The Secrets of “Your Great Shape”

Rica asked, “Do you have tips on fat and sugar gram intake and exercise on keeping your great shape?”

I successfully diet without counting fat and sugar intake. 

After years of trying to maintain a girlish figure, I know what I have to do if I want to lose weight. Whether I want to lose 5 pounds or 50 pounds, I follow my regimen and as long as I stick to it, the pounds will come off.

Basically, I forgo two things to lose weight: bread and sweets (cookies, candies, pastries, etc.). I don't “drink” much, so forgoing beer, wine and liquor is not part of my regimen.

One of my part-time jobs during high school was as a cook at Kentucky Fried Chicken. The store policy was that you could eat all you wanted and I did. One year on the job and I gained 40 pounds!

The following summer, Pop got me a union job at the comic book factory. Near the end of each shift, I had to lift 50-pound printing plates off of a skid and into a furnace to be melted and reused. 

Unhappy with my KFC weight gain, I figured that the daily printing plate routine would help me lose weight, so I cut out bread and sweets, had a cup of yogurt for lunch and lost 50 pounds that summer.  

For the next 45 years, I maintained my weight, give or take 10 pounds.

About three years ago, I got tired of shopping on the Women’s side of Dress Barn, Macy’s, JCPenney, etc. and decided to lose some weight. So I gave up bread and sweets and walked a mile or more every day. 

Eventually, I lost 25 pounds and began shopping on the Misses side of my favorite boutiques – down from sizes 16W and 18W to sizes 16, 14 and occasionally, a size 12.

My diet regimen could not be simpler and I could not be happier with my girlish figure.

Wearing CULPOS X INC

Maxwell Jameson

From My Oldies Collection

Martha and the Vandellas Dept.

Sorry about the lack of posts this week, but we have been dancing in the streets around Femulate Headquarters the last few days.

The Knickerbockers Dept.

In his Inaugural Address, the new President tried something different: leveling with the American people.

Edwin Starr Dept.

Watching the Inaugural Committee's “Celebrating America” last night, I noticed a number of trans people performing during some of the musical performances. Another sign that Trump's “War on Transgenders” is over!

Toni Basil Dept.

Similarly, Mikki mentioned it and I noticed it, too: the “fashionista” (photo above) in a new Lexus commercial seems to be either “trans or a very good femulator.” (Isn't that the same thing?).

Wearing Rachel Zoe

A femulator get-together

Biden Picks Transwoman as Assistant Health Secretary

Biden's pick, Rachel Levine, will be the first openly transgender federal official, assuming her nomination is confirmed by the Senate.

Read all about it here.

That officially puts an end to Trump's War on Transgenders!

Sunday Night at the Movies

Sunday night, TCM showed three films related to New York City subways. The Taking of Pelham One Two Three was the first film in the TCM line-up. It is one of my favorite films, so I watched it.

Daybreak Express, a five-minute film about the Third Avenue elevated subway, was the second film in the lineup. You can view it on YouTube. 

The third film, The Incident, was new to me. The plot according to IMDB, “Late one night, two young toughs hold hostage the passengers in one car of a New York subway train.” 

The film featured an excellent cast, so I gave it a look.

Wow! It was intense and I am glad I watched it. (You can view it too on YouTube.) 

What's this got to do with femulating? Fast-forward to the 33:23 mark of The Incident and I think you will agree with my selection for today’s Femulate Her slot.

Jan Sterling in the 1967 film The Incident

Rrose Sélavy, the female alter ego of Marcel Duchamp

A Monday Mix

Femulating Film Update Dept.

A week ago, the Femulator slot featured a scene from Delitto al Blue Gay, an Italian film “jam-packed with femulators.” A day after the post, the link to view the film in its entirety on YouTube was dead, but I did find the film on Facebook and that link is still good as of today.

The film is in Italian, does not have English sub-titles and was poorly reviewed, but it is worth watching to see all the pretty femulators and to hear them sing in English (go figure), “Man or woman, man or woman, makes no difference... ”

Two of the kittens appearing in the film Delitto al Blue Gay 

Pass the Story Dept.

The passing success stories continue. Here is one from...

Fiona

I have a good friend that is supportive of my femulating. A fortnight before Christmas, my friend wanted to visit a gown shop. I travelled by public transport to meet them, then we went on to the shop by bus. We had to change services, so took the opportunity to walk around the outdoor market.

My friend will not wear a mask, but has a battered visor. I wore a leopard print mask. We stopped to look at a stall with visors and glass frames. And a stall salesperson swooped on the potential customers. As the first stall salesperson tried to persuade us to buy two masks. A second stall salesperson approached and asked, “Are you sisters?” 

He tried again, “Mother and daughter?” 

I replied, “Co-workers.”

The War Dept.

If you are a life-long femulator with natural feminine chracteristics (like me), you have likely been the victim of the slings and arrows of white male toxicity at one time or another, as exemplified by our twice impeached president. This article, recommended by Velma, is an expose of white male toxicity and although it does not mention it, white male toxicity is probably an element in Trump's four-year “War on Transgenders.”

Wearing Missoni

A senior femulating moment in the film Delitto al Blue Gay.

Someday Funnies

Wearing Veronica Beard

Cosplayer Zach Scuderi AKA Sneaky

My Bests

I started this series of passing success stories almost a month ago with Passing is not important, but.... In that post, I wrote, “passing is not important, but it sure feels good when you do!” and I asked you to send me your best passing success stories.

Now that I have posted all your stories, I will conclude with my two best passing success stories.

Tall Girls' Day Out

One of my best femulating moments was when I was browsing the racks at the local Nordstrom and a saleswoman nearby spoke up, “You’re tall. I’m tall, too. How tall are you?”

I said, “Six foot two.”

She replied, “I'm six foot one.”

And she engaged me in a discussion about being a tall female. She asked me how I liked being tall when I was a girl. (“I loved it.”) She admitted that she had some difficulties during her school years because of her height, but as an adult, she was happy with her height.

After we exchanged a few more words, I excused myself and walked on air for the rest of my day at the mall.

I used to worry that I could never pass because of my height. That day at the mall convinced me otherwise.

A Born Woman

Ten years ago, after doing outreach at a Human Sexuality class at Southern Connecticut State University, a female student approached me. 

She said that when I entered the class, she thought I was a woman, not a trans woman, but “a born woman.”

Thank you, I thought to myself. But then she added that besides thinking I was a born woman, I was also the most beautiful older adult woman that she had ever seen in person!

I thanked her profusely as she examined my presentation real up close now. She thought I was about 45 years old and she was very surprised when I revealed that I was 60.

Then she told me something very personal that I will not repeat here. I thought I detected her eyes beginning to well up.

The encounter became so emotional for me that I cannot remember if I gave her hug or not. (If I didn’t, I should have.)

Those few minutes with her were priceless to me and I will remember her forever.

Wearing Ricki VanDusen. Note the limp wrist.
Thank you Paula for finding this image.

Alec Guinness femulating in the 1949 British film Kind Hearts and Coronets.

Another Success Story

Christine wrote.

About 8 or 9 years ago, I started to come out on a trip to the San Francisco Bay Area. No one there knew anything about me and I felt it was safe to go out as my authentic self for the first time.  

Although I had very far to go with my feminine presentation at the time, I felt freer than I ever had been before and I wanted more of it. On my next trip to the Bay Area, I decided to spend several days totally en femme and knew that I had to continue on this path when I got back home.

Over the next few years, I started building up a female wardrobe that now eclipses that for my male presentation. Additionally, I started to take voice lessons so that I could project a more feminine voice while out in public. I also had laser treatments on my face so that I could minimize the presence of beard stubble that would ruin the overall visual effects of my feminine presentation.  

During this period, I started going to meetups as my authentic self and was accepted (or tolerated) in my presentation. Over time, people began to accept me for who I am and not how I looked like. Recently, I had a short term job at which I worked en femme every day where the only way some people could tell that I was not a cisgender female was the name on my e-mails.

I do not know how far I will proceed down this path as there have been some major drawbacks. I have had a relationship break up because the woman saw my feminine self as competition for her. Yet, in certain ways, it is a small price to pay to be able to go out in the world as my authentic self.

Wearing Chicwish

Audrius Janonis femulating Iruna Puzaraite on Lithuanian television's Muzikinė kaukė.
You can view the femulation on YouTube.

Permanent Eyebrow Methods

By Best Review WebSite

“There are so many ways to style and shape eyebrows to get that perfect natural look, which can make you feel overwhelmed. Did you know that your two brows aren’t the same? You might notice the difference if you look closely, but don’t worry you do not have to create perfectly matching brows. There are some general tips and tricks to help you get those natural-looking brows, including the best professional methods. Having permanent eyebrows is a dream for every woman, but permanent eyebrows can vary from person to person and artist to artist. 

“We will be talking about some of the best permanent methods to help you get thick and natural-looking brows.”

You can read this very informative article here.

Wearing Bella Dahl

Francis Cowley Burnand femulating circa 1855

Tuesday's Transvesting Thoughts

Rank in a Good Way Dept.

“Feedspot has a team of over 25 experts whose goal is to discover and rank popular blogs, podcasts and youtube channels in several niche categories. With millions of blogs on the web, finding influential bloggers in a niche industry is a hard problem to address. Our experience leads us to believe that a thoughtful combination of both algorithmic and human editing offers the best means of curation.”

Among the blogs that Feedspot ranks are those related to our niche community and I am proud to mention that Femulate ranks high on their lists.

Feedspot ranked Femulate, as follows: 

#3 of the “Top 70 Crossdressing Blogs and Websites for Crossdressers in 2021” 

#4 of the “Top 50 Trans Woman Blogs, Websites & Influencers in 2021.” 

#25 of the “Top 100 Transgender Blogs and Websites for the Transgender Community in 2021.”

Nice! 

Viagra has No Affect on Limp Wrists Dept.

When I was still counting my birthdays with single digits, I encountered a woman (a friend of my mother or an aunt – I don't recall), who affected a limp wrist. I probably had seen many limp wrists on television and films, but never in person and I was fascinated to see this female affectation in the flesh – so much so that I began affecting a limp wrist of my very own.

I don’t recall anyone reacting to it and after a few days, I forgot about affecting a limp wrist. However, on many occasions throughout my life, I found myself displaying a limp wrist... sometimes even like Marilyn (figure right). 

Like my other female mannerisms, it was natural. I did not do it intentionally. Whenever I caught myself doing it in boy mode, I stopped it immediately, but in girl mode, it is oh-so feminine especially with a designer bag hanging from the crook of a limp-wristed arm. 

For what it’s worth, here is one person’s take on the subject, “A limp wrist is a sign of submission and women tend to do this subconsciously when in a room with people they want to attract. This is very attractive to men because it makes them feel as if they can dominate.”

And so it goes.

Wearing Viktor & Rolf

There were some unusual people who worked in the mines. One in particular was an Italian miner named Riela, who would work all day in the mines, go home and dress up as a woman before coming back to the taverns for a night of fun. There were no details about what kind of fun she had in mind, but Roslyn (WA) was a wild mining town in the late 1800s and most likely, she found whatever fun she was looking for.

Meg Times Three

The always marvelous Meg Winters offered three more passing success stories.

One

I went with an old co-worker who did my makeup so I could meet our old boss for lunch. The co-worker just told the boss “a friend” was joining them. She picked up the boss at the office and I met them at the mall where the restaurant was located. They came in talking, I walked up and waited. 

My old boss turned to me and said, “Hi. I'm Cheryl” and held out her hand. 

I took her head and said “Hi, I'm...” and mentioned my male name.

Two

I dressed and went to a temple service in Tucson. (I met my current wife during that trip.) After services, the older man sitting next to me turned to me and said, “You have lovely eyes. They remind me of my late wife.”

Three

One of my T-friends held regular “soirees” at her house, then at a hotel when we outgrew her house. There were some regulars and some new people each time. During one soiree, one of the (few) wives there was talking to me and she said, “Who are you here with? I'm with [I forget the name]” and she pointed. 

I said, “I’m with [girlfriend’s name]” and pointed. 

She looked flustered and said, “I thought your partner was trans!”

Wearing Cynthia Rowley

Vinicio Diamanti and Mario Amendola femulate in a 1984 Italian film titled Delitto al Blue Gay also known as Cop in Drag. This film is jam-packed with femulators. You can view excerpts of the film in its entirety on YouTube Facebook.

Someday Funnies

I live for Woman’s Days – those days when I can experience the world in my preferred gender. The rest of the time, those non-Woman’s Days, I reflect on my most recent Woman’s Days and anticipate my next Woman’s Days.

Which is kind of sad... wasting those days in between living as a MINO (man in name only) when I’d rather be living full-time as a woman.

C'est la vie. 

Wearing Chicwish

Femulator Vic (or Vi), circa 1944