Intriguing Internet Images

Coco Layne's "Warpaint," a photo project about gender
presentation within the masculine and feminine spectrum

"Just A Boy" by TraeCrae

Wearing a dress in a Los Angeles jail, circa 1945

Gender Switch Day

Professional femulator Jimmy James as Marilyn Monroe
in Greg Gorman's 1990 L.A. Eyeworks campaign

Beautiful Boy George

Wearing Venus.

Andrew Semuel, male womenswear model

FF femulating Kate Bush on Portugal television's Your Face Sounds Familiar.

Weighty Matters

Pricilla wrote, "Maybe you can share your dieting methods which enabled you to loose that weight? What is your final goal?"

I have lost 14 pounds so far. My goal is to lose 9 more pounds – 25 total.

Three-fifths of the way to my goal, I noticed my face is thinner, my feet no longer hurt (yes, my toes are skinnier), my high heels are more comfortable for a longer period of time and my girdle is not killing me as soon as it did when I was 14 pounds heavier, in fact, the last few times out, my foundation garments were no problem at all.

I started this diet in early November. On the eve of the holidays, I had lost about a dozen pounds. It was difficult to maintain that loss through the holidays, but I managed.

New Year's weekend, I caught a stomach flu and when it was all over, I lost a few more pounds! I don't recommend losing weight by catching a stomach flu, but as they say, "when life gives you lemons, make lemonade."

My dieting method is not ground-breaking. Cut out sweets, reduce my bread intake and don't eat in between meals. I seldom drink alcoholic beverages, so for me, there is no gain in avoiding booze. On weekends, I often eat only two meals instead of three. And I walk at least one mile per day.

And so it goes.

Wearing Intermix.

Seven femulators make a womanless wedding, circa 1950.

The First 100 Days Resistance Agenda

By Robert Reich

Trump’s First 100 Day agenda includes repealing environmental regulations, Obamacare, and the Dodd-Frank Act, giving the rich and big corporations a huge tax cut, and putting in place a cabinet that doesn’t believe in the Voting Rights Act or public schools or Medicare or the Fair Housing Act.

Our 100 days of resistance begins a sustained and powerful opposition. Here’s what you can do (it will take about an hour of your time each day):

1. Get your senators and representatives to pledge to oppose Trump’s agenda. Reject his nominees, prolong the process of approving them, draw out hearings on legislation. Call your senator and your representative and don’t stop calling.

2. March and demonstrate. The Women’s March on Washington will be the day after the Inauguration. There should be “sister” marches around the country. And then monthly marches against hate. Keep the momentum alive and keep the message going.

3. Make your city and state sanctuaries that won’t cooperate with federal immigration authorities in deporting undocumented immigrants, especially people who have been here since they were very young.

4. Boycott all Trump products, real estate, hotels, resorts, everything. And then boycott all stores (like Nordstrom) that carry merchandise from Trump family brands.

5. Write letters to the editor of your newspaper and op-eds, with a steady flow of arguments about the fallacies and dangers of Trump’s First 100 Day policies and initiatives.

6. Contribute to social media with up-to-date daily bulletins on what Trump is up to, and actions in your region in opposition.

7. Contribute to the most effective opposition groups. The American Civil Liberties Union, Common Cause, the Southern Poverty Law Center, the Economic Policy Institute, Inequality Media, MoveOn, and others.

8. Make the resistance visible with bumper stickers, lapel pins, wrist bands.

9. Push progressive causes at your state and local level – environmental reform, progressive taxes, a higher minimum wage, ending gerrymandering, stopping mass incarceration. Make your state a model of what the federal government should do.

10. Start a move in your state to abolish the electoral college by committing your state’s electors to vote for the presidential candidate who wins the popular vote.

11. Reach out to independents and even Trump supporters who agree with this agenda, and get them involved.

12. Your idea goes here. Meet with family and friends this weekend, and decide what you’ll contribute.

The First 100 Days Resistance Agenda. An hour a day. Send a powerful message. We aren’t going away.

Wearing Boston Proper.

Three femulators entertain the Canadian troops during World War I.

Girls will be boys and boys will be girls

Mr. Evan Rachel Wood at the Golden Globe Awards.

Miss Jonathan Holleman at Northwood High School's Switch Day.

Upon first glance you might just think Evan Wood was making a fashion statement, but as she explained, the move was more than just sartorial.

"This is my third nomination and I've been to the Globes six times, and I've worn a dress every time," Wood said. "And I love dresses, I'm not trying to protest dresses, but I wanted to make sure that young girls and women knew they aren't a requirement. And that you don't have to wear one if you don't want to, and to just be yourself because your worth is more than that." (source: The Huffington Post)

Similarly, Miss Jonathan is not trying to protest trousers. Rather, he represents a long tradition of mothers dressing up their sons as daughters for a variety of gender-bending scholastic events. Of course, some sons are more willing than others to forgo trousers for frocks. When those special boys slip on a bra or girdle for the first time, they know it is so right and will prefer female finery for the rest of their lives.

Miss Jonathan is just one of the pretty girls that Starla has uncovered in her search of online yearbooks, which resulted in over 200 new photos of male girls attending high school events en femme.

Those photos are now available on flickr, where you may view the new photos by opening one of the Yearbooks sets (A through Z). There you will find the newest uploads at the end/bottom of the set. (The oldest uploads appear at the beginning/top of the set.) The contents of the Yearbook A through Z sets are organized according to school name, for example, the photos from Sacred Heart High School would be in the Yearbooks S set.

By the way, if you participated in your school's womanless beauty pageant or attended some other school activity en femme, I would love to post your photos along with any description you would like to provide.

Wearing Boston Proper.

Goan Fragoso, male womenswear model

Womanmaker

By Alison, Femulate Guest Columnist

Back in the day, when I started exploring lingerie pictures in catalogs and magazine ads, I used to find reading some of the descriptions almost as interesting as the pics themselves. I'm sure that you have a special place in your heart for phrases like "lift and separate" or for the wonders of fabrics like Dupont Antron3.

I recently found this old Warner's ad on Tumblr. The pic isnt too special, but the words have got to be the most sensuous of any bra ad I've ever read. I hope that whoever came up with this ad copy got at least a week or two extra vacation time for their trouble.

By the way, I plan to attend First Event in a few weeks? I will be there Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Just look for the woman with the ham radio callsign on her name tag. I'll also have my HT in my purse.

Stana's Two Cents

My favorite bra ad phrases were "cross your heart" and "I dreamed I did something (like crossdressing) in my Maidenform bra." While on the subject, you have to wonder if the Warner's Womanmaker ad was aimed at crossdressers, as well as women. Womanmaker!!! Like I always say, "Feel like a woman. Wear a bra!"

Wearing Boston Proper.

Femulating in Pageant: The Musical.

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Progress

Katy Perry

Paolo Ballesteros femulates Katy Perry.

Hiding the Evidence

Femulators learn how to hide evidence early in their femulating lives.

Leftover makeup is a dead giveaway. After I was quizzed once as to why my lips were so red after I transitioned from girl to boy, I became religious about removing my warpaint using makeup remover creams and wipes to do the job.

No matter how thorough I am removing makeup, leftover eye makeup usually hides under my lower lid. Fifteen minutes or so after removal, just when I think it is safe to come out and play boy, a black glob of goo will appear around my tear ducts to give me away as a gurl. So I constantly check myself out in the mirror (don't say what you're thinking!) for the next hour or so to remove any telltale eye makeup goo.

      

Speaking of makeup, Manny Mua, the pretty gurl who was the face of this blog on Monday is now the first male spokesperson for Maybelline cosmetics. You can read about Maybelline's Manny Mua here. 

Stana’s Makeup Tip of the Day!

I stash baby wipes all around the house for fast clean-ups (we have cats and dogs and spill-prone humans). I also use baby wipes to remove makeup. I figure if they are safe to use on the delicate skin of a baby, they are safe enough to use on my face. No matter what I use, I always slather on a moisturizer right after removing my makeup to avoid drying out my skin.

Taylor Swift

Womanless beauty pageant contestant Number 7 femulates Taylor Swift.

The Invisible Woman

By Sally Stone, Femulate Guest Blogger

I turn heads. People talk about me. My presence garners lots of attention. I love it, so why would I want to be invisible? When I was a fledgling T-Girl though, I absolutely hated attention, because it meant I was being clocked, that I wasn't invisible, that I didn't pass.

I have come a long way since those early days, however, and thankfully I no longer cling to the troublesome notion of having to pass. Okay, I am not naive. I do realize that many transwomen need to pass because if they don't it might affect a relationship or their ability to find work and in some cases, it might even cause them physical harm. It is so sad that in today's society transwomen are actual murdered because they failed to live up to someone else's standard of what a woman needs to look like. Yes, the bar is often unreasonably high for transwomen, where beauty standards are concerned, so I don't discount anyone's need to pass, but for me, it is no longer a concept I'm going to let hold me back.

In fact, it wasn't until I let go of the need to pass that I found true freedom of expression, freedom to be myself without being concerned about what others were thinking. And something else happened, something quite surprising. I discovered that without carrying the burden of needing to pass, that my feminine personality flowed more freely and more easily. By not trying so hard to blend in, I was actually blending in better than ever.

Again, I realize that my view on the subject of passing may not sit well with everyone, but as a part-time woman, it has been quite effective for me. Thinking back on it, I find myself surprised by how negatively passing was impacting my self-esteem. I, like so many other transwomen, and cis women for that matter, had become a slave to our society's beauty myth. I bought into the idea that to truly become the woman I wanted to be, I needed to ascribe to the social standards of feminine beauty.

When I looked in the mirror and didn't see a fashion model staring back at me, it kept making me think there may not have been a woman inside of me after all. What a sad thought, that my self-worth would be based on some artificial concept of feminine beauty. I can only believe that other women struggle with self-esteem for the same reason.

When I finally recognized that I was trying to live up to someone else's beauty standard instead of my own, it was an important distinction that contributed to my liberation. After all, passing is really all about measuring up to someone else's standard. If you just refuse to accept that arbitrary standard, then you free yourself of that need to pass Ultimately, the only person you must satisfy anyway, is yourself.

Today, when I go out into the world as a woman, I'm self-confident and I'm fulfilled, and it's all because I've stopped trying to measure myself against an aesthetic appearance standard that is not achievable for all but a few. Instead, I focus on the attributes I've been given. Those, coupled with my internal beauty make me all the woman I need to be. And not so surprisingly, when I feel beautiful and confident those around me recognize it. Oh, why would I ever want to be invisible?

Wearing Bebe.

Leslie Marlowe gets femulated in the 1967 film She-Man.

Conversion Therapy: Snake Oil

Have you had past experiences with efforts by a medical or mental health professional to try to change your sexual orientation or gender identity? You might have heard these practices alternatively referred to as conversion therapy, reparative therapy or gender identity/sexual orientation change efforts.

Connecticut Trans Advocacy Coalition is a member of ctEquality which is a coalition of likeminded organizations fighting for equality and justice for LGBTQ people in Connecticut and our goal for the coming legislative session is to pass legislation banning conversion therapy for children under the age of 18. We're looking to hear from you.

You can help us collect stories from anyone who has undergone this kind of treatment, been referred to a provider for this treatment, or been told as a parent to take their child for this kind of treatment. We are especially interested in hearing from people who have had these kinds of experiences before turning age 18 or any parents who have had related experiences.

If you're willing, you can share an overview of your story. Someone from ctEquality will follow-up with you to connect and learn more about your experience. Also please share this with your friends on social media.

Please visit this website to share your story.

Wearing Madeleine.

Akihiro Miwa

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Male Beauty Bloggers

Read all about InStyle's Top 5 Male Beauty Bloggers to Follow in 2017. 

Manny Mua

Wearing Veronica Beard.

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