Why Go Out and About?

On Thursday, Joey commented, “We have the compulsion to dress as women. But there is more than that. We also have the secondary compulsion to go out in public this way. That is VERY interesting to me. Why do we do this? Do we do this with everything we do, and it is just a standard part of humanity, or is this unique to crossdressing?”

Speaking for myself (your mileage may vary), I believe 

I am very meticulous about how I crossdress. My makeup takes anywhere from 30 minutes to 45 minutes. Dressing, another 15 minutes. Prepping to dress en femme, also known as “shaving,”can take various lengths of time depending on how many body parts I have to shear. Add some time for putting an outfit together and picking out the right jewelry to go with my outfit. My goal is to femulate as authentically as possible. It’s hard work, but I love my job!

Long ago, I abandoned dressing pretty just to sashay around the house and snap a few photos. After all that work, I want to go out and experience the world as a woman.

As a senior citizen (old lady), I am kind of invisible, so I probably “pass” because no one is paying any attention to me. When I do interact with a civilian and they treat me like a lady, it is very affirmative; it affirms my femulation – how I looks a lady and how I act as a lady.

Working as a “booth babe” at Hamvention is always very affirming. Countless guys smiled and/or winked at me when they walked past our booth. Women smiled at me too, but in a different way. As you know, there is a big difference between a man-to-woman smile and a woman-to-woman smile.

On one occasion, a guy asked me a question that I could not handle, so I jokingly said, “You'll have to ask him (referring to one of the guys staffing our booth) because I am just a ‘booth babe.’”

His response was, “And a very good booth babe!”

It’s moments like those when I am out and about that I know that all my hard work has paid off.

And by the way, going out and about en femme is a lot of fun!

Wearing Bebe

Fernanda from Mexico
I welcome all Femulate readers to submit Before and After photos for publication here.
Just send your photos to stana-stana at-sign sbcglobal.net

Bad News

Friday about midnight, I had to call 911 to have my unconscious wife taken to the hospital emergency room. After a few hours in the ER, she was transferred to the critical care unit where she has been ever since. Seems she had a seizure and is now undergoing lots of tests to find out what caused it and what to do to prevent it from reoccurring.

Needless to say, I have been spending a lot of time with her at the hospital and have not had much time for the blog. 

The blog posts for Saturday and Sunday and the upcoming Monday and Tuesday posts were written beforehand, so there is no interruption of the blog so far, but going forward, there may  be days when nothing new is posted.

So please bear with me and say a prayer for my wife.

Someday Funnies: Ladies Do Lunch

Wearing Bebe

British Femulate reader Davina, feeling natural in natural makeup.
I welcome all Femulate readers to submit Before and After photos for publication on the blog.
Just send your photos to stana-stana at-sign sbcglobal.net

Someday Funnies

Wearing Ann Taylor

French Femulate reader Mike/Virginia
I welcome all Femulate readers to submit Before and After photos for publication on the blog.
Just send your photos to stana-stana at-sign sbcglobal.net

Someday Funnies

Wearing Nine West

Lena, an Australian lady
I welcome all Femulate readers to submit Before and After photos for publication on the blog.
Just send your photos to stana-stana at-sign sbcglobal.net

Throwback Thursday: Reflections of a Booth Babe

I posted the following after my 2010 trip to the Dayton Hamvention in which for the first timed, I was en femme 24 hours a day during the three day event. 

One week ago, I was on my journey en femme attending the world's largest ham radio convention in Dayton, Ohio. I have had a few days to reflect on my experience and have some thoughts to share.

You readers have posted comments and sent e-mails congratulating me on my trip to Dayton. I thank you all for your congratulatory words.

“Courage” is the oft-repeated word you used in those comments and e-mails. According to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary, courage is the “mental or moral strength to venture, persevere, and withstand danger, fear, or difficulty.”

Wow – that is stuff that makes someone a hero! I sure did not feel courageous in Dayton, nor did I feel like a hero (or heroine). I was just trying to be the real me.

All my life, I struggled trying to be the real me. While I patently rejected most of what it meant to be a male, I still presented as a male and as a result, I was an incongruous being, that is, I was a woman dressed like a man (or a girl dressed like a boy).

Although I did not know it at the time, I began crossdressing in my teens to correct that incongruity. I discovered that my new “hobby” was such a good fit that I crossdressed at every opportunity, initially in the home closet, but later in other closets beyond the home, for example, support group meetings, support group outings, crossdresser conventions, Fantasia Fair – all larger closets, but closets nonetheless.

While I was hanging out in those closets, I also took a few steps out of the closet and got a taste of being the real me in the real world. That experience was so addictive that I wanted to do it more often. Eventually, whenever I had the opportunity to be the real me, I chose to do it in the real world rather than in a closet, no matter its size.

If there was any courage on my part, I had it when I took those first few steps out of the closet into the real world. After that, my forays into the real world were fueled by the exhilaration that I knew awaited me when I was the real me in the real world. I did not need courage to do that; I just needed the opportunities to do that. My trip to Dayton was one of those opportunities.

I look forward to all the opportunities that present themselves in the future. I assure you I will use those opportunities to be the real me and it will not take courage to do so.

Wearing Boston Proper

Michelle

Someday Funnies: Ageless?

Wearing Cynthia Rowley

Paul David James becomes Cathy Marie James
I welcome all Femulate readers to submit Before and After photos for publication on the blog.
Just send your photos to stana-stana at-sign sbcglobal.net

Someday Funnies

Wearing Self Portrait

Peter Outerbridge femulating in the 1999 Canadian film Better Than Chocolate.

A Monday Mix

Diverse Dress Code

The image below accompanied a recent Wall Street Journal report about the diverse dress codes of various airlines that now permit flight crews to wear male or female uniforms without regard to birth gender. 

“I used to be one of those people that would walk through work with my head down, just keeping to myself, and when I wear the dress, it makes me feel more confident.”

Tyler Curry, a JetBlue in-flight crew member

No Longer a Civilian

A week ago, I wrote here, “Womanless events bring out the curious among us (including myself) who wonder if any of the participants belong to our team.”

Simon wrote back about a student who participated in a womanless pageant about ten years ago. On Facebook, the student says she had a wonderful time as a pageant contestant and admits now that she should have realized then who she really was. Better late than never – last year, she announced that she was transgender.

I do not want to out her, so I will not mention her name, but her image dressed en femme for the pageant appeared on many trans-related websites and you may have seen it. By the way, she is very pretty – then and now.

My Health

I went to my primary doctor for my annual checkup last week. He gave me a “clean bill of health” and my blood work results showed no abnormalities.

Five months after total knee replacement surgery, my knee is nearly 100% back to normal. There is no pain, the dead spots are shrinking and the long red scar is being replaced with normal flesh tone skin.

I am a happy 72-year-old camper, although I have never gone camping.

Wearing Alexia Admor

Barbra Anne
World War II reenactment in the AM and dressing pretty in the PM
I welcome all Femulate readers to submit Before and After photos for publication on the blog.
Just send your photos to stana-stana at-sign sbcglobal.net

Someday Funnies

Wearing J. Crew

Friends en femme

Someday Funnies

Wearing New York & Company

Femulate reader Nick/Lily
I welcome all Femulate readers to submit Before and After photos for publication on the blog.
Just send your photos to stana-stana at-sign sbcglobal.net