Second Act

I enjoy retirement and recommend it highly, but I do have free time on my hands and I would like to use some of it productively as a woman outside of the home.

We are lucky enough to live in an area replete with museums and art galleries that are always looking for volunteers. There are also LGBT organizations in the area that welcome volunteers. And the national ham radio organization that I used to freelance for is also nearby and needs volunteers. On the other hand, a part-time job that pays would be nice, too.

So I am ready for my second act, but is the world ready for a woman like me?

I assume that the LGBT organizations would not have a problem. Museums and art galleries are usually run by open-minded folks, so they would probably be OK with me, too. But I am not so sure about the ham radio organization and paid positions.

What to do?

Wearing Tibi blazer-jumpsuit and The Range turtleneck (Source: Intermix)

Contestants in the 1974 Los Angeles Miss Cotillion pageant.

Tasi Zuriack, Rest in Peace

I received reports that Sister House founder, Tasi Zuriack, died.

Tasi was a woman after my own heart and we exchanged many emails over the years. She wrote to me once, "My feeling is if you want to look like a woman, then you better know how the fashionable ones look." Her website reflected that opinion as she tried to educate girls like us how to become women like her.

I will miss Tasi. Her death leaves a big gap in the world of femulators.

* * *

Tasi's death reminds me of how important the Internet has become to femulators. Trans-sister, Jenn, addressed this very topic in a recent email exchange.

"Over the years, we have seen such a great improvement in access to information about our 'condition.' (Sorry for such a clinical term, but I just don’t quite know what else to call it as an all-inclusive reference to those who despite having male genitals wear female clothing.)

"I’m a few years older than you and remember at a very young age going through the card catalog at my library for references to 'Transvestism.' Precious little was available then in my small home town library. I’d have been too afraid to actually request any of the books I found anyway. Those librarians were very imposing to a young femulator.

"Fast-forward to the dawn of the Internet and its precursors the bulletin boards, which later transitioned into services like AOL and CompuServe. I remember many hours using a 14.4-baud modem accessing various sources of information. And, wonder of wonders, actual pictures of similarly situated individuals.

"From those and the subsequent explosion of resources available on the Internet, we now have a huge knowledge base from which to improve our presentation. So, it seems that the Internet has greatly benefited us all in both our understanding of the condition and for our actual presentation.

"We all learn from each other and hopefully, we can teach 'outsiders' as well."

Wearing Venus (Source: Venus)

A recent womanless beauty pageant contestant and her proud family. (Source: Pinterest)

Facebook Off

As soon as I finish this post, I am going to mosey on over to Facebook and delete my account.

Years ago, Facebook blocked my account because they thought my femme name was fake. They offered no option for people like us.

I continued to use my other Facebook account which was under my legal name, but I used it less and less as time went by. Nowadays, I check in maybe once a week.

Then there was this: "Facebook apologizes to evangelist Franklin Graham after banning him for 24 hours over a 2016 post in which he argued in favor of a bill regulating transgender bathroom access"

Graham has been on our case for years, but I paid him no attention. I figured he was just another ChINO (Christian In Name Only) practicing his so-called religion. I always say, "Ignore the ignorant" and that's what I did.

But Facebook's support of Graham's "religious" views was the last straw. I am not waiting for the third strike and will delete my Facebook account post haste.

Happy New Year!

Wearing Boston Proper (Source: Boston Proper)

My all-time favorite femulator!

Someday Funnies

Wearing Nine West (Source: Nine West)

Raymond Galle (right) femulates in the 1936 French film Club de femmes.

All Play and No Work Makes Jack a Dull Girl

Lavern Cummings

I received an e-mail from Carollyn in response to my "who would I want to femulate?" post. She picked female impersonator Lavern Cummings as the woman she would femulate.

Carollynn wrote, "She was amazing and an icon among the female impersonators. I could never imagine, when I was a teen, how beautiful a man could be when dressed as a woman... and what a performer too."

I was similarly amazed as a pre-teen when I first saw photos of the female impersonators in newspaper ads for New York City's Club 82. Today, having achieved a somewhat passable female presentation myself, I am less amazed. It is just a lot of hard work.

Just like anything else, if you want to achieve something, you have to work at it. To be a successful femulator, just putting on a dress and lipstick will not cut it. You have to study the subject thoroughly, practice what you have learned in your studies, then go back and study some more.

Just like a woman, you have to become an expert in cosmetics, fashions, hair care, etc. You have to follow fashion trends and read fashion magazines.

In addition, as a man trying to be a woman, you have to become an expert in impersonating a woman and learn all the tricks on how to hide the guy and bring out the gal. And once you achieve the look of a woman, you have to learn how to act, walk, move, speak and have mannerisms like a woman. And you have to practice, practice and practice some more.

I am sure that Miss Cummings did not become a femme fatale overnight ― she had to work at it.

And yes, it's a lot of hard work. But the first time a woman compliments you on the way you look or when a man makes a pass at you, you will feel wonderful beyond compare and know it was worth it.

(Caveat Emptor: This post is a rerun from September 2015.)

Wearing Burberry sweater and skirt (Source: MatchesFashion)

Professional femulator Julian Eltinge, circa 1922

Initially Feminine

I have been reading the old Drag magazines that are accessible at Internet Archive and the following article from a 1978 issue (volume 7, number 26) of the magazine fascinated me.

Boys Should Be Girls

LOS ANGELES ― A University of California psychoanalyst says all little boys start life by wishing they were little girls.

This thesis, voice by Dr. Robert Stollar [sic], contradicts the theory of Sigmund Freud, who concluded that all little girls subconsciously wished they were little boys.

Dr. Stollar [sic] told a meeting of the American As­sociation for the Advancement of Science that it was "only natural that all babies would want to be girls because the mother, not the father, is the parent with whom they identify first.''

The doctor says he has treated hundreds of male patients who had trouble switching their ''gender identity" as they grew older. Earlier in life, they had all wanted to be girls, he said.

If this is indeed true, then TVs and TSs are the only people in society who are following their nor­mal God-given urges!

I looked the doctor up and found that he's Dr. Stoller, not Stollar. Wikipedia expands a bit on what the Drag magazine article said.

Drawing on his extensive research with transsexuals and new advances in the science of sex, Stoller advances his belief in "Primary Femininity," the initial orientation of both biological tissue and psychological identification toward feminine development. This early, non-conflictual phase contributes to a feminine core gender identity in both boys and girls unless a masculine force is present to interrupt the symbiotic relationship with the mother.

That fits me perfectly, like a size 12 dress!

(Caveat Emptor: This post is a rerun from February 2016.)

I can't concentrate in flats - Victoria Beckham (Source: Starla)

Professional femulator Courtney Act

A White Christmas

Looks like we are going to have a white Christmas here in Connecticut. Mother Nature blessed us with about an inch of snow Christmas Eve morning.

White Christmas is one of my favorite Christmas movies. The plot has so many holes in it that you can drive a Sherman tank through it, but I love the songs and dances. The film even has a very lame femulation scene performed by Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye (I guess Bing and Danny were saving their femulating skills for other films.)

SundanceTV is having a White Christmas marathon as I write this on Christmas Eve and as luck would have it, when I turned on the television, they were showing the femulation scene!

My other favorite Christmas film is A Christmas Story. I was an early adopter of that film because I was a big fan of Jean Shepherd, whose stories were the basis of the film's plot (Jean was also a ham radio operator). I saw the film when it came out in 1983 and I recommended it to all my friends, but they looked at me as if I had lobsters crawling out of my ears.

The film also has a femulating scene when the main character, Ralphie, has to try on the Christmas present his Aunt Clara sewed for him. Problem is that Aunt Clara thinks that Ralphie is a girl and her Christmas gift is a girly bunny outfit. (I should be so lucky!)

I want to wish all my readers and contributors a very Merry Mary Christmas!

Wearing Bebe (Source: Bebe)

A couple in their Christmas outfits (Source: Pinterest)

and a Happy New Year!

Someday Funnies

Wearing Missoni (Source: Intermix)

Professional femulator Arturo Galster impersonating Patsy Cline

Party Notes

Here are some comments regarding the company Christmas party I attended on Thursday.

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All my previous femulations among my co-workers was with blonde hairdos, so when I showed up as a brunette on Thursday, some people did not recognize me.

While standing in line for the buffet, the co-worker in front of me remarked that she had no idea who I was because I looked so different as a brunette. She added that I looked gorgeous as a brunette.

👠👠👠

Although I had a great time celebrating the holidays with my former co-workers, it was also a little depressing to hear the news I missed during the past year. One co-worker's son committed suicide, another co-worker was diagnosed with colon cancer, and the company is being sold (again), which may result in my division disappearing.

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Good news is that I reached my weight loss goal this week. Bad news is that I now have a closet full of shoes that no longer fit. I had no idea that losing weight would result in reducing my shoe size as well as my dress size.

I plan to go through my collection and see what fits and what doesn't fit. Every cloud has a silver lining, so I assume I will also find shoes that were too small six months ago that now fit.

I discovered my shrinking foot problem when I tried on the Nine West metallic platform pumps a few days before wearing them out. They were very loose and after a few steps, I would lose one shoe or the other.

Being a stubborn fashionista, I was determined to wear those shoes with my new dress to the Christmas party, so I inserted heel liners in each shoe. The liners helped and I did not lose a shoe throughout the day, but often I had to clench my foot when it felt like a shoe was not going my way. So they are destined for the "do not fit" division of my shoe wardrobe.

Wearing Boston Proper (Source: Boston Proper)

Alan Sues femulates Jo Anne Worley on television's Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In.

Company Christmas Party

Thursday, I attended my former employer's Christmas luncheon party.

I wore the Julia Jordan gunmetal fit-and-flare dress, Dress Barn off-black pin-dot tights and Nine West metallic platform pumps. Instead of accessorizing with silver jewelry as I originally planned, my wife suggested I wear something colorful for the holidays, so I wore a red necklace and red earrings.

As I began to fill my old tired-looking black handbag, my daughter gave me an early Christmas present: a red Kate Spade handbag! I was so surprised and happy with her generous gift that I almost started to cry, but I held back my tears so as not to ruin my makeup.

I left the house and drove to the banquet hall hosting the luncheon. Usually I wear my heels when I drive, but the platform pumps are about a half-inch higher than my usual footwear and that half-inch or so made it difficult to manipulate the three pedals under the dashboard, so I wore flats to drive and switched to heels when I arrived at the banquet hall.

I entered the hall and when I checked my coat, the three women staffing the front of the hall said they loved my outfit. One said she wanted to buy shoes like mine.

I found a seat at a table with my former co-workers and it was just like last year's Christmas luncheon when I wrote, "It was as if I showed up in boy mode." Folks greeted and chatted with me like old times. The fact that I was presenting as a woman made no difference.

Reflecting on what I wrote last year "...as if I showed up in boy mode," I realize now that it did not matter if I showed up in boy mode or girl mode. Rather it mattered that I showed up in Stan mode. In a dress or slacks, I am the same person that my former co-workers knew for 20 years and I think most of them were glad to know me just as I was glad to know them.

Wearing Unique Vintage (Source: Unique Vintage)

Joe Regalbuto femulates in a 1990 episode of television's The Love Boat.