Susanna’s Casa is Our Casa

I’ve written here about Casa Susanna many times. (Just use the Search Femulate option to see how many times.) 

In case you missed what I wrote, “Casa Susanna was a popular weekend destination in Jewett, NY for cross-dressing men and transgender women in the early 1960s. The bungalow camp was run by Susanna Valenti and her wife Marie, who also ran a wig store in town.” (Source: Wikipedia)

Casa Susanna, a documentary by French filmmaker Sebastien Lifshitz, vividly brings the past to life through archival footage, photographs and the memories of those who stayed at Casa Susanna.

Click here to view the film’s trailer, click here to view Cineuropa’s clips from the film and click here to read IndieWire’s review of the documentary.

The film is “in production” according to the PBS International. Since it is a PBS International production, I hope that means it will appear on television via PBS. In any case, this is a film I will not miss. 

(Thank you, Gary, for alerting me about the film.)

Femulate reader Jim O. dress shopping at Macy’s last Wednesday

Crossdressing May Be Hazardous to Your Health

Yesterday, I had a luncheon date with my lady friends. I was all dressed up (see photo) and ready to drive to the restaurant a half hour away.

Before I left, I checked myself out in the mirror and noticed some hairs that I missed while shaving. So I went upstairs and used my electric razor to remove them.

On my way down the stairs, I slipped with three steps to go and landed flat on my face on the rug at the bottom of the stairs. Blood exited my nose and a small gash on my forehead. There were bad rug burns on my nose and below my nose. I also bloodied my good knee. I no longer resembled the accompanying photo.

No way could I look presentable for the luncheon, so I called Diana that I would be a no-show.

I cleaned myself up and applied band-aids where needed. 

I was very upset that I missed a day out en femme. And it may be awhile before I can go out again. (How long does it take rug burns on your face to heal?).

Update: I was wearing heels when I fell, but I don’t think that was the cause. I had already been up and down the stairs a half dozen times in heels before the fall. However, by then I was running a little late,  hurrying to get on the road ASAP and was not as careful as I should be going down the stairs.

Wearing Bebe

Another modern couple

Kids

Nathan Janak on Nickelodeon’s All That

Commenting on Friday’s The Iceberg post, Paula wrote that the Crossdressing Subreddit has over 235,000 subscribers – mostly younger, late teens to 20’s. What’s interesting is the taboo seems to be lifting. Many are out to friends; even more out to their girlfriends. The other thing I noticed is these crossdressers are really good at what they do – very pretty and passable.

I occasionally visit the Crossdressing Subreddit, but not too often because viewing the girls there makes me consider turning in my Official Femulator membership card. 

For starters, all the girls are young (much younger than I) and as a result, their femulations are exquisite (they all pass).

Many of the girls have no inhibitions regarding their crossdressing. They go out crossdressed everywhere, all the time and don’t think twice (it’s alright).

I read about one girl who was going clothes shopping and needed something that could be easily removed in the fitting room, so he/she borrowed a front buttoned dress from his/her wife! Remarkable!

Makes me wonder if the mainstreaming of crossdressing inspires young femulators to crossdress. Of course, there is the RuPaul franchise, but youngsters are more likely to watch Nickelodeon and that network’s All That, which includes some excellent young femulators.   

Anyway, visit the Crossdressing Subreddit and be inspired by the young femulators you will find there.   

Exquisite 

I checked the online Google dictionary to make sure I spelled exquisite correctly in the above piece and found this archaic definition for the word: a man who is affectedly concerned with his clothes and appearance; a dandy. 

A Milestone

On Friday, the blog’s daily hit count reached an all-time high of 16,798! The previous all-time high (15,042) was recorded the day before.

By the way, 25,810,329 is the total hit count since this blog went live. 

Wearing Bebe

Ryan Alessi femulating on Nickelodeon’s All That.

Someday Funnies: Big Girls Run in the Family

John D. Collins and Nicholas Frankau femulating on British television’s 'Allo 'Allo!

Someday Funnies

Wearing Cynthia Rowley

Ronnie Barker femulating in an episode of British television’s The Two Ronnies.

The Iceberg

I am fascinated by the number of crossdressers on the Internet. It seems that everyone is crossdressing – kids, teens, young adults, the middle-aged and senior males are all crossdressing and documenting their feminine side with photos posted all over the Internet.

However, the tens of thousands of crossdressers on the Internet does not translate to the numbers of crossdressers out among the civilians. If the numbers correlated, you would be running into crossdressers everywhere, but the sightings of crossdressers in public are rare (which does not take into account those crossdressers who pass and as a result, fail to be counted in the crossdresser census). 

One can assume that most of the crossdressers on the Internet are closeted and don’t mix it up with the civilians.

And one can also assume that the various estimates of the crossdressing population are low. You can’t count them if you can’t see them, although there are plenty to see on the Internet.

My guess is that there are a lot more crossdressers out there than most people believe. The Internet might just be the tip of the iceberg. 

After all, most males want to crossdress (don’t they?) and the mainstreaming of crossdressing today gives reluctant crossdressers the courage to do so. The majority may stay in the closet – so far back in the closet that they will never post photos anywhere. And those that do post photos are in the minority, but the numbers of that minority are huge as evidenced by the Internet, so can you imagine the numbers below the waterline of the iceberg!

Wearing Venus

Paul Dano femulating in the 2020 film The Extra Man

Really a He

Really!!!

I wear many hats in my amateur radio organization. One hat I wear is to compose and distribute announcements regarding our organization. I make the announcements via five email lists that my organization sponsors. Typically, the announcements get re-posted on other email lists.

Last week, I distributed an announcement calling for speakers for our upcoming annual conference. The announcement traveled hither and yon and ruffled some feathers on one email list because someone considered it to be spam. A half dozen posts were exchanged on the subject and someone asked why I even made the announcement.

Someone Else replied to the question as follows, “Because she (really a he) is desperate for content for the conference.”

I don’t know Someone Else, but he obviously knows about me. 

I have no problem that people know about me. After all, I voluntarily outed myself in the amateur radio world, but was the “(really a he)” necessary?

I was annoyed, so I asked Someone Else that very question in a private email. So far, I have not received a reply.

Source: NameBrandWigs

Eddie Shields femulating on stage in Casa Valentina

Someday Funnies: The Other Labor Day Joke

Source: Rue La La

Waiting for Halloween

Halloween 1983

Growing up, October 31, also known as “Halloween,” was my favorite holiday. To me, the candy was incidental; the costume was the attraction.

I never wore an off-the-rack costume. Rather, I assembled bits and pieces to create my costume. I was the Frankenstein monster, the Hunchback of Notre Dame, Alfred E. Neuman and a Pittsburgh Pirate (the year Mazeroski beat the Yankees in the World Series). Although I had girly inclinations, it never occurred to me to dress as a girl for Halloween – I mean, “Who does that?”

Turns out, lots of guys. 

One year, making the rounds of my relatives homes on Halloween, my aunts were all aflutter about the neighborhood boy who showed up en femme. I remembered that they were very impressed that he was wearing nylons and high heels. Wow – was I jealous!

A couple of years later, my best friend complained that he had shown up at my home to trick-or-treat and was disappointed that I was not home because he wanted me to see his costume. You guessed it: he was dressed as a girl. 

Next year, he tried to convince me to join him and dress en femme for Halloween. To guard my fragile male ego, I indicated that I had no interest in joining him, but in my heart, I was dying to do so.

It turned out that guys did dress as girls on Halloween. So after dressing surreptitiously in my mother’s and sister’s clothes for the better part of the 1960’s, I decided that Halloween 1969 would be my debut as a girl. 

I did not want to reveal how good my femulating skills had become during the previous years, so I toned down my costume and wore boy sneakers rather than Mom’s heels, boy underwear rather than my Mom’s bra and girdle, minimum makeup, a skirt, top, woolen cap and wiglet borrowed (without permission) from my sister’s wardrobe.

Mind you, I had no place to go. I was way too old to trick-or-treat, I had not been invited to any Halloween parties and I was too young to go bar-hopping. So I drove around town and visited some friends and relatives. And had the time of my life!

Next morning, I was back in the closet looking forward 12 months hoping that the next Halloween would offer an opportunity to crossdress among the civilians again. Most years, I was disappointed, but on a few occasions, I was invited to a Halloween party. And unlike my first Halloween out, I did not hold back. Instead, I used all my femulating skills to present myself as a woman. 

Attending those parties, I realized that over the years working hard in my closet, I had gotten pretty good at femulating because more than once when I showed up at a party, other guests wanted to know who was the woman not wearing a costume!

Attending one of those parties with my bride changed my life. Noting my femulating skills and having become familiar with my past Halloween “costumes,” she put two and two together and suggested I find and join a support group, which I did as quickly as possible. 

The support group provided opportunities to crossdress among the civilians on days that did not proceed All Saints’ Day. No longer did I have to depend on that one day in October hoping that someone, somewhere would invite me to a Halloween event. But don’t get me wrong – I have not abandoned October 31 and have dressed appropriately many times on the “Crossdressers’ Holiday.”

Wearing Nanette by Nanette Lepore
(I said yes to this dress and ordered it on sale from Rue La La.)

Yet another modern couple

Someday Funnies: The Labor Day Joke

Wearing Hemant and Nandita

Charles Hawtrey femulating on British television’s Our House (1960).