Yesterday, I spent much of the day out
en femme.
ShoppingI femulated and was on the road before 10 AM. Twenty minutes later, I parked my car in front of JCPenney's at the mall in Meriden.
My goal was to find a dress to match the floral high heel pumps
I bought at Payless last week. I saw a dress on JCPenney's Web site that would be perfect and I hoped to find it in the store, try it on, and see if it was a keeper.
I sat in the car waiting for the rain to let up (it was pouring) and to build up my courage to go in the store. I was overdressed for shopping on a rainy day (dress, heels, and tights) as evidenced by the other women I saw entering the store. But, I like to be dressed nicely when I do outreach and so it goes.
Sitting in the car, I worry about all the things that can go wrong femulating in public, but as soon as I opened the car door and walked across the parking lot with my high heels clicking that oh so feminine beat, all my fears went away. (This occurs almost every time I step out in public
en femme. Maybe I'll stop worrying someday.)
No one paid any attention to me as I crossed the store to the women's dresses. I looked through all the racks, but I could not find the dress that I saw online. I found two other floral dresses in my size that might do and I also found a black pleated bubble skirt. I took two skirts (size 14 and 16) and the floral dresses to the dressing room.
Both floral dresses were the same size, but one was too tight on top and I could not get it on. The other fit fine, but it did not thrill me and its price tag ($70) made it less thrilling.
I tried on the size 14 bubble skirt and it fit fine and it thrilled me! I have been thinking about buying a bubble skirt for awhile now and I loved the way it looked.
I left the floral dresses and larger skirt on the return rack in the dressing room and began looking for a top to go with the skirt. I found a beautiful short-sleeve satiny blouse in a black and white leaf pattern with pretty puff sleeves. I found one in size XL and hoped that it would fit. I also found a black swing jacket. I took my finds to the dressing room.
I put on the bubble skirt and the blouse and I said, "Wow!" The blouse fit perfectly and looked fantastic with the skirt. I wanted to wear the outfit out of the store, but remembered that my upper arms were unshaven. I also tried on the jacket, but it did nothing for me.
I took the skirt and blouse to the cashier and waited in line behind one woman. While I waited, I noticed some of the female staff checking me out. I assumed they were in awe of the Amazonian beauty in their midst.
The cashier was very pleasant and I was pleasantly surprised that the outfit cost only $52. The price tags added up to $80, so I assume there was some kind of sale going on that I was unaware of.
I left the store and walked to my car; it was still raining.
OutreachThirty minutes later, I parked my car at Southern Connecticut State University. It was still pouring and I was about 30 minutes early, so I waited for the rain to let up before I walked to the classroom where I was going to do outreach. Fifteen minutes to go and the rain had not let up, so I grabbed my umbrella and walked about 500 yards to the classroom.
The professor found me and I met the other outreachers: Quinton (a female-to-male transsexual, who I've done outreach with before), Michelle (a male-to-female transsexual, who was new to me), and Diana (another male-to-female transsexual, a good friend, and someone I have done outreach with many times). I was the token crossdresser.
Both classes were big, about 25 students each with a 2:1 female-to-male ratio. I noticed some "attitude" among a couple of the males; I assumed that their testosterone levels were higher yesterday because of the weather.
As usual, we each told our stories and then fielded questions from the students. For the Q&A, the professor divided the class in half and we spent half the period with one half of the class and the rest of the period with the other half. I was paired with Diana for the first class and Quinton for the second class.
I started out sounding nervous, but loosened up during the Q&A and even got a few laughs from the students.
The Q&A was typical. We've heard most of the questions before. I did receive one unique question. During the last Q&A of the day, a very pretty student sitting next to me said, "How do you react when guys are attracted to you?"
My answer was simple, i.e., that I never noticed any guys being attracted to me.
The student was incredulous and said, "You make such a pretty woman, so guys must be attracted to you."
I said that she might be right, but I never noticed probably because I did not want to attract guys, so I paid little attention to them.
During the break between classes, we all went to the student union to eat and chat. We also had an opportunity to read the first class' reactions to us.
A few students said that I was nervous, but at least, no one said I was "sad" as in the past.
One male student wrote, "Staci is so cool that I could tell she is probably a very nice person in boy mode, and in front of me is a woman."
That is perhaps the nicest compliment I have ever received.
Here is another photo from my Sunday photoshoot. I am wearing the same outfit as in the previous blog posting, but I am wearing a longer wig. 
I love digital cameras! You don't have to deal with film, so you can take photos until the cows come home. And after you milk the cows, you can take photos of the cows, too!
Fanfaren der Liebe (Fanfares of Love) is a 1951 German film in which "two out of work musicians put on drag to get work in an all girl band. Inevitable comical romantic complications ensue."
Some folks believe that crossdressing and gender identity issues are a modern phenomena. The photographic evidence alone indicates that this is not so. For example, today's photo shows a young man femulating circa 1930.
I was thinking about this specific Q&A exchange at outreach on Wednesday:
Yesterday, I spent much of the day out en femme. 
During dinner, the television is usually on and tuned to the local news. During commercials, I usually switch to the channel that broadcasts the Tyra Banks show in the 5-6 PM time slot.
Renoir’s Daughters: How Renoir Feminized His Sons by Cara Healey is an interesting piece about French artist Pierre August Renoir and how he used his three sons to pose as girls for his paintings.
