Friday, April 24, 2020

Friday Femulations

Presenting at Hamvention, May 2019
My thrush has cleared up to the point that I was able to resume my morning beauty routine which I had abandoned when thrush sores appeared around my mouth (in addition to in my mouth and on my tongue).

I am still on meds and will finish the prescription on Sunday. They did the job, but I will be glad when I am done with them because they occasionally upset my stomach.

At the peak of the thrush, I lost 11 pounds. I assumed that once I was able to eat and drink normally again that I would regain some of that weight. I was correct and regained 4 pounds, but have managed to keep off 7 pounds. Needless to say, I am happy with that weight loss.

I’m waiting on the delivery of another new outfit I ordered from JustFab and as soon as it is delivered, I will be ready to do a photoshoot of all the new attire I acquired recently.

As I mentioned previously, a number of events I planned to attend were cancelled or postponed due to the Trump Virus. However, one of the postponed events, Transgender Lives: The Intersection of Health and Law Conference, started weekly Zoom teleconferences featuring some of the folks who were scheduled to speak at the conference. And they asked me to present “Crossdressing Successfully in the Real World” – time and date is to be determined. It will probably be in early June; I will let you know as soon as I know.

The conference is Connecticut TransAdvocacy Coalition’s (CTAC) biggest fundraising event of the year and having to postpone means a significant decrease in funding to support CTAC's mission. So please consider donating to help CTAC continue their work making sure that Connecticut is a safe and affirming place for trans and gender non-conforming individuals through education and social advocacy! Please consider making a donation; click here to do so.



Source: Ann Taylor
Wearing Ann Taylor




Jan Cina
Jan Cina femulates Nada Urbankova on Czech television’s Tvoje tvář má známý hlas.
You can view the femulation on YouTube.

Thursday, April 23, 2020

Thursday Tidings

Do Her Yourself Dept.

Tuesday’s post about makeup artist Andrew Sotomayor femulations drew a lot of interest. Velma sent along an article from Glamour that describes how Andrew did the makeup for his Bryce Dallas Howard femulation. Click here to view his how to.



No Prom Femulations This Year Dept.

Due to Trump Virus, schools are cancelling their graduation plans this spring along with the proms associated with the end of the school year. As a result, there probably will not be any stories about boys going to the prom in drag this year.

Not to disappoint, I found a story from last year about a boy who went to the prom to support a cancer-stricken teacher. Click here to read Jack’s story.



Better Late Than Never Dept.

Happy Administrative Professionals (Secretary's) Day!






Source: Veronica Beard
Wearing Veronica Beard




Gaurav Gera
Gaurav Gera femulates Mrs. Pammi Pyarelal on Indian television

Wednesday, April 22, 2020

Sunday in New York

In June 2009, I visited New York City to attend a workshop. During my five-day stay in Manhattan, I was en femme the whole time. The Sunday of my stay in New York City was one of the nicest days I ever experienced as a woman. Here is how I described it 11 years ago.

Sunday in New York and I dressed up for the day: my purple dress, jewelry, mid-heel Mary-Jane pumps, suntan pantyhose, etc.

My workshop ended about 2 PM and I returned to my hotel room to freshen up. After touching up my makeup, I went outdoors (the weather was perfect) and hailed a cab.

A cab stopped, I got in and told the driver to take me to Rockefeller Center.

The driver told me he could not take me there because the Puerto Rican Pride Parade on 5th Avenue blocked the path to the Rock. So, I got out of the cab and decided what to do.

I had fallen in love with a perfume sample that I received at Sephora, so I decided to walk the six blocks to their West 34th Street store to buy the perfume.

It was my first time out wearing the mid-heel Mary Janes I bought a few weeks ago. When I paid for the shoes, the cashier commented that the shoe was popular with dancers because they are very comfortable and I was discovering the same thing as I walked from my hotel to Sephora.

In Sephora, I walked around the store looking for the perfume. During my hunt, I passed an older gentleman and as I walked by him, he turned to me and said, “I want to give you a kiss” and then he blew me a kiss!

Flabbergasted, all I could do was whisper, “Thank-you.”

I found the perfume, paid for it and exited with my heels never touching the ground!

Since my new shoes were cooperating, I decided to walk a half-block to Herald Square and take a few photos. After taking a few shots, I saw an empty park bench and sat down to take a break. While I sat, I took a few photos of myself. They turned out OK, but I could only stretch my arm so far and I wanted something better.

Seated next to me was a older gentleman with a camera case in his lap. I tapped him on the shoulder and with a big smile, I asked him to take my photo. He smiled, I handed him my camera and he took the following photo of me.


After resting for five minutes, I decided to walk eight blocks up Broadway to Times Square. I took photos along the way and with no complaints coming from my feet, I decided to head east towards Rockefeller Center.

While waiting for the traffic light to give me the go-ahead to cross Broadway at West 45th Street, I took some more photos of Times Square. A trio of women joined me at the crosswalk and one asked me if I’d like her to take my photo. Of course I accepted her invitation and the photo I posted here is the result of her handiwork.


Five more blocks and I was in the middle of Rockefeller Center. Foot traffic was light, so I thought it might be a good time to go to the Top of the Rock. I entered the RCA Building (you call it what you want, it will always be the “RCA Building” to me) and found the ticket counter for the Top of the Rock.

My timing was good; there were no lines and I was on my way. Before getting on the elevator to go to the top, I had to go through a the metal detector and I set it off. The guard looked at me, then waved me on with the words, “Must be your bracelets, hon’.”

That was a new one! I’ve been called “miss” and “ma’am” before, but never hon’.” I smiled at the guard and got on the elevator.

Seventy stories later, I was on top of the RCA Building and the weather was perfect. Visibility was virtually infinite and the view was spectacular. To the south, the Jersey shore was visible, to the north, Catskill peaks poked over the horizon, to the northeast, I could see the Connecticut shoreline, and all around me was The City.

I spent about an hour atop, taking a lot of photos and taking it all in. I asked a couple of people to take photos of me and more than a couple of people asked me to do the same for them.


Next, I wanted to go to Saint Patrick’s Cathedral, which is just across the street from Rockefeller Center. I took the elevator back down and walked to 5th Avenue. During this short walk, a young man cut me off and immediately apologized, “Excuse me, hon’.”

Second “hon’” in an hour. I started to wonder if “hon’” was a New York thing, but I didn’t care. A blown kiss and two hon’s meant I was passing, however, I was about to receive another term of endearment that would seal it.

As I walked up 5th Avenue toward Saint Pat’s, a small group of high school boys were heading towards me. As I passed through the group, I heard one of the boys say, “Dyke.”

Now I knew I was passing!

I crossed 5th Avenue and entered Saint Pat’s. There was a Mass in progress and the priest was just finishing the sermon.

This was a big deal for me. I was raised a Roman Catholic and my religion was the source of much needless guilt about crossdressing throughout my life. I overcame the guilt years ago and now I was entering the church for the first time en femme.

When I planned this visit, I thought it would be like spitting in the eye of the Church of Rome. “Take that for all the pain and suffering you brought down upon me for so long.”

But instead of feeling vengeful, I felt wonderful. The prodigal son has returned, but now he is your daughter!

I decided to attend the Mass. I remembered and recited all the prayers and when it was time for the Sign of Peace, I exchange handshakes and “peace be with you’s” with all the folks around me, or so I thought.

From behind me came an anxious voice, “Peace be with you, Ma’am. Peace be with you, Ma’am.”

I realized I missed someone, so I turned around and exchanged another handshake and “peace be with you” with a fellow two rows behind me.

During the Mass, I noticed a reproduction of the famous painting, the Black Madonna of Częstochowa in one of the side altars of the cathedral.

Being of Polish descent, I checked it out and discovered that that side altar was dedicated to the saints of Poland. It included biographies, paintings and sculptures of all the saints. After saying a prayer for all my deceased relatives at the side altar, I exited the cathedral.

It was now 7 PM and the last meal I had was breakfast, so I was hungry and decided to treat myself by having dinner at the Rink Bar, the outdoor bar/restaurant that resides in the Rockefeller Center ice skating rink when it is too warm for ice skating. My table for one was immediately in front of the fountain, so I did not feel lonely eating solo because Prometheus was right by my side.


I had peach sangria, watercress salad, rissota crab cakes, and coffee. They were all excellent and they were all only $50 and change!

After dinner, I hailed a cab and enjoyed the ride down 5th Avenue while reflecting on my wonderful day out en femme.




Source: Venus
Wearing Venus



Kevin Kline
Kevin Kline femulates in the 1998 film Wild Wild West.

Tuesday, April 21, 2020

Andrew Sotomayor

Who better to femulate than a makeup artist?

Andrew Sotomayor is a renowned celebrity makeup artist and his occasional femulations are spectacular. Two personal favorites are Maleficent and Bryce Dallas Howard’s character from Jurassic World.

I wish I had his makeup skills!

Andrew Sotomayor
Andrew Sotomayor as Maleficent
Andrew Sotomayor as Bryce Dallas Howard in Jurassic World (who runs through the jungle in heels)



Source: Etienne Aigner
Wearing Etienne Aigner



Rob Moran
Rob Moran femulates in the 2001 film Shallow Hal.

Monday, April 20, 2020

The Booth Babe

I will not make my annual trip to Ohio to attend Hamvention because it was cancelled due to the corona virus. To relieve my Hamvention withdrawl,  I am repeating the story of my first Hamvention trip as a woman back May 2010. I hope you enjoy it.



There is so much to write about my long weekend en femme, but, first, let me set the scene.

I am well-known in the world known as amateur radio or ham radio. My notoriety in that world is as a writer/author. For over 40 years, I have written for the leading ham radio organization in the USA.

During that time, I have written monthly columns for the their magazine, articles for their books, and complete books, one of which was a best seller, and currently, I write a weekly column for their web site.

I am also on the board of directors of another prominent organization that represents a sub-group (digital experimenters) in ham radio. I also serve as that organization's newsletter editor and secretary.

As a result, I am well known in the ham radio world; I was once told to my face that I am a “ham radio legend.”

Each May, the biggest ham radio convention in the world occurs in Dayton, Ohio. I attend most years as I did this past weekend. I usually moderate a forum at the convention and staff the booth of the digital experimenters’ organization.

I did not moderate a forum this year because I was undecided about attending at all and by the time I made up my mind to go, it was too late to volunteer as a moderator.

I came out to the other board members and officials of the digital experimenters’ organization as well as my editor and her supervisors at the national organization I write for. In addition to coming out, I informed them that I intended to attend Hamvention en femme.

Not a discouraging word was heard. In fact, I received much support and offers of assistance, if needed.

Wednesday and Thursday


My weekend started with an early departure on Wednesday. I “cheated” and did not dress en femme because I wanted to get on the road as early as possible and getting en femme would have put a two-hour dent in my departure.

I drove 400 miles to Bedford, PA, where I stayed overnight.

Thursday morning, I dressed en femme and checked out of the Quality Inn. The woman staffing the desk during check-out was different from the woman staffing the desk when I checked in, so there was no confusion about who was staying in my room.

I arrived at the Doubletree Hotel in downtown Dayton about 2:15 PM. At check-in, the woman staffing the desk loved my top.

By the way, I registered at the hotel as “Stana” to add credibility to my femulation. (My credit card has only the initial “S” as my first name, which lets me get away with using “Stana” or any other “S” name I desire.)

In my room, I freshened up, changed from a top, leggings, and flats, to a black and white floral print dress and black patent platform slingback peep-toe pumps (see photo above left).

I took the elevator down to the lobby and visited the hotel’s bar. I perched myself on a bar stool, ordered a drink and relaxed before heading out to the board of director’s meeting.

The bartender treated me respectfully and I nursed my drink, but it was boring. There were two other customers talking about some ham radio convention and there was a hockey game on the television.

I left, fetched my car from valet parking and drove to the hotel uptown for the board meeting.

Entering the meeting room, I found two friends already there, who greeted me enthusiastically. As each of the other board members and officers showed up, they also greeted me as old friends even though I was sporting a “new look.”

The new board members were less enthusiastic because we were not old friends, but they were respectful and seemed accepting. Our accountant, who was not aware of my status, also was respectful and the waitstaff, who served our food referred to me as a female, so overall, the weekend started off on a very positive note.

The meeting ended and I was back in my room by 10 PM. I went to bed as soon as I could because I had to be up at 5 AM for my first day at the convention.

Friday and Saturday (Days)


Friday and Saturday, I spent most of those days staffing our booth and occasionally, I visited the other booths at the convention. Both days were similar and in my mind now it is hard to separate the two, so I will summarize the days together.

Males dominate ham radio. Females only represent about 15% of the US ham population. This demographic was clearly evident at Hamvention and attending the convention as a woman was a revelation.

For one thing, there were no lines at the restrooms. Also, the restrooms were pristine and the floors were dry even at the end of the day. (Attending the convention in the past as a male, I usually avoided the restrooms after mid-morning because they were disgusting.)

Another thing, I was the object of many a male’s attention. Staffing the booth or walking around the convention hall, strange men smiled at me, said “hello,” admired me from afar, etc., etc. It was amazing!

During the two days staffing the booth, I met six readers of this blog. Three informed me beforehand by e-mail that they would look for me at the convention; the other three just showed up at my booth and recognized me.

(Another reader e-mailed me saying that she thought she saw me walking near a specific set of booths around noon on Saturday. I confirmed that I was at those booths at that time and wish that she had stopped me to say “hello.”)

I am not aware of the comfort levels of the blog readers who met me at the convention, so I don't want to out them here by mentioning their names or worse, their ham radio call signs, but I want to thank them all for searching me out and giving me an opportunity to meet and girl-talk with them for awhile.

It was wonderful to meet and chat with the people I already knew, but it was also wonderful to meet and chat with people I did not know explaining the technologies displayed in our booth. I don't know if that qualifies me as a “booth babe,” but in all my years of staffing our booth, mine was the first appearance of a female form on the booth’s firing line. I wonder if that helped to attract visitors to our booth.

Friday Night


Friday night, our organization has a joint dinner with another experimenter’s organization, which usually attracts 100 to 200 attendees at a banquet hall south of Dayton. I have attended this dinner every year I have attended the convention, so I am familiar with many of the attendees, who also attend every year.

I wore my favorite dress du jour: the retro green dress (see photo above center). I accented the dress with a gold scarf, my simulated snakeskin platform slingback peep-toe pumps and a new matching simulated snakeskin bag. The hem of the dress is short, so I was showing more leg Friday night than I did the rest of the weekend. I thought I looked very nice.

I drove to the banquet hall, bought a drink, sat at a table up front, conversed with the other folks who sat at my table and tugged at the hem of my dress the whole time. I knew some of the folks at my table already and the others were new to me, but no one seemed to mind the new me.

The food was excellent as usual and I enjoyed the speaker, who is an old friend (we go back about 30 years).

Funny story... my speaker friend showed up at our booth early Friday morning and I made a point of saying “hello” to him. I thought I detected some confusion on his part and felt that I should have explained what was going on, but he was in a hurry to get to his booth.

I caught up with him before dinner and began to explain, but he interrupted me and said he knew exactly who I was and was very cool with it. The only thing he wanted to know was what name do I go by now.

That typified the whole weekend.

An aside: It was funny how some of my friends and acquaintances recognized me immediately despite my new look, whereas others were clueless as to my identity and we had to be re-introduced. Go figure.

Saturday Night


Saturday night, my plans were to attend the Contest Dinner, which is the big event for the ham radio contest community attending the convention. My editor, who is a big contester, had invited me to attend.

When I checked out the web page for the dinner, I noticed that most of the men in attendance were wearing jackets and ties, which was unusual for a ham radio affair.

There were no photos of females in attendance; I wondered what I should wear, so I asked my editor. She informed me that she always buys a new cocktail style dress to wear to that dinner.

Still unsure about what to wear, I sent her photos of some of my cocktail dresses. She loved the red dress I wore to my support group’s banquet back in March, so that is what I wore to the dinner along with some bling and my black patent platform slingback heels. I also sexed-up my makeup and hair and tried a new trick to accentuate my cleavage. In my humble opinion, I thought I came as close to achieving the term “hot” as I possibly could (see photo above left).

I took the hotel shuttle to the hotel hosting the dinner and climbed a grand circular staircase from the lobby up to the mezzanine level where the cocktail hour was in full swing. As I climbed the stairs, a sea of 200 to 300 males congregating in groups around the mezzanine appeared and suddenly it seemed as if they all turned their heads simultaneously to look at me! I smiled back at them and worked my way to the top of the staircase, where I discovered I was the only female attendee present at that point in time.

I am not very active in ham radio contests and did not recognize one face in the crowd. My editor had not yet arrived, so I was on my own.

A lot of guys were checking me out, but not one had the courage to speak to me, so I worked my way to the bar and ordered a drink. Then I worked my way back through the crowd looking for a familiar face, found none and decided to escape to the ladies’ room to regroup.

In the ladies’ room, I touched up my lipstick, took a deep breath, and went back out to the mezzanine. By then, the staff had opened the doors to the banquet room and people were filing in, so I joined them and found the table front and center that my editor had reserved. I chose a seat and sat down.

Eventually, the room filled up and my editor sat next to me. She introduced me as “Stana” to all the other people seated at our table. After my introduction, one of the guys at our table commented that he recognized my call sign, but the person he knew with that call sign looked very different. I dunno if he was being a wise guy or was actually confused.

The food and speakers were excellent and there was a mass quantity of door prizes. It seemed that 25% of the 432 folks in attendance won something, including me.

When they drew my ticket and announced my call sign as a winner of a ham magazine subscription, I came out en masse to all the hams at the dinner who recognized my call sign and happened to see me get up to pick up my prize. No one confronted me about the outing, so I assume it was not a big deal to anyone except me.

Overall


Overall, the weekend worked out great. Everyone I encountered accepted me one way or another.

All my friends and acquaintances were very ok with the new me.

The strangers who engaged me throughout the weekend, hams and civilians alike, accepted me as a woman, trans or otherwise.

I could not ask for anything more.




Source: Ann Taylor
Wearing Ann Taylor




Jonathan Tucker
Jonathan Tucker femulates in the 2000 film 100 Girls.

Friday, April 17, 2020

The civilians are next door

People are asking if the femulator in the photo accompanying my previous post is the girl who admitted that she was a civilian whose womanless event photo was one that I thought was too good to be simply civilian!

The answer is, “No.”

The femulator who was the subject of my previous post has asked to remain anonymous and I will never reveal who she.

👠👠👠

Jonie asked, “Where can I find a list of womanless fashion shows and pageants?”

I am not aware of such a list.

One way I learn about such events is to set up a Google Alert to automatically send me emails whenever there is new Internet content that includes the word “womanless.”

👠👠👠

By the way, I have thousands of womanless event images on flickr for your viewing enjoyment. Most of them were culled from online high school yearbooks by my friend Starla and the collection is quite diverse.




Source: Madeleine
Wearing Madeleine




Michal Rudas
Michal Rudas femulates Shania Twain singing “Man! I Feel Like A Woman” on Polish television’s Twoja Twarz Brzmi Znajomo. You can view the video here.

Thursday, April 16, 2020

Where have all the civilians gone?

Over 11 years ago, I used the word “civilian” here for the first time to differentiate the femulating community from the non-femulating community, that is, the civilian population.

Occasionally, femulating does occur in the non-femulating community, for example, when boys dress like girls to participate in womanless beauty pageants, womanless fashion shows, womanless weddings, womanless fishing tournaments or just to dress pretty for Halloween.

Less frequently, some of the civilians femulate so convincingly that it makes me wonder if they are one of us rather than a civilian. Their outfits are perfect, their makeup is perfect, their hairdos are perfect and they know how to walk perfectly in high heels with perfectly shaved legs.

Over the years, I probably posted hundreds of photos of civilians who I thought looked too good to be simply civilian, but I was never able to confirm my thoughts.

Until now!

Out of the blue Monday, I received an email from a reader who admitted she was one of the civilians whose womanless event photo I posted here as someone I thought was too good to be simply a civilian!

She sent along some recent photos and she is absolutely gorgeous. She certainly is not a civilian!    




Source: Venus
Wearing Venus




Jackie Maye
Professional femulator Jackie Maye, circa 1955

Tuesday, April 14, 2020

Ideal

Meds are working and the thrush is going away slowly.

Started eating “normally” again. Last night I had tuna on rye with some potato chips on the side, but I could not eat the chips because they are too “hard” and irritated the thrush lesions. Had a slice of homemade Easter babka that my sister baked using my Mom’s recipe – it was delicious. Washed it all down with a glass of milk.

Had my first cup of coffee in over a week this morning with a stack of pancakes and maple syrup. Until now, hot drink was an irritant, too. Missed my coffee, so I am glad to be able to drink it again.

Lost another pound on the scale this morning. I am now at my lowest weight as an adult. Probably have not weighed this little since grade school. I am now at the “ideal” weight for a woman my height (not to mention a male), so I would like to maintain this weight after this all blows over.

Yesterday, I tried on a couple of recent purchases without any foundation garments and they looked very nice on me. I can’t wait to get dressed full femme and photoshoot all my new outfits, but that will have to wait until the lesions on my face circling my mouth heal.

And so it goes.




Source: Boston Proper
Wearing Boston Proper




Toma Ikuta
Toma Ikuta femulating the 2011 Japanese stage production of Madame de Sade