Life and Death of David Sonia Burgess

"Last October, detectives were called to investigate the death of a woman under a London tube train. But as they traced her final moments, they discovered that she was, in fact, David Burgess, one of the most brilliant immigration lawyers of his generation. Here, Burgess's family and friends tell, for the first time, the complicated story of the loving father, brilliant colleague, sensitive woman and courageous person they knew."

Thank you, Gwen for alerting me about this story that appears in today's Guardian The Observer. You can read the rest of it here.

I so identify with Sonia! I wish I knew her before she died.

Wishing They Weren't In Kansas Anymore

When I Was A Red

Before I discovered that I was really a blonde, I thought I was really a redhead, as shown in this May 1995 photo.

My belief in my redheadedness goes back to when I was a baby. I don't recall it myself, but my parents always claimed that I was a redhead in my very early years. (Gradually my hair color turned brown, later gray, and still later thin.)

Anyway, when I was choosing a wig color, I figured red might work since I started here as a redhead. Turned out that I liked myself as a redhead and wore various shades of red for years.

By Popular Demand

Many of you sent positive feedback regarding my vintage photograph and asked for more. So, I went through my shoebox of old photos to see if there were any other oldies that were goodies.

I found this one from December 1994, in which I was all dolled-up to attend my support group's Christmas party.

I love that dress. I think I only wore it twice. I hope it is still in storage in the attic; if so, I think I can find an occasion to wear it again.

I also like the hair style. If I can find that length and style in a lighter color, I may be sporting a new hairdo soon.

What's Good for the Goose...

I received this e-mail advertisement today:

Wouldn't it be nice to receive this e-mail advertisement tomorrow:

Housework

I put on a frilly apron this morning and did some housework around the blog. In the process, I updated the Womanless Archive web page and My Favorite Photos web page.
While I was tidying up, I wondered what you girls would like to see here in my blog. What is missing? What would you like to see more of (or less of)? Et cetera, et cetera.
All sincere suggestions will be considered. I look forward to hearing from you!

First On My List

Anne Francis died Sunday.

The 5'8' film and television actress was probably best known for her role as Honey West in the television detective series of the same name, but I will always remember her as Robby the Robot's housemate in the science fiction film classic Forbidden Planet.

Coincidentally, on the day of her death, Turner Classic Movies (TCM) showed Forbidden Planet and I happened upon it while switching channels (I did not know she had died at the time).

While watching the film, I mentioned to my family how the monster in the film had scared the bejesus out of me when I saw the film for the first time as a 5-year-old sitting in the back seat of my family's Buick Special at the local drive-in theater.

What a predicament!

Whenever the monster appeared on the big screen, I looked away. Problem was that when I looked away from the big screen, I ended up looking out the side windows of the Buick and who knew what monsters were lurking out in the blackness beyond the Buick!

Getting back to Ms. Francis. She was the first on what would turn out to be my very long list of women who I found attractive and wanted to be like. Watch Forbidden Planet and I think you will agree that she was someone to femulate. And she had Robby the Robot at her beck and call to boot!

Rest in peace, Altaira.

Scalia's Surprise: Women Don't Have Constitutional Protection Against Discrimination

UPDATED BELOW

WASHINGTON -- The equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution does not protect against discrimination on the basis of gender or sexual orientation, according to Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.

For the record, the 14th Amendment's equal protection clause states: "No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." That would seem to include protection against exactly the kind of discrimination to which Scalia referred.

Read the rest of this shocking story in The Huffington Post.

UPDATE:  Scalia says the 14th Amendment protects only black citizens, not women. Oh, and a rich white kid named Bush

For another view on the matter, please read this piece by Joan Walsh from Salon.

Japanese Crossdressers Niche Shopping Site

Now that I have finally gotten rid of the visions of sugarplums dancing in my head, I have been trying to catch up on my trans-net reading.

During my catch-up, I came across this December 16 Japan Trends story about an e-commerce store that is an offshoot of the crossdresser maid cafes. For those who are unfamiliar with crossdresser maid cafes, they are restaurants where the waitstaff dress as maids and also happen to be male.

The e-commerce store, Lagrangel, sells a variety of feminine finery (including wigs) for Japanese lads who wish to present as ladies. Too bad their size large is about 6 inches too small for me!

To Do

In lieu of New Year's resolutions, I prefer to assemble a to-do list for the coming year. So for 2011, here are my to-dos (in no particular order):

• Dress en femme more often than not

• Kiss a girl

• Lose ten pounds

• Write a book

• Get rid of my back fat

• Have more nights out with the girls

• Get rid of my varicose veins

• Improve my blog

• Find a new hair style

• Attend a transgender conference

• Sell Avon en femme

Happy New Year!

Another Good Reason For Giving Up Smoking

It was twenty years ago today

Stana, December 1990

Wednesday in Heels

"Angelina Jolie had her own request for stunt gear in the new movie "The Tourist" -- stilettos," according to the Associated Press.

"Jolie did her stunts in Salvatore Ferragamo heels. The heel height came down a bit for the most active scenes, but "she basically toughed it out in her shoes," said costume designer Colleen Atwood."

Read the rest of the story here.

Meanwhile, if you ever bought a pair of heels that turned out to be too small (who hasn't?), here is a cool tip I found on YouTube that demonstrates how to stretch your shoes a half to one full size using ice.

Dunno what my spouse will think finding a pair of 4-inch pumps next to the pot roast, but if it works, move over tater tots!

Femulate Brasil

Femulate Brasil emulates Femulate in Portuguese.

César is the brains behind Femulate Brasil and I thank him for honoring my blog with his Portuguese version.

Support the "Girls"

An e-mail from Jackie alerted me that the boys who emulated girls in a pageant at the Ernest Ward Middle School in Walnut Hill, FL, were receiving flak from some of the folks commenting on the news story about the event.

Seems that the boys put the event together as a fundraiser for the school's cheerleaders, but some "enlightened" individuals found the crossdressing inappropriate and harangued the boys with their comments.

Jackie and I agree that the boys do not deserve the negative comments. Rather, they should be congratulated for their fine work. If you would like to add some positive words to those comments, I urge you to do so here.

Boys Being Girls Again

Bill e-mailed me about womanless beauty pageants at the Travelers Rest High School in Travelers Rest, SC. You can view photos of the 2008 pageant here and the 2009 pageant here.

Bill opines that "2008 is much better than 2009" and that "pierced earrings and high heels are worn in this event."

"Some application of Nair would have improved matters," says I.

More or Less Womanless

I received an unsolicited e-mail a few days ago that invited me to visit a web site to view videos related to womanless pageants, weddings, fashion shows, etc. I checked it out and found a list of approximately 300 links to such videos. Many I had seen in the past, but some were new to me.

I was going to pass the web site along to you readers, then I discovered that there was a "catch." If I was not careful about where I pointed and clicked, the womanless video list transitioned into a pornography video list. So I abandoned the idea of passing along the web site information to you.

Instead, I Googled it myself. Doing so, I came up with 692 womanless-related videos. Like the porn site list, some I have seen in the past, but some were new to me.

You'll have to separate the wheat from the chaff yourself. Enjoy!

Merry Christmas to You and Yours

Another Tall Thursday

Long time, no Famous Females of Height, so without further ado…

My trans sister in Atlanta, Petra, alerted me to the tallest female of this group, 6'8" Ricki Covette, a burlesque performer from the 1960s. Petra kindly sent along a pertinent link about Miss Covette, too.

I have been watching Seinfeld reruns lately and I spotted three of our tall ladies on that show: 5'8" Cindy Ambuehl, 5'9" Kathleen McClellan, and 5'9" Ivana Miličević.

Also spotted while ogling the telly were 5'9" model Sophie Turner, 5'10" actress Margo Stilley (spotted in the film How To Lose Friends & Alienate People - that's her in the accompanying photo), and 6'3" actress Dot-Marie Jones from television's Glee.