Halloween Redux

I subscribe to GoComics, which sends me a daily email of comic strips that I like to read. Some are current (Dick Tracy) and some are vintage (Nancy).

One strip I read is The Meaning of Lila, which isn't exactly vintage, but isn't current either – it ran for nine years (2003-2012). For the past few days, the strip had a Halloween theme with Lila and her friend Boyd attending a Halloween party. Here is the strip I received on Friday:

I thought it was interesting in that Friday's strip addressed the issue of girls like us dressing as convincing women on Halloween and as a result, bringing up the question of our sexuality among the civilians.

It certainly has happened to me.

I recall attending a Halloween party at law school en femme. A classmate also attended en femme. His costume was a joke (big party balloon breasts, fright wig, no makeup, etc.), whereas my costume was up to my usual standards of trying to be as convincing as possible.

The partygoers reacted accordingly. Whereas they joked and made rude comments about my classmate's costume, the same people reacted differently to my costume. Most people did not say anything; they just stared at me, seemed to be in awe and were speechless.

One friend did say that he did not realize how feminine my male speech and mannerisms were until I dressed as a woman and now my appearance matched my personality!

Also, I had to fight off the advances of one of the band members who wanted to have his way with me. Not sure if he was a transvestite chaser or he thought I was a cisgender woman, but either way, it was my first encounter with a male admirer and it sure made me think about my sexuality.

Wearing Alexis strapless linen romper (Source: Moda Operandi)

Rachel shopping for that perfect Halloween costume.
(Send me a photo of your all-time favorite Halloween femulation and I will post it here, too.)

Trick or Treat

We usually don't get many Halloween trick or treaters. We live in the woods on a dead end off another dead end, the walk from the street to the house is long and the kids in the neighborhood have grown too old to trick or treat. Halloween 2016, we had four kids, 2017, we had none.

Yesterday, I thought we were going to have a shut out two years in a row — 7:30 PM and no kids and then the doorbell rang. I answered the door and found two girls dressed as cheerleaders. I guessed that they were middle-school age — on the cusp of being too old to trick or treat. They were both very pretty, but when in unison they said, "Trick or treat" I realized that the pretty girls were actually boys!

Great femulations!

Wearing Boston Proper (Source: Boston Proper)

Betty belly-dancing for Halloween.

Stuff Happens

Happy Halloween!

This is the first Halloween in awhile that I have not dressed pretty for the occasion. But, as they say, "stuff happens." Things have been VERY hectic around here the past few days and I have had almost zero time for anything related to femulating. I have not even had time to answer my mail, but I hope to catch up with that by the end of the day.

So I apologize to my readers who show up here every day to find something fresh (pun intended) only to find Monday's post at the top of the page.

I love this outfit! (Found it on Pinterest.)

Didi commented on her Halloween costume, "Got a ton of smiles as Harley Quinn, even from my wife."

!!!!

Flu-Like Symptoms

Throughout my adult life, I never had the flu and never bothered getting a flu shot.

Last winter, I caught the flu for the first time and when the symptoms peaked on a Friday night, my daughter took me to the ER. The hospital sent me home with a prescription and I recovered quickly. However, with people my age dropping like flies all around me from the flu, I promised myself that I would get a flu shot this fall.

I got a flu shot last week and a few days later, I began to feel lousy.

I felt so lousy that I skipped two Halloween parties, thus missing an opportunity to wear the new costume that I assembled for the holiday. So I packed the costume away for next year and so it goes.

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

Joey's favorite Halloween picture is possibly the only Halloween picture of him crossdressed when he volunteered to work in a store on Halloween 2010. You can read all about it here on Joey's blog.
(Send me a photo of your all-time favorite Halloween femulation and I will post it here, too.)

Someday Funnies

Devil Girl Randy at her support group's Halloween party in 2015
(Send me a photo of your all-time favorite Halloween femulation and I will post it here, too.)

Leaf it to me

Last year, the fall leaf count on my little acre was 16,730,421. This year, the leaf count will probably be about the same because the tree count did not change.

I go out twice a week to deal with the fall. My fallen leaf weapons include a rake, an electric handheld blower and a gas-powered wheeled blower.

The handheld blower has a narrow concentrated field of blow, whereas the wheeled blower has a wider field of blow. So I first use the handheld to move leaves that are stuck in nooks and crannies and then I use the wheeled blower to move leaves to the leaf hills and ridges in the woods that surround my property. (I avoid using the rake if at all possible.)

Depending on how thorough I am, it takes 90 minutes to two hours to do the job. Add another 30 minutes if I wear heels instead of flats.

Wearing Metrostyle (Source: Metrostyle)

Julie Shaw's favorite Halloween costume was magical!
(Send me a photo of your all-time favorite Halloween femulation and I will post it here, too.)

Kate Bornstein vs. Gender Bullies

This is a rare World Series Edition of Femulate because I am writing it while watching the World Series.

Kate Bornstein vs. Gender Bullies

Author, playwright, performance artist and gender theorist Kate Bornstein wrote on "Why the Gender Bullies Can’t Win," an essay that appears in the current issue of Rolling Stone.

She wrote, "It isn’t going to be easy. It may take a while. So we keep resisting. I’m 70 years old, and I’ve been resisting gender bullying from the day I was told I had to be a boy. I’m still alive, and joyously living the gender of my choice. We all can do that if we do it together with the kindness, compassion, and justice we all deserve."

I urge you to read her entire essay. After all the transphobic flak we have been experiencing lately, I felt encouraged after reading her words.

And go Red Sox!

Wearing Boston Proper (Source: Boston Proper)

This is the outfit Kerry plans to wear on Halloween. "I'm to old to trick or treat, but a stroll through the mall would be just as fun. The killer heels I'm wearing killed my feet after two hours. Have fun on Halloween."

(Send me a photo of your all-time favorite Halloween femulation and I will post it here, too.)

Local War on Transgenders

At least one candidate for office in Connecticut is on the wrong side of the War on Transgenders: Rob Sampson who is running for State Senator from my district, Connecticut State Senate District 16, which includes the towns of Prospect, Southington, Wolcott, the north end of Cheshire and the east end of Waterbury (see the map).

Sampson is a four-term State Representative representing the 80th State House District. He is trying to jump to the Senate now that his fellow traveler, Senator Joe Markley, is running for Lieutenant Governor.

Sampson has a long record of introducing legislation and voting for legislation that negatively affects his transgender and LGB constituents.

Vickie Nardello for State Senate

His House Bill (HB) 5193 stated that “health insurance policies delivered, issued for delivery, renewed, amended or continued in this state shall not be required to provide coverage for gender reassignment surgery or related surgical expenses.”

He voted against HB 6695, which banned the controversial practice of using therapy to alter a young person's sexual orientation or gender identity.

He voted against HB 6599, which prohibited discrimination based on gender identity or expression.

Also, Sampson has consistently voted against women's rights legislation.

If you live in Connecticut State Senate District 16, I strongly urge you to vote for Vickie Nardello for State Senate and send Rob Sampson packing.

Wearing Bebe (Source: Bebe)

Despicable Administration Eyes Defining Transgender Out of Existence

According to the Sunday New York Times, The Despicable/Trump Administration "is considering narrowly defining gender as a biological, immutable condition determined by genitalia at birth, the most drastic move yet in a governmentwide effort to roll back recognition and protections of transgender people under federal civil rights law."

The Department of Health and Human Services, which is spearheading this effort, argued "that key government agencies needed to adopt an explicit and uniform definition of gender as determined 'on a biological basis that is clear, grounded in science, objective and administrable.'"

That is a laughable argument in light of the anti-scientific, anti-intellectual stance of the Despicables.

Someday Funnies

Wearing Bebe (Source: Bebe)

Marie femulated Wonder Woman at a 2017 Halloween GALA with proceeds going to a Children's Care Foundation. The Amazing Amazon was welcomed and accepted by other women attending the festivities.

(Send me a photo of your all-time favorite Halloween femulation and I will post it here, too.)

Conflict

I have a conflict.

There are a couple of Halloween party opportunities next week, but they conflict with the World Series schedule. Normally, it would not be a problem, but this year my Boston Red Sox are representing the American League in the Series.

This is only the seventh time this has occurred in my lifetime, whereas this will be my 67th Halloween, so I may put my Halloween costume away to wear next Halloween and watch the World Series.

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

Sara Michelle in working woman drag – her favorite Halloween femulation (2003)
(Send me a photo of your all-time favorite Halloween femulation and I will post it here, too.)

New Rule Will Let Federal Contractors Fire Trans Employees for Religious Reasons

The Despicable/Trump Administration is working on a formal religious exemption to rules that ban federal contractors from discriminating against LGBTQ people, according to a several unnamed Labor Department sources who spoke with Buzzfeed News.

According to the sources, the Despicable/Trump Administration is working on a policy that would allow federal contractors to discriminate against workers if the contractor claims that their religion requires them to discriminate against LGBTQ people.

The sources did not know if the exception would be limited to federal contractors that are religious – like a Catholic charity – or if it applies to for-profit businesses. Conservatives favor religious exemptions for for-profit businesses like Hobby Lobby and Masterpiece Cakeshop, claiming that a religious business owner’s beliefs are violated if their business violates them.

(Source: LGBTQ Nation)

Smile, Smile, Smile

When I started femulating in public, I was afraid that people would recognize me as a crossdresser. As a result, I looked and acted as if I had something to hide; I walked with my head down, looked away quickly if I saw someone looking at me and I avoided encounters with teenagers, with males, with anybody!

People who noticed, might wonder why I was acting as if I had something to hide and when they looked closer, they might figure out why ― because I was a guy crossdressing in public.

I was outing myself!

Once I figured out the error of my ways, I was determined not to out myself again. Since then, I have followed three rules that have helped me achieve that goal:

1.  Act as if you belong, so walk tall and strut your stuff.

2.  Don't look away furtively if other people look at you. Do the opposite: look back at them and disarm them with a smile.

3.  You are a beautiful woman and you should be happy about it, so smile, smile, smile.

(Source: Pinterest)

Ms. Sindi's favorite Halloween costume photo
(Send me a photo of your all-time favorite Halloween femulation and I will post it here, too.)