your new crowning glory

In response to blonde, brunette, or redhead, Claire Toms of IPC Media in the UK e-mailed me that "Instyle.co.uk has launched an innovative hair tool, which allows users to interact in a creative way to test out new hairstyles. The new tool is really easy to use and has even been endorsed by Yvonne Keating! I thought you might be interested in having a look at this?"

I was interested and I spent some time yesterday trying out their Hollywood Virtual Hair Makeover.

For starters, you can use a model or your own image to makeover. I chose to use my own image, but I soon found out that my image was inadequate for the makeover.

Ideally, you should use an image with all the hair pulled back so that as much face as possible is visible. My image had a hairstyle with bangs, so when I tried out a hairstyle without bangs, my original bangs were also visible, thus, ruining the effect of the makeover.

A few minutes with Photoshop and I removed most of the hair in my image and started over again with more satisfactory results.

You can try out 80 hairstyles (modeled by a variety of celebrities) in 25 colors and you can add highlights and lowlights to each hairstyle. You can adjust the size and position of each hairstyle on your head and you can also flip a hairstyle. I was amazed how big a difference flipping a hairstyle makes.

When you are done, you can save five makeovers online, as well as e-mail them and print them. You can also add the InStyle magazine cover to the image and become a cover girl!

I have tried other online makeovers and InStyle's Hollywood Virtual Hair Makeover is one of the best, if not the best, because it was easy to use, had a good selection of options, and was very quick. So quick that it seemed as if I was using software installed on my computer rather than using an application over the Internet. I highly recommend it.

On a personal note, I tried a lot of hairstyles and none of the long ones looked good on me; shorter hairstyles looked better. Also, lighter colors looked better than darker colors.

The accompanying images are what I consider the best of my makeovers (click on an image to magnify it). I am in love with one of the looks and I see a new wig in my future.

a visit with Daphne and Josephine

Just before I went to bed last night, I decided to see what QVC was selling. (I never purchase a thing from QVC, but I like to see what they are showing and if something interests me, I will look for it somewhere else at a less expensive price.)

On my way to QVC, I passed TCM, which was showing Some Like It Hot. I have not seen this classic femulator film in many years, so I decided to watch it for a few minutes before turning in.

I came in just after the boys had decided to become girls and I watched it to the end of the scene in which Marilyn Monroe joins Jack Lemmon for some girl talk in his upper berth.

Basically, I watched the film to see how well Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis femulated. Here is my critique:

I loved their 1920's flapper era outfits.

I always thought that Jack Lemmon's wig was awful and I still think it was a poor choice.

In some scenes, the boys passed and in other scenes, they looked like guys in dresses.

Tony Curtis made a better-looking woman than Jack Lemmon, although with a better wig, Daphne might have given Josephine a run for her money.

I was very impressed with Tony Curtis' femme voice. It was right on the money. I wish I could speak en femme like he did in that film.

(End of my critique)

Amazingly, I do not have this film in my DVD collection and I must add it as soon as I can.

By the way, one of the better femulations I have ever seen on television was pulled off by Jack Lemmon's son, Chris. He was a regular on a late 1980's situation comedy called Open House, which chronicled the hilarity of a real estate office!

In one episode, Lemmon and the woman who played his wife on the show disguised themselves as showgirls to avoid someone somewhere about something. He looked fabulous in showgirl drag. In fact, he looked so hot that his wife got very excited about his appearance, started making out with him/her, and suggested that he dress as a woman more often!

blonde, brunette, or redhead

Over the years, I have been a blonde, brunette, redhead, and many shades in between. These days en femme, I am usually blonde, but occasionally I still make forays into other corners of the color spectrum.

I think blonde is my best hair color, but sometimes I have doubts about that. After my last makeover at Sephora, the cosmetician said I would look fabulous in a short black hair style. (Who would have thought?)

This week's e-mail from Marie Claire magazine had a short article, "Find Your Best Hair Color," and that got me thinking about my hair color again.

So I searched the net and found these Web pages that will help selecting a hair color: Hair Color 101: Choosing the Correct Hair Color, How To Choose a Hair Color That Suits You, and Choosing Your Skin Tone and Enhancing Your Hair Color.

After you settle on a hair color, then you can pick a hair style. Whereas skin tone is the key to selecting a hair color, the shape of your face is important in selecting a hair style. Choosing a Hair Style does a good job addressing the matter.

So, how do you think I would look in a black Zeta-Jones Chicago wig?

The Joker does drag

I am probably one of the last people on the planet to see The Dark Knight, so mentioning the film's crossdressing scene is probably old news to most people. But being a completist, I feel it is my duty to mention it anyway, so here goes.

I watched The Dark Knight Saturday night. It was very good, but it was so long that during the last hour or so, I was looking forward to its end.

Anyway, the crossdressing scenes occur sort of near the end of the film when The Joker, played by Heath Ledger, disguises himself as a nurse. Nice wig, classic white nurse uniform, but lousy femme makeup, so not very passable.

This all dredges up my memory of an old Batman story that I read in a Batman Annual (maybe an "80-page Giant," maybe not) back in the early 1960s. I do not remember much of the story except that one of the bad guys is a professional femulator. He only appears in two or three panels of the story, but he definitely passed and his ability to do so was etched in my young femulator mind forever.

Top 100 Gender Studies Blogs

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Bachelors Degree Online has just published a list of the Top 100 Gender Studies Blogs.

"Whether you’re pursuing a degree from a top-tier college in women’s studies or taking a few online courses to slowly work towards a degree focused on gender, you can find a number of great blogs online that can supplement your learning experience. Here are a few that we’ve put together that deal with a large range of gender related issues. Here you’ll find blogs that range from defining what it means to be feminine or masculine to understanding your rights under law concerning gender and sexual orientation."

Femulate is number 42 on the list and I am honored to be included.

UPDATE: Elaine Armen pointed out to me that Femulate is actually number 11 in the Gender Identity and Sexuality blog sub-list of the Top 100 list. So, now I am even more honored!

"tranny" outs herself on live television

The Golden Globe Awards were on NBC last night and I watched it for the usual reason: to see beautiful women wearing beautiful outfits.

I also watched E!'s "Live From the Red Carpet" show that preceded the actual awards show.

Near the end of the red carpet show, actress Megan Fox passed through the red carpet gauntlet and an E! talking head interviewed her. After the talking head told that she looked lovely, Fox replied, “No, no. I’m a doppelganger for Alan Alda. I’m a tranny. I’m a man.”

outed in the worst way

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This morning's local newspaper outed a local man as a "crossdresser." Here is the story as it appeared in the newspaper with the names and locations removed to avoid any further outing.

Around 7:30 Friday night, a man standing in the parking lot of [location] Apartments saw what he thought was a half-naked woman being forced into a white van

But there was no abduction — and no woman. It was [name], [age], of [address], dressed as a woman, trying to remove his transvestite attire in the gated lot of the [location] apartment complex.

The witness, whom police will not name, believed some­thing was wrong, so he moved his vehicle to block the van from leaving the driveway. [name] was so determined to escape that he plowed over a snow bank and onto [location] Road.

Police said [name] didn’t want to stop because he was driving with a suspended license and was embarrassed about being caught dressed as a woman.

The witness entered his vehicle and chased the van, heading north on [location] Road toward [location]. He called 911 and reported an abduction to police.

[location] Officer [name] swerved behind the van — and in front of the complainant, who was following.

[name] turned on his lights as the van made a right onto [location] Road. [name] didn’t stop, leading eight police departments on a high-speed chase from [location] to [location].

[location] police called for help from [location] police as the van sped down [location] Road, [location] Street and onto Interstate [location]

[name] got on and off the highway several times in [location], trying to evade police. Eventually he got back on [location], reaching speeds of 90 mph.

After running over spike strips set up by state police and blowing out a tire, [name] got off at Exit [location]. He continued to [location], where he finally stopped.

[name], wearing a dress, nylons and high heels, got out of the van and kicked off his heels and ran into the woods. With the help of a K9 unit, police found him hiding in a patch of thorns with cuts all over his body.

[name] was transported to [location] Hospital for treatment and released into police custody at 4:30 a.m. Saturday.

Police charged him with interfering with police, engaging police in pursuit and driving with a suspended license. [location] police department is handling the case because the 911 call originated there.

[name] hit at least one car in [location] and may face additional charges. As of Saturday night, he was being held on $15,000 bond.

What a nightmare!

The poor guy made a lot of mistakes, but I know a number of local transwomen who have had to deal with the state and local police while en femme and none of them have been outed in this manner.

UPDATE: This story also was on the news of some of the local TV stations. An online comment to the story at one of the TV station's Web site indicates that the crossdressing was the result of losing a bet. According to the commenter, "i was there when he got dressed my girlfriend and i helped him get ready... bad choice of a bet...if we knew about his license or that this would of happened we never would of made such a bet... too late now"

transgender & personal identity project

I met Miqqi Alicia Gilbert at Fantasia Fair in October. She is one of the movers and shakers of the Fair, as well as in the transgender world.

A professor at York University in Toronto, she kicked off a new project called "Transgender & Personal Identity." All the particulars about the project follow.

I am please to announce the opening of a new project aimed at investigating the relationship between gender change and personal identity. The project is known as, Transgender & Personal Identity, or TPI, and is funded by the Canada Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.

TPI involves in-depth interviews with a limited number of trans persons belonging to one of two groups. The first includes transsexuals who have undergone gender identity change at some point post-puberty. The second are crossdressers who notice marked personality and phenomenological changes when moving into and out of their non-natal gender identity.

Interviews will be held at various conferences and events. Details, goals, and a preliminary questionnaire can be found at www.yorku.ca/tpi. Please visit the web site and have a look. Anyone who would like to stay informed about the project can subscribe to the project listserve at the web site.

I will be at First Event this month, and IFGE in February. If you are interested in being interviewed please fill out the form at the web site, and we'll try and set up a time. You can use the form if you are not attending an event, and we can make other arrangements.

Miqqi Alicia Gilbert
Principal Investigator
Department of Philosophy
York University
Toronto, ON

transgenders need advocacy at work

Two University of Oregon doctoral students dove into issues of transgender identities — in the workplace and professional counselling — and surfaced with a call for psychologists and vocational counsellors to not only treat but to act as advocates for their clients — and to help end discrimination in the workplace.

Read the rest of the story here.

fame

Love Makes a Family (LMF) is a statewide non-profit advocacy organization working for equal marriage rights for same-sex couples in Connecticut. They carry out their mission through community education, grassroots organizing and legislative advocacy and lobbying.

Last week, LMF contacted me to ask if they could use my image in the banner on their Web site.

I gave them my permission.

This evening, I visited their Web site and the new banner is in place with yours truly appearing in the banner just left of center, which is very appropriate.

guys and dolls redefining male gender

Can boys playing with dolls redefine the male gender?

Stephanie Fairyington addresses this question in her article appearing on Huffington Post.

crossdressed in the past

William J. Browne (right) femulates in a Chicago-area college stage production circa 1930.


(Click on the image to magnify it.)

going out without being outed

Among My Adventures in Femulation are two articles, "dining out en femme" and "shopping en femme."

In both articles, I conclude with a list of places where I dined/shopped en femme without any issues, i.e., the staff treated me like any other customer and did not seem to mind that I was en femme.

Those lists seem superfluous today. Nowadays, I dine and shop with abandon.

Sure I avoid some places, but I try to avoid those places whether I am en femme or en homme. For example, I am uncomfortable in a sports bar whether I am wearing jeans or a skirt. I do enjoy sports and at times, I am almost religious about a certain baseball team that sports red hosiery, but I don't enjoy the testosterone-generated hoopla of a sports bar, whether my team is on the tube or not. I am not a macho guy and don't associate with macho guys. And so it goes.

I guess I am lucky/spoiled because I live in an area of the USA that is more liberal, more open-minded, and more accepting of diversity than other parts of the country may be. So, I can dine and shop en femme and almost never run into anyone who wants to take issue about a guy in a dress.

On the other hand, I've dined and shopped en femme in other areas of the country that are not reputed as being liberal, open-minded, an diverse as the Great Northeast and have not run into any troubles there either, so go figure.

I can say that I pass so well and that is why I am so successful in conservative country, as well as, liberal land, but I am not going to say that because I am too tall to pass too far, so maybe I have just been very lucky in my outings en femme.

Connecticut To Consider Transgender Anti-Discrimination Proposal

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Transgender activists believe this is the year they will gain equal protection under Connecticut's anti-discrimination laws.

"We feel good," said Jerimarie Liesegang, who leads the Connecticut TransAdvocacy Coalition. "We've done the groundwork, we've done the education and we know we have the votes."

A proposal, to be introduced in the legislative session that begins Wednesday, would prevent people who in any way blur gender lines from being discriminated against in the workplace or while seeking housing or obtaining credit.

Read the rest of the story here.

(FYI, Connecticut is the home of the author of this blog.)

UPDATE: If you read the rest of the article (by clicking here), be sure to vote (preferably YES) in the online poll that accompanies the article.

10 Best - and Worst - Dressed People of 2008

Bad news is that I didn't make the best dressed list this year, not that I wasn't trying. Good news is that I also did not make the worst dressed list!

Anyway, here is the list.

Coulter Blasts Michelle as Jackie Imitator

According to the Daily News, Ann Coulter "blasts incoming First Lady Michelle Obama as a freakish Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis imitator in a book to be published next week."

"Lashing out at the President-elect's wife, Coulter wrote, 'Her obvious imitation of Jackie O's style - the flipped-under hair, the sleeveless A-line dresses, the short strands of fake pearls - would have been laughable if done by anyone other than a media-designated saint.'"

On the other hand, "Coulter said Cindy McCain, the wife of vanquished GOP nominee John McCain, 'dressed well without freakishly imitating famous First Ladies in history."

So, in Coulter's world, you are a freak if you imitate Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, but you are not a freak if you imitate a Barbie doll.

(Personally, I wouldn't mind looking like either Jackie or Barbie!)

Jane Birkin, "I'd Rather Be Dressed As A Man"

Singer, actress, and film director Jane Birkin says, "I'd rather be dressed as a man."

I say, "Each to his/her own."

Read all about it here.

excellence in femulation (partie deux)

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Today, the Femulate Awards Committee bestows the coveted Femmy Excellence in Femulation Award to actor Sylvain Morin for his portrayal of a drag queen in the 1993 Canadian film Love & Human Remains.

UPDATE: Would you believe there is an actual Femmy Award? It is for the intimate apparel industry. I guess I should have Googled it before (and not after) I used it!

excellence in femulation

While avoiding the nonsense televised from Times Square this morning, I came upon a rerun of the Malcolm In the Middle episode titled "If Boys were Girls." In this episode, Malcolm's mother imagines what life would be like if her four sons were daughters.

Female actresses played the parts of the imagined three youngest daughters, but the oldest "daughter" was played by the actor (Christopher Masterson), who actually plays the oldest son.

To tell you the truth, Masterson's femulation was so good (click on the photo above to magnify it) that the first time I saw this episode, I thought that a female actress played the role. Only after watching the episode a second time did I realize Masterson was en femme.

Big kudos to his femulation! His cleavage alone deserves an Emmy Award for best special effects.

Man Asks Abby's Advise About His Skirts

It’s Official: Man Skirts Have Reached the Mainstream, or At Least Dear Abby

Guys, are you still fashioning your resolutions? May we be of some assistance? Perhaps it's time to put your insecurities and fears aside and think, WWMD. Yes, indeed, What would Marc do? Everyone's favorite designer was on a mission in 2008 to single-handedly make the man skirt acceptable and, yes, chic. And, sure, people scoffed. But secretly, men wondered if they could carry off the look.

Read the rest of the story here.