Brian Dresses for Work

Poking around the Internet, I discovered a large collection of photos on flickr belonging to a male-to-female crossdresser named Brian McCloskey. I was very impressed with Brian's huge female wardrobe and fashion sense, but my curiosity piqued when I noticed that there were many photos showing Brian in what looked like a work environment (a library was my guess) with what looked like a variety of co-workers.

Was Brian going to work en femme?

I had to know, so I e-mailed Brian and asked. A few hours later, Brian wrote back and confirmed that he did indeed dress en femme at work:

I *do* dress to work.  It was something I always wanted to do - and my coworkers always encouraged me - but I didn't have the nerve until quite recently.  In September of last year I took part in a Living Library event at the library where I worked - I was a "book" that people could "check out" for a short conversation about being a transvestite - and that gave me the courage to dress on a more regular basis.  I had thought I might mix it up between boy and girl modes, but....after a couple of weeks I moved all my shirts and ties to the back of the closet and it's been frocks only since then!

Brian has a supportive fiancee and circle of friends who don't care how he dresses.

I very much care how Brian dresses and applaud him for doing so.

Brian can be found online on flickr, Facebook, and Blogger (Brian's current blog and Brian's old blog).

ABC Had It with Work It!

ABC has cancelled the controversial cross-dressing comedy Work It after two episodes.

Read the rest of the story here.

Forced Feminization at the Olympics

This story is so outrageous in this day and age that I cannot believe it! Please sign the petition to stop this nonsense.

Can't Get Enough of Miss Eng'g

The Miss Eng'g (Engineering) womanless beauty pageant at the College of Engineering, University of Philippines-Diliman is one of the best, if not the best womanless pageant conducted at an educational institute or anywhere else for that matter. Femulate readers agree with that assessment because whenever I post something about Miss Eng'g here, you readers voice your approval.

Oak, a Femulate reader and Miss Eng'g fan, combed the Internet looking for more on Miss Eng'g and was very successful. I have a four-page list of links compiled by Oak that go back as far as 2001 that document the Miss Eng'g pageant in photos. The quality of some of the photos is not the best, but the quality of the femulations depicted in those photos is excellent.

Without further adieu, here is a link to photos from the 2001 installment of the pageant.

BBC TV TS

British film and television actor Sean Bean plays a transsexual in the BBC television court room drama Accused, which will air later this year.

Specifically, Bean “plays an English teacher called Simon and his alter ego, Tracie, whose quest for love leads to the courtroom,” according to Daily Mail.

Read all about it here.

One Liners (More or Less)

Remember that 75% off dress sale that Spiegel had one day last month; the sale in which I bought this $159 dress for $39?

The dress arrived, but it is too small or my bust is too big (or actually both).

I returned it for a refund (and not an exchange because I had ordered the largest size available.)

Although it won't help much fitting into that dress, I urge you to buy mass quantities of Girl Scout cookies because of this.

Olympic track and field star Bruce Jenner has been outed as a crossdresser.

I received an e-mail inviting me to a reunion of my law school graduating class in June and I plan to attend en femme (like her).

And so it goes.

Both Sides Now

People can't understand that someone can have both sides of themselves and switch back and forth. And a lot of transsexual people have gotten really mad at me and said, "You're really misrepresenting us as a community because you're not sticking with the 'girl look.'" I'm representing myself. I never claimed to be the spokesperson for anything other than myself. I just so happen to be gay or trans or gay and trans or whatever. I don't know. I'm just content with myself and I think that makes people discontented.

I thought the whole point of being transgender was being what you feel on the inside. For me, I wonder why do you have to just feel like a woman trapped in a man's body? Or vice versa? Why can't you identify with both genders and tap into those without being accused of dressing up as a girl for attention? I'm fulfilling whatever vibe I want to go with at that time. I try to block out people's voices in my head and just go with how I feel.

---from the Chris Crocker interview on The Huffington Post, which in my humble opinion, is must reading. Here is the link.

Transgender Business Woman Runs for Office

Gina Duncan is running for commissioner in District 5 in Orange County, Florida. If Duncan won she would be the first transgender commissioner in Orange County history.

You can read about here – the comments following the article are disheartening (so far).

Teaching an old bra wearer new tricks

I have worn bras for nearly 50 years, yet I still learned something new from this short slide show by Daily Makeover.

Maybe you will learn something new, too.

Femulating at Queer Music Heritage

JD Doyle collects recordings and other stuff related to LGBT music. He has a radio show that features queer music and he has a website where his collection is on display.

His collection is vast (1700 webpages) and it gets vaster every day.

While searching for female impersonation information a few years ago, his website came up in the search engine results and I have been visiting his site regularly ever since.

Being a collector of various stuff, I am in awe of his collecting prowess, particularly in the realm of female impersonation. He has collected a lot of stuff from the professional femulation world and I highly recommend that you visit his site and see it all for yourself; you will be amazed.

Queer Music Heritage is JD Doyle's website and his “Drag Artists & Female Impersonators” collection begins here.

Seven Feet of Courage

If you think it is tough being a 6-foot-tall transwoman, try 7 feet!

The Huffington Post tells the gutsy story of Lindsey Walker (photo right), a 7-footer, who came out as a transsexual despite her height.

Her story is an inspiration for all of us who are afraid to come out and/or go out just because we are tall.

Thank you Reva for alerting me to this Lindsey’s story. Her story also appears in other venues.

He's Everywhere! He's Everywhere!

"He" being femulators. "Everywhere" being back-to-back television shows on Showtime.

I was away from the computer most of the weekend and was trying to catch up with my e-mails last night with the laptop in my lap sitting in front of the telly with the channel selector stuck on Showtime.

Shameless came on at 9. I had never seen the program before, but I like the star of the show, Bill Macy, so I left it on.

A sub-plot involves one of Macy's sons who works in a convenience store owned by a couple from the Middle East. The husband is gay and sneaks his lovers out of the store disguised as Middle Eastern women in long black dresses and head scarves.

Near the end of the episode, the husband disguises himself in the same manner to runaway from his wife and I assume, to live with his gay lover.

House of Lies came on at 10. It is a new show starring Don Cheadle, who I always enjoy watching, so I left it on even though it was past my bedtime.

A sub-plot of the show involves Cheadle's school-aged son who wants to try out for his school's production of Grease.

The big deal is that he wants to try out for the role of Sandy, the role Olivia Newton-John made famous in the film version of the musical. He succeeds in getting the role.

When the school suggests that his son step down and let a female handle the role,  Cheadle defends his son's gender choice. Cheadle also agrees to his son's desire to go shoe shopping over the weekend.

I lasted about 20 minutes into the show and went to bed, so I don't know if anything else transpired trans-wise. I will try to watch the rest of the show when it is replayed later this week.

Happy Monday to you all!

He Throws Like a Girl

Trisha van Cleef: A Heroine of Femulation

Paul Whitehead is a painter and graphic artist known for his surrealistic album covers for artists on the Charisma Records label in the 1970s, such as Genesis and Van der Graaf Generator. (source: Wikipedia)

His alter ego is Trisha van Cleef, who is also a painter with a few CD covers in her portfolio.

Paul is very public about Trisha and as such, is one of my heroes/heroines.

Trisha has a webpage on Paul’s website and Zagria wrote her up on her A Gender Variance Who’s Who website. Read all about her; she is very interesting.

Like it’s 1968

If you have been following along here for awhile, you know that I express myself with graphics as well as with words.

I can create a cartoon or fumetti relatively quickly once I come up with the words or punch-line for a joke. On the other hand, Photoshopped artwork can take hours, but I enjoy doing it, so the time flies by when I do it.

With that introduction, I present a new piece of Photoshop artwork. Titled Stanley Getting Dressed, Circa 1968, it represents the undergarments I was femulating with back in the late 1960s. (The image started out as a vintage bra and/or girdle advertisement that I found on the Internet.)

I hope you like it!

Femulators Party in Japan

Kasumi alerted me about Propaganda Party, a monthly event in Tokyo for femulators from the whole trans spectrum (and others who like them). The party is held in the Kabukicho district of Tokyo on the last Saturday of every month.

Kasumi wrote, “I don't live in Tokyo and so have not had an opportunity to visit in person, but it looks like fun. From the description on the website (all in Japanese, unfortunately), it seems to be designed for fun and socializing---that is, it's for adults only, but there's no nudity or sex or anything like that.”

Their website has a huge collection of photos (the photo gallery link is the blue box at the top center of the screen). The pictures are not sexual in nature---just people having a good time at the party.

Kasumi concluded, “I'm sure you'll agree that the quality of the femulating is extremely high. I'm certainly envious!”

Transphobic Tampon Ad

“A tampon maker has been branded 'outrageously transphobic' over its new advert.

“Critics say the television spot for Libra [brand tampons] implies transgender people 'are not real women because they do not menstruate,’” according to today’s online edition of the Daily Mail, which you can read here.

2011 Blog Statistics

I keep copious statistics concerning this blog. Here they are for the past year:

Hits: 1,872,279 (5,130 per day average)

Unique Visitors: 1,165,521 (3,193 per day average)

First-Time Visitors: 846,120 (2,318 per day average)

Repeat Visitors: 319,399 (875 per day average)

February 24 was the busiest day of the year with 7,168 hits.

August 13 was the slowest day with 3,841 hits.

And so it goes.

Putting Your Closet on a Diet

Do you have items in your wardrobe that you are “saving” because they have sentimental value, are “too pretty to wear,” are timeless, or cost a lot of money? 

I don't know about you, but that pretty much describes moi to a T. As a result, my closets are overflowing and I can use help.

To the rescue, Ginger Burr wrote an excellent post on her blog that proffers three reasons to stop saving your clothes. You can read it here.

Happy New Year!

2011 was a very good year for this femulator; I hope 2012 will be even better.

And I hope that the new year will be even better for you all, too!

Best Wishes,

Stana