Breaking News!

I went out among the civilians yesterday – first time en femme since my knee replacement surgery 14 weeks ago.

On Tuesday, my wife commented on the nice weather we are having and suggested that it would be a good time for me to go out en femme. Now that I am getting around without difficulty on my new knee, I agreed to her suggestion and planned to go out on Wednesday.

So after breakfast with Morning Joe on Wednesday, I began to get en femme. 

I was a little concerned that since I had not put on my face in a long while that I might be a little rusty. But it’s like riding a bike and I had no problems with my makeup. However, I had to add a new step to my makeup routine. 

My knee is not completely healed and there is a thin six-inch long red scar where the surgeon cut my knee. I covered the scar with the foundation that I use on my face followed by translucent powder. That did a good job disguising the scar and under my hosiery, it was less noticeable. 

I wore my new blazer mini dress that I have been dying to wear ever since I bought it from Venus as a self-gifted birthday present back in March. I accessorized with white pumps, white bag and gold jewelry including my deceased mother’s gold serpentine necklace.

I decided to drive to my favorite Italian restaurant and have lunch. I arrived at 1 PM and found a full parking lot, but managed to find a spot to park my Subaru. I walked in, noticed a few people noticing me, asked for a table for one and was quickly seated in the main dining room.

To start me off, I had a glass of white sangria and ordered a vegetable panini sandwich. My waiter Alex was very attentive and was happy to take my photo when I asked him. The sandwich was very good, but it was very filling and I took half of it home. I left the restaurant about 2:15 and took the scenic route home.

Not many highlights. Minimal interaction with the civilians. But it was wonderful to be out en femme again after a long hiatus. And the very good news is that my new knee did not give me any problems – no pain, no stiffness and wearing heels was a non-issue.

Wearing Max Mara shirt and Frances Valentine skirt.

Richard O’Brien

Ask Me Anything

In the past, I promoted a series of posts called “Ask Me Anything,” in which I answered questions submitted by readers of the blog. Although I am always willing to answer readers’ questions, I have not promoted that fact lately, so consider this an invitation to ask me anything again.

While I wait for your questions, here are three questions I answered in the past.

1. Do you dream that you are a woman or do you dream that you are crossdressed and wake up wishing you had dreamed you were a genetic woman instead or something else?

Up front, I want to state that I seldom remember my dreams.

That being said I used to have dreams that I was crossdressing. Sometimes I would complete the transformation, but usually my transformation would be interrupted and never completed.

Eventually, my dreams transitioned and now I dream that I am a woman. Crossdressing no longer plays a part. Once I even dreamed that I was breastfeeding!

2.  What type of “normal” activities do you do en femme?  For example, do you go to salons?  Get you nails done?  Anything else “girly”?

I have never gone to a nail salon mainly because it would be a waste of money since most of my en femme outings are single days or nights out. For those short outings, my pre-glued stick-on nails are more economical.

I have thought about getting my nails done for multi-day outings and since you brought it up, I made a promise to myself to get my nails done the next time I am out for an extended stay.

Shopping is probably my girliest activity. I love doing the malls, browsing the racks, trying on clothes, trying on shoes and putting outfits together.

I also enjoy getting makeovers. I seem to average one a year and I love having a cosmetics professional have their way with me as I relax and take it all in.

3. Were you naturally effeminate as a kid and ever called a sissy while going to school?

Yes, I was naturally effeminate as a kid. I know it was “natural” because at the time, I was not aware that I was effeminate.

I was not intentionally acting effeminate, I was acting as me, myself, and I, and as luck would have it, me, myself and I was very effeminate. So much so that my peers let me know it by calling me names like “sissy,” “twinky,” “fairy” and worse.

At my first summer job, which was in a very macho environment, my nickname was “Zelda” in honor of my feminine ways.

At another summer job working in the receiving department of a department store where I unpacked and sorted women’s clothing all day long, one of my co-workers suggested that it must be my dream job because I got first shot at all the new dresses and lingerie before it went on the floor for sale to the public. He even showed me a private backroom where I could try on the clothing that I might like to purchase.

At my high school graduation, some of the jocks asked aloud why I wasn’t wearing a gold-colored graduation cap and gown like the other girls.

In college, the guy in the dorm room next door said I could borrow his girlfriend’s bra that she left behind after one of their evening rendezvous.

Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

I never changed my feminine ways even when I figured out what was going on. I knew how to fix the problem, but I rejected manning up and becoming macho because doing so was so incompatible with my nature.

On the other hand, dressing in woman’s clothing was a perfect fit. I already acted, moved and spoke like a woman, so the clothing just completed the picture.

Wearing Venus

Linda Zoe

Someday Funnies

Wearing Oscar de la Rena

B. Scott

Be Pink

By Bocha Blue

Pink is such a sweet color. When one thinks of pink, one often thinks of softness, of happiness. Pink often conjures up images of the color of sprinkles on a freshly baked cupcake, of the color of a young girl’s room. Yet pink has also emerged as a political color — the color of activism, victory, and voters.

Pink is widely known as the color of fighting breast cancer. In those fights, the pink ribbon is widely seen as an homage to the future — of a time when one won’t have to worry about breast cancer, because it will have been defeated. Pink is also the color of political power and grace. Don’t forget Hillary Clinton’s stunning pink suit.

And pink is also the color of voters — of the votes cast by Gays and Lesbians. This is called the pink vote. (It is also called the lavender vote.) The pink vote is most prevalent in Britain, yet it has spread to the United States. Millions united in pink. Millions joined against the GOP.

And the GOP would be wise to listen. Because the pink vote is now considered a voting BLOC. And they will have significant influence at the voting booths. And the pink vote is getting mighty pissed at the underhanded tricks Republicans are attempting to play.

In Florida, Desantis is trying to expand his repulsive “don’t say Gay” law.

Also, all over this country, republicans are passing bills, particularly in red states, to forbid drag shows, prohibit classrooms from even saying the word “GAY,” and trying to stop gender-transition treatments.

And if anyone stands against them? They call said person an insurrectionist and try to ban them from speaking. We’ve seen that just these last few weeks in Montana and Tennessee.

But the GOP should wise up. Because people are getting angrier and angrier at them. And the pink vote isn’t playing. They’re serious, and most of them are damned pissed at the GOP for sticking their busybody noses where they don’t belong.

(Source: Palmer Report)

(My thoughts exactly. – Stana)

Wearing Venus

Taylor Gray and Dillon Lane femulating on television’s Bucket And Skinner's Epic Adventures.
(Thank you Zoe for the information about this femulation)

Someday Funnies: Crossdressing Truths

Wearing New York & Company

Dave Castiblanco, womenswear model

Good News

Delia on Let’s Make A Deal

Three weeks ago, I mentioned that watching Let’s Make A Deal while I was recuperating from my surgery, “a guy showed up dressed as a drag queen.” I did not know if he was the first contestant in drag to appear on the show, but it was a first for me. [If you are not familiar with Let’s Make A Deal, audience members who participate in making a deal (winning prizes) dress in all sorts of costumes.]

I don’t watch Let’s Make A Deal everyday, but since my first sighting, I have seen another contestant on the show who I believe was trans-something. She used a feminine name (Delia) and looked like a woman, but she was very tall (a few inches taller than the show’s host, Wayne Brady, who is a six-footer) and her voice raised doubts about her birth gender.

When Delia had to make a deal by choosing curtain 1, 2 or 3, she prefaced her selection by saying that she had been married to her wife for 25 years. And when Delia won the “Big Deal,” her wife joined her on the stage and looked like a cisgender woman, just a lot shorter than Delia.

I don’t know if Delia is a crossdresser or transsexual, but my trans radar was sounding loudly and I am sure she is trans-something.

Everyday there is nothing but bad news on the trans front and it is very disheartening. So it did my heart good to see a trans-person appear as a contestant on a popular television show and be treated as just another contestant and not a freak. 

That’s good news!

Wearing Trina Turk

The Flag Sisters

In 1977, a leading Italian television host invited three actors - Tito Le Duc (a Mexican), Mauro Bronchi (an Italian) and Neil Hansen, a boy from Perth, Western Australia - to appear in drag on his new variety show. They thought it would be the end of their acting careers. It wasn't. In a twinkling of the eye, The Flag Sisters were Italy's hottest act. With countless TV appearances, feature films and national tours, they were high flying and adored, the paparazzi forever snap-snapping at their high heels. They brought joy to millions of fans at a time when Italy was on the verge of nervous breakdown, the Red Brigades and other radical groups bringing terror to the streets. (Source: IMDb)

Someday Funnies: Extreme Fashion Forwarding

jerseygirlangie is an expert at recaptioning, that is, borrowing an image and changing its caption. I loved her recaption above and am borrowing it for Femulate.org today. You can see many more of her recaptions on flickr by clicking here. 

Wearing Elisabetta Franchi

Yesterday, I featured the above Before and After image in the Femulator slot. I have no idea about the source, but the femulations intrigued me and I tried to figure out who was who. 

I believe I solved who’s who and annotated the Before and After image accordingly. My solution appears below, but before you look, try and figure it out for yourself and then compare your guesses with mine. 

By the way, my guess is that the cisgender woman in the After image is the makeup artist who performed the makeovers.

Photographing My Self

I take photos of myself nearly every time I present as a woman. I do it for two reasons:

1. To feed this blog. (The blog is hungry for photos and it must be fed.)
2. To see if the outfit I am wearing is good, bad, or ugly. Photos are more revealing than a mirror. What I see in the mirror often looks different in a photograph. Photographing my fashion faux pas allows me to make adjustments, for example, put on a girdle so I don’t look so fat.

Self photography is an art. I probably discard 4 out of 5 of the self-photos I take because there is something technically wrong with them (usually related to focus, framing, lighting, or worse, because I look fat).

I use my iPhone 14 Pro for most of my self-photography. The quality of the iPhone photos is very good in my opinion and it is hard to beat the convenience.

I use the self-timer function in the iPhone’s Camera app for a lot of my self-photography. Set the timer for 10 seconds, click the Camera’s shutter button, walk into the Camera’s field of vision, pose, smile, watch the birdie and wait for the Camera to snap a shot.

In a pinch, I lean the iPhone against something to take a self-timed photo. But most of the time, I use a small tripod designed to hold the iPhone. The tripod has bendable legs, so I can use it in diverse settings.

That covers the hardware, but what about the software, that is, the model in my selfies?

I learned that my best photos are ones in which I smile.

Over the years, I have seen thousands of photos of transgirls and I can never understand why some girls look so unhappy in their photos. They are living their dream, although sometimes only momentarily and they should be very happy about it, yet some of them look like they just downed a spoonful of castor oil!

So, smile and smile naturally, not in a forced manner. I used to have a forced smile in my photos, but I worked on it and now my smiles look natural and the results are much better!

I am also becoming more adept at posing for my photos.

1. I tilt my chin up slightly and extend my neck forward to avoid the double chin.
2. Instead of a straight-on shot, I turn my shoulders slightly to the left or right. And pose with one leg in front of the other, for example, by crossing my legs at the ankle.
3. With legs crossed, sometimes I will put one hand on my hip. This elbow-jut pose results in a ladylike ballerina effect.
4. To accentuate my legs, I thrust one hip to the side, stretch out my opposing leg as far as it will go and point my toes.

Taking selfies as you pose in a mirror is tricky.

1. For starters, shut off the flash, otherwise your selfie will be nothing but flash reflected in the mirror and that is not the result you want unless you are Barry Allen.
2. Take mirror selfies while looking at your reflection in the mirror rather than looking at the trigger button on your smart phone. This is simple with the iPhone because you can shoot a photo by clicking one of the iPhone’s volume buttons, which is a lot easier than trying to click the virtual trigger button on the iPhone’s screen.
3. Before showing off your mirror selfies, use photo-editing software to flip the image horizontally so that you look natural and not the opposite, which is what a mirror displays.

I am a work-in-progress and so is my self-photography, but practice, practice, practice and someday my photos will do justice to a complete woman.

(This post is an update of a post that originally appeared in June 2015.)

Wearing Posse

Before and After

Someday Funnies: A Modern Hallmark

Wearing Chloe

An Irish femulator

Scarfing

The first time I visited a casino en femme was the first time I ever accessorized with a scarf. The scarf I wore was one of my deceased Mother’s scarves; I felt that she was with me throughout the evening and may have brought me some luck at the slot machines. I won $150 on a three quarter play. Thank-you, Mom!

Subsequently, scarves became an integral part of my wardrobe. Whenever I wanted to spiff up my outfit, adding a scarf did the trick. Today, I wear scarves more often than not.

My scarves often garner compliments from other women. En femme at work on Halloween a few years ago, our receptionist complimented my scarf, asked me how I tied it and I gladly showed her.

There are many ways to tie a scarf. Google “tie a scarf” and you will receive many suggestions. I have tried a few different ones, but usually I use the simple loop-n-through method illustrated here.

Besides being stylish, another benefit of wearing a scarf is that it provides a method of covering a prominent Adam’s apple. (Lucky me, I don’t have one.)

I highly recommend accessorizing with a scarf. Wearing a scarf is so ladylike. Don’t leave home without it.

How to tie a scarf – loop-n-through method

Source: Rue La La

British femulators attending Royal Ascot