Hear Ye, Hear Ye, Hear Me

If you attended a transgender convention and I was on the bill as a speaker, what would you like me to talk about?

My friend Alison suggested that I spend one day attending the three-day First Event in lieu of attending the week-long Fantasia Fair. And while I am at, why not present a talk on something near and dear to our hearts (assuming that the First Event organizers would have me).

I asked Alison what she would like me to talk about and she responded, "I'd say there's quite a number of topics that you could do presentations on: certainly makeup, fashions tips and shopping. There are lots of newbies who attend First Event who would love that. And there's some heavier stuff, like dressing in the workplace and navigating family relationships, dressing in Dayton and, of course, blogging."

In the past, I've done presentations titled "Makeup Basics for Trans Females," "Top 30 Things Every Crossdressing Man Needs In His Wardrobe To Emulate A Woman" and "What To Do When You Are Out and About."

Those are some topics to consider, but I was wondering if there is anything we missed. If you have a topic you would like me to cover, let me know by leaving a comment below or sending me an email addressed to stana-stana @ sbcglobal.net (without spaces). If I don't cover your topic at First Event, I may cover it here on the blog.

Wearing Alexia romper and Khokha bag (Source: Intermix)

Miguel Oyola femulates Paulina Rubio on Panama television's Your Face Sounds Familiar.

Got Butt

Last week, I was whining here about my flat butt. I decided to do something about it, so after some googling, I found an inexpensive solution: a pair of drop-shaped silicone pads. Amazon has them for $23.99, so I ordered a pair along with some lingerie tape to hold them in place.

Amazon Prime delivered my order in two days and I tried the pads on as fast as I could strip down and redress.

I am happy to report that I now have a shapely butt. The Great Plains are now the rolling Berkshire Hills!

It remains to be seen how my new butt fares during a full day out as a woman. I will let you know.

Wearing Boston Proper (Source: Boston Proper)

Femulating in the 2016 Menlo College Drag Show.

Clerk won't sell clothes to transwoman

After another roller coaster week with the President, this segment of What Would You Do? restored my faith in humanity, at least for a brief moment.

But I wonder, does this ever happen in this day and age?

I have been shopping for women's clothing for nearly 50 years (in boy and girl mode) and have never had an encounter like this. The worst thing that ever happened to me was eons ago, when a JCPenney saleswoman asked me (in boy mode) to use the men's changing room to try on a girdle. Other than that, every salesperson I have encountered was very helpful and encouraged me to try on anything and everything (and spend my money).

Wearing Dress Barn (Source: Dress Barn)

Paula

Fantasia Fair Blues

It is that time of year. A couple of girls asked me if I was going to Fantasia Fair this year. My response is that I would love to go, but I cannot to leave my multiple sclerosis'd wife at home alone for a week or even a half-week.

Their retort is bring my wife to the Fair.

Her MS does not permit her to walk very far for very long and visiting Provincetown is all about walking. The venues for the various Fantasia Fair events are all over town and my wife is in no condition to trek up and down Commercial Street for a full week or a half-week. (I guess there is something to be said for those trans conventions that are held within the confines of a high rise hotel.)

I could get away for a day or two and I would be willing to pay for the privilege of attending the a Fair for a couple of days, but a whole week or a half-week are the only options available for attending.

I could pay for a half-week and only attend one or two days, but having just entered the ranks of the Socially Secured, I am loathe to spend $390 for one or two days at the Fair (which does not include a hotel room).

Some girls I know go to Provincetown during the Fair without paying. They attend the free daily  keynote addresses and pay for admission to the fashion show and follies, but they miss everything else.

I could do that too, but I don't want to miss everything else and I feel like I would be cheating the Fair, so I will not go.

Wearing Bebe (Source: Bebe)

Jun Pham femulates on the Vietnamese version of Your Face Sounds Familiar (2017)
(Thank you, Cheryl)

If I Only Had A Butt

Yesterday's daily e-mail advertisement from ModCloth included a swimsuit that I immediately recognized. So, who wore it better... Chelsea Manning or the ModCloth model?

👠 👠 👠

I have an anti-J.Lo butt.

Head-on, I look curvaceous, but from the side or rear, not so much because my butt is as flat as the Great Plains. Instead of the Great Plains, I would prefer the rolling Berkshire Hills.

If any of you were in the same boat and successfully corrected the problem, I would love to hear how you did it. (I'd like to wear a swimsuit like Chelsea, but first I need a butt!)

Wearing Tory Burch (Source: Tory Burch)

Brian Deacon femulates in the 1972 British film The Triple Echo.

Rest in Peace, Holly Boswell

I met Holly Boswell at Fantasia Fair. Her reputation preceded her and I was in awe of Holly. Being a shy girl, I admired her from afar.

Yesterday, I learned that Holly died on August 12. She was only 66 years old and left us too early.

Jennifer Barge wrote a letter to the Asheville, NC, Mountain Xpress announcing Holly's death and describing her life as a transgender activist. Click here to read Jennifer's letter.

God Bless You, Holly.

Wearing Miu Miu (Source Matches Fashion)

Alena

Feminine Mail

In today's mail, there was a wig catalog from Paula Young, an advertisement from Dress Barn and the September issue of Elle all addressed to a boy named Stan.

Every day, I receive mail with a feminine bent addressed to my boy name. The reason being is that over the years, I have ordered various feminine paraphernalia using a credit card account that is in my male name.

That being the case, I often wondered what goes through the mind of the person delivering the mail.

Here in the foothills of the Berkshires, our mail person typically lasts about ten years before he or she gets a different route. As a result, he/she has the opportunity over a decade to get familiar with the type of mail delivered to my address.

I don't know any mail persons personally, so I cannot ask if this is something that they notice or are they so busy delivering the goods that they don't have time to consider the evidence.

Maybe if one day, I met the mail person at our mailbox dressed to the nines, he might recall my feminine bent mail and put two and two together, but until then, who knows?

Wearing Eloquii (Source: Eloquii)

Prep Time

A Few Feminine Things

Do you remember the early Beatles?

Their hair was so long by 1964 standards that I was sure it was the beginning of the end of gender as we knew it. That boys would all be wearing long, girlish hairdos before long and as one thing led to another, boys would be dressing like girls, too.

Wishful thinking?

Boy's hairdos did get longer and the lads' hair length rivaled the ladies. And boys dressed more flamboyantly – not quite dressing exactly like girls, but definitely adopting items from milady's closet, as epitomized in a 1973 issue of Mad magazine.

Wearing Tibi (Source: Shopbop)

Brian Charles Rooney femulates on the Broadway stage in Miss Blanche Tells It All.

Internet helped her be herself

“I learned that I wasn’t alone. I learned about all these different life possibilities and options.” —Chelsea Manning on how the Internet helped her be herself.

Read the rest of Chelsea's story in the September issue of Vogue here.

Wearing Boston Proper (Source: Boston Proper)

Adam Bailey femulating on the UK stage in Taboo.

Top 20!

I was very surprised to receive an email this morning informing me that my blog had been selected by Feedspot as one of the Top 100 Transgender Blogs on the web. I was even more surprised when I checked the Top 100 list to discover that Femulate was in the number 20 slot! Wow – what an honor!

FYI, Feedspot uses the following criteria to rank blogs from the thousands of top transgender blogs in their index using search and social metrics:

👠 Google reputation and Google search ranking

👠 Influence and popularity on Facebook, twitter and other social media sites

👠 Quality and consistency of posts

👠 Feedspot’s editorial team and expert review

And so it goes!

Wearing Miu Miu (Source: Matches Fashion)

Kate Middleton and Grayson Perry discussing the ideal corseted waistline for femulating.

Who did your makeup?

Diane commented on my Just for Halloween? post:

One time my wife and I went to a costume party and everybody said I looked too good not to have dressed before. I would have thought someone would ask about how much clothes do you have and how are you so good at makeup.

No co-worker has ever asked me about the quantity of womenswear in my closet, however, my makeup acumen has raised the curiosity of more than one female co-worker.

Typically, they have asked if my wife did my makeup. My reply is that I did my own makeup because there was no way that my wife was going to get up at 5 AM to do make up my face. (By the way, my wife stopped wearing makeup about 15 years ago and even when she did, she would ask me to help because I was more expert at applying makeup than she was.)

When I replied, I did my makeup, sometimes they asked if they could have a closer look. When I said, "Go for it," they got up real close to give my makeup the once-over. They usually complimented me with comments like "You do your makeup better than I do" or "Can you give me some makeup lessons?" or "You could be a female impersonator."

And so it goes.

Wearing Boston Proper (I love this dress! Source: Boston Proper)

Alex Ringler and Marty Thomas femulating on stage in Pageant: The Musical.