Courtesy of Pat, here is a page from the 1934 Montgomery Ward catalog that femulators of the Depression probably studied carefully.
Item A, the “Inner-Belt,” was quite a contrivance – I wonder how well it worked!
By the way, a 1934 dollar equals $17.65 today.
Wearing Badgley Mischka.
Actors Patrick Page, Reed Birney and Gabriel Ebert
femulating on stage in Casa Valentina (2014).
"Girls will be boys and boys will be girls" is a line from a 1970 song titled "Lola" by The Kinks, which describes a close encounter with a drag queen of the same name.
That line has been taken out of the context of the song and has been tossed about to describe the phenomena of gender role reversal for the past 44 years.
I have been very aware of gender role reversal even longer than that. From nearly five decades of experience, it is my opinion that either there are more gender role reversals today than in the past or the gender role reversals are more public about it today than in the past. I believe that it is a little of the former and a lot of the latter.
In the past, that is, before 1965, gender role reversals were very closeted. Girls being boys and boys being girls were invisible. There were places where the reversals could meet and socialize, but those places were very private and unknown to the majority of the general public.
Personally, I found out about two of those places around 1968 after I had been dressing in the closet for about 5 years perfecting my femulation and itching to explore the world as a woman. Through Darrell Raynor's 1966 book A Year Among the Girls, I found out about a transwoman getaway that I later learned was called "Casa Susana.” Through the 1968 film documentary The Queen, I discovered drag beauty pageants. Both of those places were out of reach for the 17-year-old girl I had become, but it was reassuring to know that those places existed.
Today, it is almost laughable (and kind of sad) to consider the lack of places that were available to gender role reversals in the past. Now we are everywhere --- even on the cover of Time magazine!
Our increased visibility has encouraged other gender role reversals to leave the closet behind and explore the world for themselves. And their new visibility encourages still others to become visible and on and on and on.
So, "the gender role reversals are more public about it today."
Our increased visibility has also encouraged others to try gender role reversal for themselves. Here, I am referring to people who would have been clueless without our increased visibility. They would have gone through life lost in between genders, trying hard to adhere to the definition of their birth gender, but not succeeding and not knowing where to turn because as far as they knew, there was no place to go.
Thus, "there are more gender role reversals today than in the past."
Wearing Harley Viera Newton.
Orloff, an early 20th Century professional femulator
Heck, at only $4.98, I’ll take one in each color!
Wearing Christian Dior.
Actor Sam Littlefield femulating in a 2002 episode of television’s V.I.P.
Saturday, I am the little househusband and among other things, I do the grocery shopping for the following week. I buy what I can at Aldi, then go to Price Chopper to pick up the things that Aldi did not have.
Wearing Tom Ford (sandals), JAR (earrings), Jil Sander (top)
and Amarcord Vintage-Fashion (pants).
Actors femulating on stage in Pageant: The Musical in New York City, 2014.
| Jan Brown passed along a valuable online tool for folks seeking GLBT support and resources: GLBT Near Me. Enter your ZIP Code and how many miles you are willing to travel from your ZIP Code to get support. Then select a category, for example, "Transgender, and click on the Search button. In response, the web tool returns a list of resources that fit the parameters you entered. Very cool and very useful! |  |
Wearing Daily Look.
Recent womanless beauty pageant contestant.
I loved The Beach Boys' music first, then I fell in love with The Beatles' music. I have been a Beatlemaniac ever since.
During the height of Beatlemania, I acted indifferently towards The Fab Four. My indifference was part of my disguise.
I worried that if I showed any interest in The Beatles, people would perceive that as a girly thing. Next thing you know, they would put two and two together and figure out that if I was doing girly things, then I must be girly. The fact that I had feminine speech and mannerisms would just confirm their conclusion.
In my late teens, I abandoned my disguise (because it was not working) and was completely open about my Beatlemania. I bought all their LPs, 45s, EPs, tapes, CDs, DVDs and as many bootlegs as I could find. When I visited the UK in the mid-1980s, I found Abbey Road and had my photo taken crossing the famous crosswalk. And on and on and on.
Anyway, I finally saw The Beatles in person on Saturday night! Well, more like one-quarter of The Beatles or one-half of the surviving Beatles.
Ringo Starr performed at a local concert hall and I had almost a front row seat to see the show. I had a wonderful time and enjoyed the show immensely.
Two things stuck out in my mind about the show.
So, goo goo g'joob.
Wearing Brahmin.
Femulate reader Fiona femulating at Royal Ascot.
This beautiful teenager was hassled by the South Carolina DMV after passing the driver's license test and waiting to be photographed for the license. Chase Culpepper, who wears makeup and androgynous or girls’ clothing on a regular basis, was told to remove the makeup and “look more like a boy" for the photo.
According to a DMV spokesperson, the DMV works with law enforcement on these decisions. "If it says male [on the license], that's what they're gonna look for. They expect the photo to be of a man."
I guess it's time to introduce those folks to the 21st Century!
Meanwhile, Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund (TLDEF) is on the case.
Wearing Shoshanna.
Barney Rubble and Fred Flintstone, before and after.
Note that they are wearing dresses before and after!
In response to my clip-on earrings post on Monday, Robin wrote urging me to get my ears pierced. She mentioned that if the pain of getting my ears pieced was the issue, I had nothing to fear but ear fear itself, because the pain "was nothing."
I replied that I usually get my teeth fixed without Novocain or whatever they use these days, so pain is not an issue.. Rather, my spouse is the issue.
She is not thrilled with the fact that her husband is a woman, but she realizes that I must let my girl out for air once in awhile. I appreciate that she is OK with me being the authentic me some of the time, but I don't want to rub her nose in it.
Everyday, she sees signs that remind her that her husband is a woman.
We share a walk-in closet and as she enters it, she encounters a rack now half full of her husband's dresses, skirts, blouses, and slacks. On the floor below those pretty things are countless boxes containing her husband's high heels. Next to the shoes are storage totes containing her husband's lingerie and hosiery. Next to the totes is her husband's cosmetics box. Still other totes contain her husband's jewelry and purses. And on the shelf above her tops and jeans is a tote containing her husband's coiffures.
If I dress as a woman when my spouse is home, I avoid my spouse so that she does not see her husband as a woman because she has often said, "I don't want to see you dressed as a woman." (On occasion, curiosity gets the best of her and she wants to see how I look, but I don't show her unless she is interested.)
My body has signs that may remind her that I am a woman. My hairless arms, legs, breasts, shoulders and back are the most obvious signs.
Less obvious are my neatly maintained eyebrows (eyeglasses hide how neat and feminine they actually look).
She never mentions the stuff in our closet, nor my shaved body, nor my feminized eyebrows --- out of sight, out of mind.
But if I had my ears pierced, there would be no way to hide that from her. It would be a constant reminder that I am a woman, so I let it be.
Wearing Light in the Box.
Femulating British sailor, circa 1910
As an Avon lady for over 18 years, I have seen a lot of Avon jewelry come my way. And whenever that jewelry includes clip-on earrings, I almost always make a purchase because my Avon lady discount makes the price just right.
I do the same thing when I am out shopping en femme. Clip-on earrings are such a rarity that I often buy what I find.
As a result, I have bought a lot of earrings that I never wear. Instead, I wear the same favorite clip-ons over and over again. So it makes sense to stop buying earrings I don't wear and buy earrings like those I prefer to wear, that is, vintage-style clip-on earrings.
Try finding vintage-style clip-on earrings. Antique stores have them, but they are expensive. I bought two pairs at a Provincetown antique store last time I attended Fantasia Fair and the price was right because it was the dead end of the season. The price is not right most of the rest of the time.
Then it occurred to me to try shopping where I have found many bargains in the past: eBay.
A quick search on eBay turned up a truckload of clip-on earrings including the kind I like. I placed some bids and succeeded seven times for a total cost of $16.95. Two pairs of earrings were $6 each, while the remaining five pairs were 99 cents each. Shipping was free on the $6 pairs and only $2.01 for the remaining five pairs, which were one bundle from one seller.
The accompanying photo show the seven pairs I won on eBay. The $6 pairs are the dangly gold strands (lower right) and the gold squares (bottom), which actually have faux mother of pearl, not gold centers.
Wearing Robert Rodriguez.
Actor Julian Eltinge femulating in the 1917 film Countess Charming.
