What I'm Reading Now

Cathy's Comeback Dress

I read a lot!

At any time, I am typically working my way through three or four books simultaneously. Lately, it has been three books: a radio history book and two trans-related books.

The Airwaves of New York: Illustrated Histories of 156 AM Stations in the Metropolitan Area, 1921-1996 by Bill Jaker, Frank Sulek and Peter Kanze.

"This heavily illustrated history traces the development of AM radio in the New York metropolitan area. While technical information and program schedules are fully covered, the work also provides unique insight into radio's influence on the development of the city. The photographs reinforce the sense of change brought about by the medium."

Transgender History: The Roots of Today's Revolution, Second Edition by Susan Stryker

"Covering American transgender history from the mid-twentieth century to today, Transgender History takes a chronological approach to the subject of transgender history, with each chapter covering major movements, writings, and events. Chapters cover the transsexual and transvestite communities in the years following World War II; trans radicalism and social change, which spanned from 1966 with the publication of The Transsexual Phenomenon, and lasted through the early 1970s; the mid-'70s to 1990-the era of identity politics and the changes witnessed in trans circles through these years; and the gender issues witnessed through the '90s and '00s.

"Transgender History includes informative sidebars highlighting quotes from major texts and speeches in transgender history and brief biographies of key players, plus excerpts from transgender memoirs and discussion of treatments of transgenderism in popular culture."

Trans Like Me: Conversations for All of Us by CN Lester

"A personal and culture-driven exploration of the most pressing questions facing the transgender community today, from a leading activist, musician, and academic

"In Trans Like Me, CN Lester takes readers on a measured, thoughtful, intelligent yet approachable tour through the most important and high-profile narratives around the trans community, turning them inside out and examining where we really are in terms of progress. From the impact of the media's wording in covering trans people and issues, to the way parenting gender variant children is portrayed, Lester brings their charged personal narrative to every topic and expertly lays out the work left to be done.

"Trans Like Me explores the ways that we are all defined by ideas of gender--whether we live as he, she, or they--and how we can strive for authenticity in a world that forces limiting labels."

On the blog front, two recent blog posts got my attention.

Faith DaBrooke of Adventures of a Gender Rebel fame, hopped on the wayback machine and presented an interesting gallery of annotated herstoric photos in her recent Some Old Favorites post.

Peter Lappin of Male Pattern Boldness fame, also hopped on the wayback machine and came up with a vintage pattern to sew a dress for his cousin Cathy's comeback. The circa 1959 dress is to-die-for and reminds me of something my mother might have sewn for herself or me.

Wearing Bebe (Source: Bebe)

Peter Lappin's cousin Cathy Lane

Well Wellness

I had two medical appointments today, one to check the condition of my leg after Monday's varicose vein removal and one with my general practitioner to check my wellness.

My leg checked out ok and all I have to do now is heal.

My wellness appointment went well, too. To tell you the truth, I was concerned about my wellness because I have not had a check-up since the last century and you never know. But I left the appointment a very happy camper. My bloodwork indicated that among other things, my cholesterol, electrolytics and prostate were good and I had no sign of diabetes.

The only thing left to do is a colonoscopy which is scheduled for next month.

And so it goes.

Wearing New York & Company (Source: New York & Company)

Grzegorz Wilk femulates Amanda Lear on Polish television's Twoja Twarz Brzmu Znajomo.

You're So Vein

My trip to the vein center yesterday went well. The procedure lasted about one hour and was relatively painless... just 15 to 20 brief pinches when the doctor was inserting pain meds or making holes to remove veins.

I could not view the procedure because of the location of my head relative to my leg, but it is just as well because I might have anticipated the pinches.

Near the end of the procedure, I asked the doctor what a vein looked like because I had never seen one in the flesh, so he showed me a vein he had just removed from my leg and it looked like hollow spaghetti with some red sauce.

I go back tomorrow for an ultrasound to make sure everything is copacetic.

Rodney To (in pink) femulating in a 2012 episode of television's Modern Family.

To the Vain Center (pun intended)

I have been busy going to doctors and dentists lately. No bad news, but it has affected my blogging time resulting in a scarcity of posts.

I am going to have the varicose veins in my left leg removed today. First time I had this done about 25 years ago, I had to go to the hospital where they put me under and surgically stripped the offending veins. 

Today, they will do it in the doctor's office (called a "vein center") by giving me a local, inserting a catheter into the vein and use radio waves to heat it and close it. Then they will remove the bulging veins using tiny stab incisions that usually do not require sutures to heal. The bulging veins are extracted through the incisions. 

I hope I can watch, but I bet they won't let me.

Wearing Cools

David Guapo femulates Rebeca on Spain's version of television's Your Face Sounds Familiar.

Someday Funnies

Wearing Jovani

Sheet music for "The Fashion Girl" sung by professional femulator Tom Martelle

Big Deal

Crossdressing: Erotic Stories Kindle Edition is available today for $1.99 on Amazon.

(Source: Harper's Bazaar)

Female vs. Woman

Must Read Dept.

My BFF, Cyrsti of Cyrsti's Condo fame, took the words right out of my head when she wrote her Saturday post, Female vs Woman.

Poster Girls Dept.

A recent Moda Operandi e-mail advertisement (see above) can be a poster for us gurls on how not to femulate women.

The young 20-something models in the advertisement may be dressed appropriately for a Saturday girls' night out, but not for a lady's day out or even a lady's night out.

Unless you are very gifted in your appearance, dressing in public like the young women in the advertisement will brand you as something or other and neither is flattering. Someone might even call you (heaven forbid) a "transvestite."

Wearing Dress Barn (Source: Dress Barn)

The Three Stooges (Larry, Moe and Shemp) femulate in the 1950 short Self Made Maids.

Sisters Act

In light of the brouhaha over actress Scarlett Johansson portraying/not portraying a transman in a new film, I am repeating what I wrote (with edits) in March 2015.

That is actor Eddie Redmayne in the photo above femulating in the film The Danish Girl in which he plays Einar Wegener/Lili Elbe, a Danish artist who was an early sex reassignment surgery patient.

As in the past, whenever a non-transgender person gets the role of a transgender person, there is a hue and cry from the transgender community complaining that a transgender actor/actress should have gotten the role. And so it goes with the non-trans Redmayne portraying Einar Wegener/Lili Elbe.

I have no complaint about hiring a non-trans person to play a trans role. If I was casting a film, I would want the best actors/actresses to be in my film whether or not their personal life experience matched that of the film’s characters. If there was a match that would be icing on the cake, but if not, that’s where the ability of an actor to play a role takes over.

And as a member of the audience, I want my money’s worth; I want to see the best performances that money can buy up on the big screen, not an amateurish production featuring authentic transpeople or cowboys or cops or snipers. Have you ever sat through a film featuring any of Warhol’s trans trio, Candy, Holly, and Jackie? I rest my case.

My complaint about the casting of transgender roles is using females to play transwomen and vice versa, using males to play transmen. For the sake of authenticity, male actors should play transwomen and female actresses should play transmen.

Who is a more authentic transwoman: the pretty and petite Felicity Huffman in Transamerica or the large of frame, six-foot-one Jeffrey Tambor in Transparent? The audience has to suspend disbelief, i.e., that Huffman is a cisgender woman in order to accept her as a pre-op transsexual, whereas it is easy for the audience to buy into Tambor’s masculine roots.

And in this day and age, during Trump's War on Transgenders, I think we have bigger fish to fry than something as trivial as who portrays who in movie roles.

Wearing Intermix (Source: Intermix)

Taylor Hawkins femulates a flight attendant in The Foo Fighters' "Learn to Fly" video.

Someday Funnies

Wearing Pretty One (Source: Pretty One)

Lolita

Friday Footings

If the Shoe Fits Dept.

If you are like me and don't feel completely dressed until you slip into a pair of Louboutin or more likely, Payless high heel pumps, then you will appreciate the High Heel Hacks that Rhonda of Rhonda's Escape fame, posted on her blog yesterday.

He's Got Legs Dept.

Summertime and the living is easy, but for years, I refused to wear shorts in boy mode in even the hottest weather because I worried that people might notice my shaved legs. Well, this summer has been one of the hottest in awhile in this neck of the woods... so hot that I took a pair of scissors to an old pair of jeans and made myself a pair of shorts that I have worn on most hot days this summer.

If anyone noticed, they did not say, not even when I accessorized with a pair of nude pumps (only kidding about the pumps).

She's Got Shoes Dept.

I have so many shoes that I forget what I own. So I took photos of every shoe and created a PowerPoint that groups the collection according to style and height. Now when I put together an outfit, I simply view the PowerPoint to choose a shoe instead of trying to find something among the hundred shoe boxes stacked in my closet.

Wearing Hanes (Source: OnesHanesPlace)

Womanless wedding guests, circa 1979.