and General Patton, she collected books on them; after I started to read she went through them as a way to help me read, MacArthur had a picture of himself at five, and a picture of his family in 1930 with first him and then his son at the age of 5-6 both were in girls dresses with long curls!

The biography of Patton said that he was dressed as a girl to age eight and as a boy only outside of the family until age 10 and was not allowed to read till age 12.

After an hour my father called from the living room as I popped by "come over here little girl!" After several repeats, I did. Dad pulled me up to his leg and said do you like your dress little girl?
“Yes.”

Several other questions on my clothes followed, then he picked me up and set me on his lap and said "Little girl, do you want to keep wearing your dress for the rest of the day?”

“Yes,” I replied demurely. At that point he grabbed my head and kissed me on the forehead then pulled me into an embrace and snuggled; that I had seen him only give to little girls in the family! It was great! Total acceptance as I stayed there for several minutes! Till both my mother and grand came in from the doorway.

No more was said.


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.



Source: Marciano
Wearing Marciano.



Johnny Downs
Johnny Downs (right) in the 1941 film All-American Co-Ed.

Monday, July 11, 2016

I line

Despite doing my makeup for over 50 years, I have never been able to do eyeliner like the woman in the accompanying photo. I figured that it was just eyeliner incompetent, however, when I have had makeovers done by various professional makeup artists, they have never achieved "the look" either.

So now I wonder if there is something physically wrong with the shape of my eyes that prevents them from ever achieving that look. To be specific, I do not have trouble with the eyeliner on the upper and lower lids. The problem is mating the two lines together at the outer corners of my eyes.

C'est la vie!



Source: JustFab
Wearing JustFab.



Grazer Tuntenball, Berlin, 2016
Four fellows attending Grazer Tuntenball in Berlin, 2016.

Saturday, July 9, 2016

Shopping with Stana

My favorite shopping amusements.


















Source: Intermix
Wearing St. Roche.




Thomas Kuc and Benjamin Flores, Jr.
Thomas Kuc and Benjamin Flores, Jr. in a 2016 episode of television's Game Shakers.
(Thank you Zoe!)