Staying Home

Booth Babe, 2015

I am OK now, but last week was difficult as I missed going to Hamvention.

Hamvention is the biggest ham radio convention this side of the North Pole and I have lost count how many times I have attended along with 30,000 other hams. 

I usually drive (about 750 miles one way to Dayton, Ohio). Going, the drive is not bad because I am looking forward to the event, but driving home is a drag and I swear that I will fly next year. But by the time Hamvention rolls along, I convince myself that driving is not so bad, so forget flying.

In the past, Saturday night in Dayton was en femme night. I’d return to my hotel after the day’s event, dress pretty and go to a nightclub solo or with local transgirls I met online. 

Starting in 2010, Hamvention became a real life experience (RLE). I spent the whole Hamvention weekend en femme – even traveling pretty to and from Ohio.

In case you don’t know, I was well-known in the ham radio community writing magazine columns and books for the national ham radio organization. I also am a director, secretary and newsletter editor for another ham radio organization. So attending Hamvention for the first time en femme was a real trip. 

I had forewarned my editors and fellow directors and officers beforehand, so they were not surprised. I also did not surprise many civilians unless they recognized my name and/or callsign displayed on the admissions ticket clipped to my clothing because I figure most assumed I was a middle-aged female ham or the significant other of some male ham.   

I repeated RLE every year until Hamvention was cancelled in 2020 due to COVID19. Same thing happened in 2021. And although Hamvention did take place in 2022, I was COVID19-leery and stayed home.

I intended to go this year until my doctor advised me to have total knee replacement surgery. Surgery occurred January 30. Would I be sufficiently recovered from surgery by mid-May to attend Hamvention?

The literature on the subject said six months was about the minimum time for recovery and 12 months was more likely. So I decided to forget about attending Hamvention.

As luck would have it, I recovered quickly and maybe attending Hamvention was in the cards after all. The only question was how my knee would hold up driving 750 miles from here to there and back. 

The knee in question was my left knee – on the leg I use for the the clutch of my standard transmission Subaru. My knee has been OK driving half hours or so locally, but how would it hold up for 11 hours or so? I decided not to take a chance and stayed home suffering from Hamvention withdrawal syndrome all weekend long!

On a positive note, I didn't have to drive home from Dayton!  

Wearing The Frankie Shop

Petra, a German reader

Ask Me Something

Paula Gaikowski wrote, “Growing up in the times that we did transition was not an option, even if we had supportive parents and support from the medical community, the social acceptance of transitioning was just not available

“If things were similar to the environment we have today, where teenagers are given the option to crossdress and or transition, do you think you would have transitioned if you had supportive parents? Also, had you transitioned, what do you envision your life as a woman would have been like? What would your career path of been? Would you have gone on hormones? Would you have had surgeries, also marriage and sexuality? Inquiring minds want to know.”

Thank you for the questions, Paula.

Transition? I always said that if could do it over again, I would live full-time as a woman and I would have done so whether my parents supported me or not.

Career path? I love writing and am good at it, so I believe that I would have been a professional writer just as I had been on Earth One. Since I have always been a tech sort, I might have been a technical writer, but who knows – I became a tech writer by accident, so anything could have happened on Earth Two.

Hormones? I would probably do hormones to feminize my image.

Surgery?  No surgery because I don’t believe going under the knife unless absolutely necessary. (In my 72 years, I only had surgery when needed.)

Marriage? Only to another woman. (I am not attracted to guys.)

Sexuality? I would be a very tall lesbian.

Ask me something else.

Wearing Cinq à Sept

Yet another modern couple (boy and girl)

Someday Funnies: Girls’ Day Out

Wearing Prabul Gurung

The Real “Girls” of Casa Susanna

You, Me and Bullies

By Bocha Blue

I want to talk about bullying. Or, more specifically — republican bullying. I want to speak about it because this sort of bullying has become pervasive, and it’s not healthy. Nor is it good for our society. There is a particular style all these bullies follow. Allow me to illustrate:

1) Pick your target.

2) start a discussion about how that target is “woke” or odd or ruining the country or whatever the bully wants to say about the target.

3) tweet about it.

4) wait for braindead followers to pick up the mantra.

This is the way they do it. This is the art of the bully — the GOP bully. This story makes my skin crawl and makes me want to shower immediately because of its sleaze. But I believe it’s important to talk about.

I will cite, in my article, two examples of such bullies. Both are people you probably don’t like. Both are people seemingly addicted to s##t-posting on Twitter. Both of these people seem to have extremely low self-esteem, which causes them to lash out at others.

Megyn Kelly is working hard trying to shame Academy Award winner Charlize Theron. Why? Because Theron is an activist for the Transgender community. And at a “Drag isn’t dangerous” telethon, Theron spoke out against transphobia.

Apparently, Megyn Kelly didn’t like that. Kelly is one of the biggest LGBTQ trolls I’ve seen. So Megyn decided she’d like to fight Theron. “Why doesn’t Charlize Theron come and f### me up” she has been demanded shrilly. It didn’t take long.

Kelly’s followers got entirely on board, with many calling out Theron’s mothering skills and calling her vicious and vile names. This is ALL because of what Kelly said.

The other bully is Elon Musk. Musk, who is clearly right-wing while trying to pretend he’s in the middle, announced that Democratic philanthropist George Soros “hates humanity.” Now it’s essential to know Musk has millions of followers. And, of course, some of them were happy to get on board and start to insult and denigrate Soros.

When writing an article, I like to have a solution to whatever issue in writing about. It is tough with this one. Bullying’s been around forever, but this particular type of bullying is dangerous and can lead to harm. I would ask anyone on social media to speak out against bullying of this type when they see it and also to speak out FOR the targets of the bullying. I’d ask that you report any tweets you think are over the line and let others know what these trolls are doing.

(This article originally appeared in Palmer Report.) 

Wearing New York & Company

 

The Los Angeles cast of Casa Valentina

Someday Funnies: Unexpected Competition

Wearing Alaïa

Kasia, femulating in Poland

Mother’s Day Again

Fernanda and her Mom on a movie night

Fernanda, a regular Femulate reader from Mexico, related a wonderful Mother’s Day story. 

Fernanda was out to her mother and on Mother’s Day in 2003, her mother asked if she could accompany her “daughter” to a concert.

Fernanda wrote, “I opened my eyes in surprise and said ‘yes,’ it would be an honor if my mom accompanied me to the concert, especially on Mother's Day. That day was incredible for me, even though my mom had accepted my crossdressing for 15 years, now I could go out with my mom presuming to be her daughter.

“From that date on, almost every time I went out, my mother accompanied me until she died. We had many adventures and anecdotes that I remember with great affection. Now that I’m walking out the door, I realize I miss her a lot.”

By the way, Fernanda has dined en femme with her daughter on Father’s Day!

Wearing Elisabetta Franchi

Veit Alex

Someday Funnies: A Big Step

Wearing Boston Proper

Namibia’s Reinhard Mahalie

Thanks Mom

A toast to Mom

I stopped by my hair salon (where I get my boy mode haircuts) to pick up an order for my sister. 

The receptionist is the mother of the owner. After I paid for the order, I said to her, “Have a happy Mother’s Day.”

She replied, “You have a happy Mother’s Day, too.”

Just as the words left her mouth, she realized she erred in wishing a happy Mother’s Day to a male and she blushed.

I quickly replied that I happily accepted her holiday greetings.

I believe that my feminine persona shows through even in boy mode and was the cause of the receptionist’s error. I dunno if that was true or not, but it was a nice start to the Mother’s Day weekend.

Then, overnight I received the following e-mail from Michelle, which just sweetened the holiday weekend.

“Now that I have had time to look over your blog and read some of your writings, thank you for the blog. I don’t know where you found the courage to start the blog and share your journey, but I am very glad that you did. You are an inspirations to all of us men that love feminine clothing.

“I don't know if I will ever be able to go out in public en femme like you, but I now know there are other men that appreciate being free to dress like they please.

“You look so much like a real women when you are en femme. When I first looked at your blog I thought you were a women that was running a site to help men that dress en femme. In all the pictures I have seen of you, you are dressed like a beautiful lady... hair, makeup and dress... anyone would think you are a real lady.

“Thank you for having the courage to be Stana and inspire the rest of us. Someday, we will be able to dress as we like openly and freely.”

Thank you, Michelle, for the very kind words and thank you, Mom, for inspiring me to be the woman I have become.

Wearing Bebe

Muxes, the third gender of southern Mexico
“a muxe is any person who was born a man but doesn’t act masculine”

Happy Mothers Day!

Wearing Tom Ford

Villano Antillano

Someday Funnies: We're Gonna Need a Bigger Closet

Wearing Joie

Jack Brennan