Random Thoughts from True Colors Conference

Put the Squeem On

I wore my new Squeem Miracle Vest body shaper for the first time on Friday.

The instructions recommend breaking it in gradually by wearing it one hour the first time, two hours the second time, etc.

I was all-in the first time and wore it for over 10 hours!

Unlike other shapewear I have worn in the past, the Squeem was painless. By day’s end, I had some chaffing below my boobs. To prevent chaffing in the future, I have to adjust the shoulder straps so that the vest sits a little lower on my torso.

Except for that operator error, I was completely satisfied with the Squeem. It gave me a nice shapely figure all around and supported my back in such a way that it improved my posture. And it was pain-free!

SRO

The first couple of times I staffed my support group's table at the True Colors Conference (2007 and 2009), Diana and I were "the staff" more or less. I don't know if my trans sisters were afraid to be out in public or what, but volunteers to staff the table were hard to come by.

Just as the trans students attending the conference are no longer afraid to attend en femme, things have changed for the better volunteer-wise, too. Now there is an abundance of volunteers --- so many that at times, there are not enough chairs to seat us all, so SRO!

Shut-Up Already

One of the comments I received regarding my presentation is that I should let the attendees speak more.

Throughout my presentation, I announced that if there were any questions, please interrupt me and ask. As a result, there were questions, as well as comments numerous times during my presentation. And I welcomed them because the presentation is for the attendees; their questions and comments fill in things I missed or did not cover thoroughly or at all.

I do not discourage comments and discussions, but perhaps my announcement infers that I am because I only mention questions. So in the future, I will modify my announcement to encourage comments and discussions, as well as questions.

 

 

 

Actor Gary Beach (second from left) femulating in the 2005 film The Producers.

 

 

 

Wearing Evan Picone.

Everyone en femme

Up at 5 AM for a busy day, I dressed in my new Sofia Vergara outfit and drove to Diana (of Diana’s Little Corner in the Nutmeg State fame) to carpool to the True Colors Conference at UCONN.

The forecast was for a pleasant day… sunny and temperatures around 50 degrees. I figured my new trench coat would be adequate, however, when we arrived at UCONN, it was more like Yukon. The wind was blowing hard and I can’t recall ever feeling so cold walking the quarter-mile from the parking lot to the Student Union. My guess is that the wind chill was well below freezing.

I checked in, got my presentation package and spent most of the day hanging around my old support group’s table, which was staffed by a very able crew of transwomen including my old Fantasia Fair pal, Karen Marie, who is magical in the way she is able to interact with the adults and kids, who stopped at our table.

I encountered a lot of old friends and sadly, I missed a few who I know were there but who did not appear to me in the crowd of nearly 4,000 attendees. I also made some new friends, like Susan Collins and Lorelei Erisis, so I guess I am “even Steven” as fast as missing old friends and making new ones!

As I mentioned here on Thursday, I changed the name of my presentation from a title that mentioned “femulate” to something that mentioned “crossdressing” figuring that the latter would garner a larger audience than the former because all the attendees knew what the latter meant, but not so much the former. 

My strategy paid off. I did not do an exact headcount, but I estimate that there were nearly 40 people in attendance, which is by far an all-time high for my True Colors Conference presentations. By the way, there were three or four adults in the group and the rest were middle school, high school and college students.

My presentation, Crossdressing Successfully in the Real World, went well. There were a lot of good questions and exchanges throughout my presentation and most of the post-presentation evaluations rated me Above Average or Excellent. 

I hope I helped someone. I noticed a few people taking notes, so some people must have taking away some useful information.

Diana and I left Yukon about 5 and ate dinner at an old mill that was converted into a restaurant (Adam’s Mill Restaurant in Manchester). There were no issues - the staff treated us transwomen like ladies and when we left the restaurant, a middle-aged gent (a customer, not an employee) held the door open for us.

I was home around sundown and my big takeaway from True Colors this year was how great it was to see so many of the students en femme. When I started attending True Colors back in 2007, few if any of the students presented en femme. Actually, I don’t recall any presenting en femme, but I did not see everyone, so I might have missed someone.

Fast-forward 7 years and there were students everywhere presenting en femme, which warned my heart and put a big smile on my face.

Actor Christopher Hewett (right) femulating in the 1967 film The Producers.

Wearing Diane Von Furstenberg.

True Colors Conference 2014

It was a long busy full day and I am ready to go horizontal, but I will leave you with this photo of yours truly taken this afternoon at the True Colors Conference.

Transgender in the Real World

I will be attending the True Colors Conference today. In light of that, I leave you with an appropriate article that my friend Jila sent me: "5 Shocking Realities of Being Transgender the Media Ignores" by Amy P.

The article may be preaching to the choir here, but I think it is worth reading and a good article to pass on to anyone you are trying to enlighten about being transgender.

Also in light of that article, I want to mention that although Hollywood often does a lousy job of portraying transgender people, they usually do a good job making-up and dressing the actors who portray transgenders.

So when I post a photo here of an actor portraying a transgender woman, please realize that I am posting it to show the quality of the physical presentation and I am not endorsing the film itself and how it may portray transgenders.

And so it goes. And may you go forward this weekend with spring in your step!

Professional femulator Barry Scott, circa 1970

Dorothy Malone

Occupied

The last few days, my mind has been occupied with the True Colors Conference.

For those of you who just tuned in, "True Colors is a non-profit organization that works with other social service agencies, schools, organizations, and within communities to ensure that the needs of sexual and gender minority youth are both recognized and competently met."

Every March, True Colors hosts a two-day conference at my alma mater, the University of Connecticut, where thousands of GLBT youths and their supporters from throughout the USA meet to attend what is essentially a GLBT youth convention.

This year will be my sixth trip to the Conference. Except for the first trip when I was just testing the waters, I have presented each time evangelizing the normality of crossdressing and encouraging male-to-female crossdressers to get out of the closet and into the sunlight where they can blossom as women.

My presentations have been well-received, but every year as the Conference approaches, I consider tweaks and changes to my presentation to bring it (and me) up to date. And that is what has been occupying my mind lately.

On of the biggest changes this year was changing the name of my presentation.

In the past, the name of my presentation contained the word "femulate." You know what femulate means and I know what femulate means, but someone off the street perusing the Conference program probably won't know what femulate means and will consider attending some other  presentation on a topic they recognize.

So I jettisoned “femulate” and renamed my presentation "Crossdressing Successfully in the Real World." I think everyone will know what that means and might be intrigued to hear me speak.

Wish me luck!

 

 

 

Actor Dave Foley femulating on Canadian television’s The Kids in the Hall, circa 1991.

 

 

 

Wearing Boston Proper.

Say “Cheese”

How many crossdressers does it take to change a light bulb?

Three – One to climb the ladder to change the light bulb, one to hold the ladder, and one to photograph the event.

Whenever I am out en femme, I bug people – friends, acquaintances and strangers alike to take my photo. My excuse is “to feed the blog.”

You readers want to see photos of girls like us out doing things in public like girls like them, so my reason for getting photographed is legitimate. But that is only part of it; there are other reasons.

I like to see how I look in the photograph. Does the outfit I put together look good together or did I err grievously in my fashion judgment?

Do I pass as a woman? If I pass at least in the photograph that increases my chances of passing in public.

And when I am not en femme, I like to have a photo on hand of myself en femme to remind me of the good days. That is why I have a photo on my desk at work of myself en femme at work on Halloween.

(It is funny how nobody has ever commented about the photo on my desk at work. Frequently visitors to my cubicle will look over my shoulder at that photo which sits on the desk behind me, but no one has ever said a word. I wish I could read their minds.)

 

 

 

Femulator extraordinaire Vincent McDoom.

 

 

 

Wearing Madeleine.

News from Abroad

Carmen e-mailed me over the weekend with femulating news from France.

The Femultor image that I posted here yesterday was the result of Carmen's e-mail, that is, Alexandre Styker's portrayal of a transwoman in a French television movie, Belinda et Moi, which aired on Saturday.

Carmen also mentioned that on March 8, her and some girlfriends visited Chenonceau Castle and Gardens.

These days, it is not that unusual for transwomen to go out and see the sights, but what happened to Carmen and her friends was very unusual --- a local newspaper (La Nouvelle Republique) publicized their visit in print and on the newspaper's website!

How cool is that!

By the way, Carmen is second from the left in the photo the newspaper published.

Bambi, a professional femulator, in French street style, circa 1965.

Wearing 10 Crosby Derek Lam (dress) and Joie (booties).

Statuesque Stars

Most of my free time this weekend was spent working with Turbotax. I finally buttoned up my tax return about 5 PM last night and crashed in front of the television.

The 2013 version of The Great Gatsby was on HBO, so I gave it a look. Visually, it was beautiful --- recreating New York City of the 1920s. And the actress playing Jordan Baker was stunning.

I did not recognize her, so I looked her up. She is Elizabeth Debicki, who happens to be half Polish and half Irish (Happy Saint Patrick's Day) and is 6 feet 3 inches tall!

With that I guess it is time to update my Famous Females of Height List.

Besides Ms. Debicki (photo right), I have two other additions to the list:

5’11” Toni Tenille, the singer of Captain and Tenille fame. (Source: Peaches)

5’8” Vanessa Angel, a model and actress, best known for the film, Kingpin.

Have a stunning week!

 

 

 

Actor Alexandre Styker (right) femulating in Belinda et Moi, a 2014 French television movie.(Thank you, Carmen, for the heads-up concerning this film.)

 

 

 

Wearing Madeleine.

Caught

As a teenager, I dressed in my mother's and sister's clothing whenever I was home alone.

One day, I was all dressing up in my parent's bedroom when I heard the garage door open. That meant that my mother and sister had arrived home.

I high-tailed it to my bedroom upstairs, stripped off the feminine attire and returned to boy mode as quickly as possible. Then I stashed the girly stuff in a hiding place so I could return it to its proper place later whenever  the opportunity arose to do so.

Then I went back downstairs as if nothing happened.

"Why are my shoes out?" my mother asked from her bedroom.

Nuts! I forgot to grab her high heels when I high-tailed it upstairs. I had to think quick and come up with an excuse.

One of my hobbies was cartooning, so my excuse was, "I had to draw a high heel shoe and needed a real shoe as a model."

"OK," she replied.

I don't know if she bought my excuse or not, but it was clues like that that made her suspicious. Eventually, she figured out what was going on, but she never let on that she knew.

By the way, the cartoon above is pretty accurate. That dress is the style that my mother wore when I was in my early teens and white gloves were a must, so much so that I always wore white gloves when I femulated back then.

 

 

 

The Bigwood Twins, professional femulating brothers, circa 1930.

 

 

 

Wearing Madeleine.

Clip-Ons Redux

Following-up on my earring transition post on Wednesday, some readers wrote that one reason they prefer pierced earrings to clip-on earrings was because of the pain that clip-ons inflicted on the ears.

I too have suffered the pain and agony of clip-on earrings, but I have found two solutions.

1. Sometimes the clip-on earrings are too tight and need adjusting. Loosening the earrings’ grip on your ears differs depending on the style of the clip, but usually requires only a little bending of the offending clip.
2. Even after loosening the clip, I have had earrings that persist in torturing my ears. In that case, I resort to slipping pads (like these) over the clips to soften their grip. That solves the problem in most cases.

Have a beautiful weekend!

 

 

 

The talented Harvey Lee, professional femulator, circa 1945.

 

 

 

Wearing Haute Hippie.

Who Likes Shorts Shorts?

Aunty flickrs Womanless

Regular Femulate contributor Aunty has posted a slew of womanless images on flickr. Check it out if you like that sort of thing (and who doesn't?).

True Colors Conference

I will attend and present (“Crossdressing Successfully in the Real World”) at the True Colors Conference next Friday (March 21) at the University of Connecticut.

"True Colors is a non-profit organization that works with other social service agencies, schools, organizations, and within communities to ensure that the needs of sexual and gender minority youth are both recognized and competently met."

Harry Benjamin’s The Transsexual Phenomenon

I was looking for a copy of Harry Benjamin’s classic work The Transsexual Phenomenon. It has been out-of-print for awhile. Amazon had a used copy for $300 (hardcover) and $50 (paperback). However, I found a copy for free here.

Replying to Comments

If you are wondering why I have not replied to your Comments for awhile, the reason is that something in some software somewhere was preventing me from doing so. Each time I tried to reply to a Comment, my reply would vanish when I tried to post it.

I was determined to figure out what was going on. First, I thought that it might be a blog setting that was causing the problem, but no matter how I optioned the settings, the problem persisted.

Then I tried using a different browser and the problem went away. Using Safari, I had no problem replying to Comments (and I replied to over a week's worth). Going back to Chrome and the problem returned. Don’t know why, but I do know the workaround: use Safari.

 

 

 

Actor femulating in boy’s prep school production of Hairspray in 2013.

 

 

 

Wearing Rag & Bone.