April Ashley

Before I ever heard of Christine Jorgensen or Virginia Prince, there was April Ashley. She was celebrity du jour back in the early 1960s when it was revealed that the beautiful model and actress had previously been a boy.

The news appeared in tabloids like the New York Daily News and Daily Mirror, which my father purchased everyday. I read all about it and was incredulous when I saw the photo above of Miss Ashley that accompanied her story. “No way was she ever a boy,” I thought.

But I was wrong. And her beauty motivated me to try and achieve some semblance of a feminine visage myself. 

Anyway, I just learned (via email from various Femulate readers) that Miss Ashley died on Monday (the BBC has the story of this amazing woman here). 

Her passing saddens me. Of all the transwomen I have encountered over the years, she came along at just the right time in my life (my early teens) and probably influenced me as much as my mother to become the lady I am today.

Thank you and Goddess bless you, April Ashley.

Wearing Michael Kors

Rachel in Orlando – a fun day dressed for lunch, shopping and dinner. Wore three different outfits!! Best crossdressed day ever!!!!

Christmas Selfies

As usual, I did not receive any girly gifts this Christmas. Sometimes my family surprises me, like the Christmas my daughter gifted me with a Kate Spade handbag, but typically Stana gets nothing for Christmas.

I assumed this would be the case this year, so in anticipation of an empty thigh high stocking, I shopped for myself a week before Christmas and purchased two dresses from Venus: a pleated sweater dress and an animal print ruched ddress.. The dresses arrived on Monday and I quickly slipped off my male clothes and slipped into my unmentionables to try on my purchases. 

I was not concerned about sizes because Venus is very consistent size-wise, so I know what to order to fit me. I was more concerned about how the dresses would look on me. And in a word, they looked “fabulous!”

Both dresses are “figure conscious,” that is, viewers seeing me in these dresses will be very conscious of my figure. Both are also leg-revealing with hems above my knees  (the animal print dress is a little shorter than the sweater dress). 

Both are femulator-worthy – the sweater dress is suitable for a day out shopping and/or having lunch with the girls. The animal print dress is very sexy and is a dress to wear to impress. 

I am very happy with my gifts and am anxious to wear them out. 

Wearing Alice + Olivia

Carolina Lynn with her good friend and stylist, Apple Crimson, at the 52nd annual Coronation of the Imperial Court of Los Angeles and Hollywood

Someday Funnies: “Girls’” Night Out

Wearing Michael Kors

Femulate reader Marie Anne Greene in period gown visiting the Road to Tara Museum in Jackson, Georgia

Miss Eng’g: Blast from the Past

A Miss Eng’g Contestant

Femulate readers may be familiar with the fabulous Miss Eng’g (Engineering) womanless beauty pageant at the College of Engineering, University of Philippines-Diliman. I have written about the pageant in the past, but not so much lately.

Over the weekend, a former pageant contestant commented on a Miss Eng’s post from 2011. Since most current readers will not see that post or the recent comment, I am repeating it here.

Anonymous left the following comment:

I always wondered if the “girls” were experienced in dressing before the event, or did they do this for the 1st time. I remember reading an article about one of the girls and their girlfriend helped them out, but looking at some of the girls they are quite experienced looking.

Our weekend commenter responded:

I was a Ms Engg contestant myself but in early 2000s. I wore my female cousin’s 18th birthday gown. It was very uncomfortable because the dress was so tight I almost couldn’t breathe (my mother made me wear a girdle (?) because I had beer belly for me fit into the gown). Not to mention walking/standing on heels. I had fun though as it was my last semester of uni so it was like me saying goodbye to college life with a bang.

Lucky guy!

Wearing StyleWe

Marian Andersen, a Femulate reader and femulator

Someday Funnies: Another Christmas Story

Wearing James Perse

Eve T out on the deck of her home enjoying some November sunshine on the coast of Maine.

Happy Holidays!

Don we now our girl apparel

Someday Funnies

Wearing Venus

Femulate reader Dani relaxing at home. www.entransed.blogspot.com is where Dani blogs.

Number 1

Feedspot has selected Femulate as the number 1 Trans Woman blog from thousands of blogs on the web (ranked by traffic, social media followers, domain authority and freshness)!

Femulate was also number 2 on Feedspot’s Top 60 Crossdressing blog list and number 7 on their Top 100 Transgender blog list.

The news that Femulate is number 1 was a pleasant surprise. I am very proud of this blog and I am honored by Feedspot’s selection.

And so it goes! 

Wearing Mach & Mach

I dislike online clothing websites that display their clothing on headless models. And over the years, I have discarded many otherwise deserving photos from the “Femulate Her” queue because they were sans heads. 

To correct this problem, I will now use my Photoshop skills to add heads to the headless. And whose head better to add than mine! So whenever you see me “modeling” in the “Femulate Her” slot (as above), you will know that the fashion photo was originally a headless shot.  

Seventy-one year old Femulate reader Fernanda del Mar Moreno on her last outing before COVID19 in front of my Haigh preparatory school in Mexico.

“In all my life as Fernanda, I have never been attacked or harassed by other people because of my femininity. They always treat me sweetly, I believe that 85% of the people I meet on the street or in the restaurant or in the cinema, think that I am a woman.

“I have felt my femininity since I was 5 years old. Worse – I have always liked women. I have been married for 32 years to a wonderful woman. I am a Scientific Researcher.

“Here, you can read several stories I have written about my experiences as a female and others created by my mind. You can choose the language to read. If you want in English, you must choose inglés or English.”

Someday Funnies

Wearing Ann Taylor

Femulate reader Carollyn Olson in a historic Catholic Church courtyard in her hometown in Northern California. This is one of many pictures from her “personal” photoshoot using a timer and a Nikon camera.

Why

I have been femulating most of my life starting at age 12 and continuing non-stop more or less ever since. Early on, I wondered why I was doing it. 

Those were the dark ages and there was nowhere to go to find out why. Asking my parents was not an option. Our encyclopedia had one foreboding sentence defining “transvestite,” without any explanation as to its cause (I figured they didn’t know either).

Maybe I was a homosexual, but I discarded that notion because I had no interest in boys and was definitely interested in girls.

Over the years, I came up with a number of theories.

• Although I was very interested in girls, I did not know how to interact with them for the purpose of dating. Did I become my own girlfriend due to my lack of success in dating? (http://www.femulate.org/2017/10/i-am-my-own-girlfriend.html)
  
  
• I have female-like breasts. Gynecomastia is the result of a hormone imbalance between estrogen and androgen and that imbalance causes other feminine traits to occur. I have always been a feminine male in my speech, mannerisms, etc. Dressing as a woman is such a perfect fit that femulating as often as possible became an attractive pursuit. (http://www.femulate.org/2017/10/why-i-am-way-i-am-maybe.html)

• I was a woman in my past life/lives. As a young child, I had many dreams that in retrospect, indicated to me that I had at least one previous life and that I was a woman in that life. Switching to the male gender in this life was not a clean transition and many female characteristics have carried over. (http://www.femulate.org/2016/12/in-cards.html)
  
  
• All of the above (or none of the above).

Does it matter? It would be nice to know, but it does not really matter. I am what I am. It has not always been easy, but it sure has been interesting! 

Wearing Venus

Femulate reader, Gloria, formerly of Mardi Gras Hotel, Blackpool, England

Someday Funnies: Always Wear Clean Undies

Source: Who What Wear

Paula, a long-time Femulate reader