Kinks

I am still working out the kinks in the video version of our Femulate Her feature, so please bear with me.

As I mentioned in a comment yesterday, you need the free Adobe Flash Player installed in your web browser in order to properly view the video. (You can get Flash Player here.)

Also, I successfully tested the video playback with three different browsers (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari) on two different platforms (Windows XP, Mac OS X), so if yours is one of those and the video still stinks, the problem may be at your end. I suggest updating your web browser if it is not current.

Speaking of kinks, I was a big fan of the British Invasion (the rock 'n' roll version, not the Revolutionary War version) and The Kinks were one of my favorite groups from that era. I had all their records, but when they came out with "Lola," I was embarrassed.

Every time that song played while I was in the presence of anyone who potentially had an inkling about my interest in crossdressing, I was sure that the other person must be thinking about me dressing up.

A lot of water has gone under the bridge since then, but I still react the same way to that tune.

Go figure!

By the way, in the "you learn something new everyday" department, I always thought that Marilyn Monroe was the model for the May 1965 Esquire magazine cover shot (see above). Turns out that it was not Miss Monroe, but rather Italian actress Virna Lisi.

The "Femulate Her:" Video Experiment

If you have been viewing this blog lately, you may have noticed the video versions of Femulate Her: appearing here in the main section of the blog, i.e., the center column.

After experimenting with this feature for the past few days, I finally managed to get the video to appear in the Femulate Her: sidebar, too, and that is where it will appear in the future.

I hope you enjoy this new feature!

Femulate Her:

Video source: Byron Lars

The Gurley Family

In honor of Father's Day, I offer this one-shot 1989 comic strip, The Gurley Family by Joost Swarte, which originally appeared in Raw.

Click on the image to make it appear bigger!

Three Words and More

I have three words for today: finished hanging gutters

You cannot imagine how difficult it is hanging gutters in high heels and a cocktail dress!

Anyway, that post-winter task is finally done just two days before the first day of summer. And this year, two days before summer means that I have three more words:

Happy Father's Day!

Femulate Her:

Video source: Saks Fifth Avenue

Dear Stana: Where do you buy your wigs?

Dear Stana,

Where do you buy your wigs? (I cannot find the article in which you discuss the topic.)

Amy

Hi Amy,

I don't recall discussing the topic.

Anyways, in person, I buy my wigs at Tonkin's Wigs & Millinery in Waterbury, CT (481 Wolcott St., phone 203-753-1355)

Via the Internet, I buy my wigs from Name Brand Wigs.

By the way, I prefer Noriko brand monofilament wigs.

Best Wishes,

Stana

Need advice concerning femulation or other crossdressing-related matters, then e-mail me and I will happily give you my opinion on the matter. My e-mail address is stana-stana at sbcglobal.net.

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.