JJ Levine's Switch

Reading Genderfork today directed me to the photography of JJ Levine, "a Montreal-based artist, who works in intimate portraiture... Levine works mostly in photography and video, and through these visual media, explores issues surrounding gender, sexuality, self-identity, and queer space."

I found Levine's Alone Time and Switch portfolios fascinating.

Alone Time is a series of photos portraying male and female couples involved in a variety of mundane and not-so-mundane activities. The catch is that the male and female in each couple is the same person. In most cases, I cannot determine if the person portraying the couple is natal male or female.

Switch is similar, but different. It portrays young male and female couples posing in prom wear. Each couple appears in two photos, side-by-side (as above). In one photo, one half of the couple wears male clothing and the other half of the couple wears female clothing. In the other photo, they switch; the person who wore male clothing in the first photo now wears female clothing and the person who wore female clothing in the first photo now wears male clothing.

I believe I figured out who was natal sex-wise in this set of photos, but it is so well done that I would not be surprised if I erred.

JJ Levine has other portfolios on the website; some trans-related, some not, but all are wonderful.

Enjoy! (I know I did.)

Bizarro Trans News

You can't make this stuff up!

Genetic engineers are deliberately breeding transgender goats to see if their milk is similar to that produced by humans.

--- Read all about it at Mail Online.

Fluorescent fish glows to show feminising chemicals in the water.

--- Read this gem at New Scientist (and thank-you, Brianna, for alerting me about this story).

Very Valentijn

Yesterday, Fashionista wrote about Valentijn de Hingh, the trans model I mentioned here on Saturday. This new article has more information about Valentijn than The Huffington Post article (like she is 6’1” not 5’11”), so you might find it interesting.

If not, c'est la vie!

Wardrobe Malfunctions

Two Words

I have two words for today: hanging gutters

Yet Another Trans Model

The Huffington Post reports that "Valentijn de Hingh is another gorgeous transgender model rising through high fashion's ranks.

"Having recently shot an editorial for Love magazine with Patrick Demarchelier and a video for Vogue Italia, the leggy (5'11") Amsterdam native is returning to the spotlight after spending almost ten years as the subject of a documentary on transgender children."

Read all about her here.

(Thank you, SoCalSecrets for alerting me about this story.)

Mother’s Bond With Her Trans Teen

"Posing arm in arm, teenager Hannah Whetton and her mum Carol look like any loving mother and daughter.

"They enjoy going clothes shopping together and share make-up tips.

"But for the first 16 years of her life Hannah was Arron, Carol's son."

Read all about it in The Sun.

1985 = 1895

The caption of today’s “The Femulated” should be 1895, not 1985. 

I will fix it as soon as I can, but I can’t now (although I can publish this post all about it!)

Fit For A Queen

The UPS truck backed up the driveway last evening and delivered my order from Shoe Dazzle.

I opened the box and found a pair of Consuelos inside that looked as nice in person as they looked on the Shoe Dazzle website. However, they looked too small and I doubted that they would fit. (The largest size that the Consuelos came in were 11, so it was this pair or nothing.)

I took off my sneakers and socks, slipped on a pair of knee-highs, then slipped on my new shoes. I was very surprised; they fit perfectly!

I wore my new shoes for about an hour and my feet felt fine from beginning to end. And I did not get a nose bleed from the higher altitude.

These heels are high! I took out a ruler and found that the inside of the heel is almost 4 inches high and the back of the heel is a sky-scraping 5-1/2 inches high. There is also a 1-1/4-inch platform. Despite the height, I had no problem walking in these very high heels.

The overall Shoe Dazzle package is very nice. It included a cloth bag to carry and/or store the shoes.

The shoe box itself is not your father's shoe box. Rather, it consists of one box that serves as a “drawer” that slides inside another box that serves as “cabinet.”  A finger hole in the “drawer” makes it easy to slide one box out of the other.

The only negative thing was that this box was loose inside the shipping box and was banged up upon delivery, although its contents (the shoes) were no worse for wear.

Overall, I am very pleased with my Shoe Dazzle order and give it two big toes up!

Thursday Thoughts of a Random Nature

Is it a crime to femulate so well!

This just in: criminal gets plastic surgery to look like a woman!

According to Reuters, "A Mexican man suspected of fraud was so keen to evade the law that he had surgery to make himself look like a woman."

Read all about it here.

(Thank you, Rhonda Williams, for the scoop as well as the title of this bit.)

Femulate Mobile

The only mobile device I own is my Subaru, but yesterday, Blogger offered me an option to provide this blog in a format that is suited for mobile devices. I accepted their offer, but have no idea if it works because my Subaru does not do the Internet.

If you use a mobile device to read this blog, let me know if you noticed the difference and if so, is it an improvement.

Text of Transgender Protection Law

I buried the link to the text of Connecticut's transgender protection law in a comment. In case anyone is interested, I am making the link more visible by providing it here.

The Huffington Post Bits for Girls Like Us

‣ Five-time Emmy Award winning celebrity makeup expert, Eve Pearl, presents a how-to: " Beauty -- Smokey Eyes: Bright Colors to Enhance the Eye,” which you can see here.

‣ Meanwhile, 6’3” L'Wren Scott is self-conscious about being tall tall (been there, done that). Read her story here.

Trans Prom Queen Joins It Gets Better Campaign

Steve Rothaus writes in The Miami Herald that transgender Andrew Viveros, the Florida prom queen, "has launched her own Facebook page and recorded an It Gets Better video for LGBT youth."

Read all about it and see the video here.

Side Benefits of Serious Femulation

In the past, when my only outings en femme were support group meetings and Halloween parties, I was not fooling anybody, so there was no need to make an effort to pass.

Not that I looked like a guy in a dress --- I have always been a perfectionist, so I learned how to apply makeup, style wigs, and dress to impress. Yet, passing was not important because my public forays en femme were rare, so what I did then worked.

However, as my outings en femme increased, I realized that I had to do better. What worked at a support group meeting would not work on the streets of Gotham City.

My weight has always been on the heavy side with 20 pound swings from one year to next.

I decided to end the roller coaster ride. I lost a dozen pounds and two dress sizes. For the past few years, I have managed to avoid the 20 pound fluctuations.

Now, there are 2 or 3 pound fluctuations and they set off an alarm to alert me to watch my diet or my figure will suffer.

In addition to a smaller dress size, losing and maintaining a lower weight had some other benefits.

Gone are the uncomfortable heavyweight foundation garments. Comfortable and lightweight Spanx-style support is all I need these days to create the semblance of a girlish figure.

Also, my toes got thinner! Before I lost weight, the fourth and fifth little piggies on my left foot were not getting along. They overlapped, which caused friction, discomfort, and severe irritation. It was so bad that I planned to see a doctor about the problem.

After I lost weight, the toe problem went away. I assume it was a combination of thinner toes and less weight pressing down on those toes.

Whatever --- my feet are happier in heels these days!

A New World

On October 1, a new law in Connecticut will ban discrimination on the basis of gender identity in housing, employment and most public accommodations.

That's four months away, but I feel like I am living in a new world already. (It is not a big world, only 5,544 square miles, but it is where I live most of my life.)

I go out and about en femme with a carefree attitude. I try not to worry about the consequences of being out en femme, but in the back of my mind, there was always some concern.

Will the woman who eyed me in the ladies' room complain to management and raise a ruckus?

Will the restaurant refuse to serve me (and embarrass me)?

None of these things have ever happened to me, but they still weighed on my mind whenever I was out en femme in the past.

Those concerns are fading away. And in four months, they will be gone; I will have the law on my side and I will be completely carefree at last.

Connecticut Trans Anti-Discrimination Bill Passes!!!

Pinch me, I must be dreaming!

Last night, the Connecticut State Senate passed the transgender anti-discrimination bill. Next the bill goes to the Governor; he promised that he would sign the bill, so it is a done deal and will take effect October 1.

The bill outlaws discrimination on the basis of gender identity in housing, employment and most public accommodations (including bathrooms). You can read all about it here: The Connecticut Mirror

I wish I could say I did my part to pass this bill. I lobbied my state representative and state senator, but they are tea baggers and voted against the bill. I will be sending them follow-up letters later today informing them that since they voted against me, I will be voting against them when they run for reelection.

Nevertheless, it is a great day to be transgender in the Constitution State!

Lea T. Struts In Swimwear For Fashion Rio

"Lea T., transsexual model and industry darling, hit Brazil's Fashion Rio runway on Wednesday, strutting in several swimsuits for one of the country's top beachwear brands, Blue Man."

Read and see more at The Huffington Post.

Dazzling Shoes

I love high heels.

En femme, I am usually in heels, seldom flats. I own so many pairs that I can go a month without any repeats on my feet.

I am always looking for something new to add to my collection. So, I joined an online shoe club.

Over a month ago, I received an e-mail inviting me to check out Shoe Dazzle.

The first time I visited their website, they prompted me to complete a short survey to indicate my shoe preferences. Thereafter, I began receiving e-mail recommendations matching my preferences.

I considered purchasing a few, but held off until today when a shoe in a style I had been looking for became available (see photo).

All their shoes cost $39.95 per pair, shipping is free, and they have my size (11). I also received a first purchase discount of $7.99, so my first order cost only $31.96.

It remains to be seen if "my size" fits me. I will find out as soon as my new heels show up on my doorstep, then I will let you know

By the way, after making my first purchase, I became a member of their club and every month, I will receive my "personal stylist" shoe selection for $39.95.

So here is my invitation to check out Shoe Dazzle yourself. If you like heels like I do, I think you will like Shoe Dazzle.

I'm So Tired

I'm so tired tonight; too tired to write anything interesting, so I will leave you with another photo from my Dayton Hamvention trip two weeks ago.

That's me Thursday morning before checking out of my hotel on the Pennsylvania-Ohio state line and driving four hours to Dayton.

8.1

I blame it on the long weekend!

I was invited to Memorial Day picnics Saturday and Sunday en homme.

In between picnics, this girl needed some en femme time. But none was on the horizon in the real world, so I escaped to the virtual world and posted my image on Hot or Not.

I had considered doing this a number of times in the past, but did not for one reason or another.

Anyway, I set up my account as a woman, used this photo as my profile, and sat back as the website tallied the votes.

I received 2054 votes and an average score of 8.1 on a scale of 1 to 10 (1 being "not" and 10 being "hot").

I received a few messages, too. One fellow wrote, "Is your age correct? no way you look that hot at 60!"

When I assured him that my age was correct, he wrote back, "wow, amazing, :)"

That was worth the price of admission and I deleted my account.

Trans Teen Crowned Prom Queen

The seniors at McFatter Technical High School in Davie, Florida, have elected Andrew Viveros their 2011 prom queen.

“They called my name and I was in total shock,’’ said Andrew, a 17-year-old who was born male but has publicly presented herself as female for the last two years.

Andrew, also known as Andii, plans to someday change her name to Andrea after she transitions. She wanted to run for prom queen in order to show other transgender teens “it gets better.”

Read all about it here and here.

Thank you, Rhonda Williams, for alerting  me about this story.

Yearbook Femulations

Starla has been searching old school yearbooks online and sending me any femulations she discovers. The images below are the results of her searches.

The recent death of a high school classmate moved me to view his image in my high school yearbook. While skimming the yearbook, I was surprised to come across a photo of a very bad femulation by one of the high school jocks at some long-forgotten event.

I have no idea why he was femulating, but I found it interesting that the jock in the photo was one who was particularly nasty to me during my high school years making fun of my femininity and/or my lack of machismo.

How ironic that he is the one wearing a dress for posterity in our high school yearbook.

Lake Dallas, TX 1975

Greenville, SC, 1975

Jackson, TN, 1972

Leonard, TX, 1968

Madison, TN, 1975

Martin, TX, 1972

Nacona, TX, 1976 (click here for more)