Man Enough

Wearing New York & Company

A Hairy Situation

Commenting on Sunday’s post, a reader asked, “Today is the first of the month, and one of the things I do is with a new razor and a special shaving cream after I have covered the area around my breasts I carefully shave off all hairs and hairs on the other parts of my chest. I repeat this again on the 15th. How often if you do at all, do you shave your breast area and chest and other unwanted hair? And your readers do they have a timeline if they shave their chest area?”

I do not follow a shaving schedule. Whenever body hair makes an appearance, I use an electric razor to shave that body part the next time I am naked. 

I use a Philips Norelco Bodygroom* electric razor, which is intended for shaving body parts and not your face. The enumerated body parts include the chest, abs, back shoulder, underarm, arm, leg, groin area. 

I have used the Bodygroom on all those body parts and it did an excellent job of removing the hair without causing a rash. (Not like my facial electric razor which always leaves a rash if I use it on my underarms and the sides of my breasts.)

* linked to Amazon.com

Wearing Badgley Mischka 

Ralph Kinkel femulating in German television’s The Drag and Us.

Thursday Toon

 

Wearing Paige

Melanie Morgan

No fear of flying

By Tami Knight

For some years, I would read in disbelief Kimberly Huddles stories of traveling. Her trips seemed to be too easy to be true!

I had long been comfortable going about and doing just about anything as Tami. The thought of security at the airport was a hurdle I never thought I could overcome. But like everything else in life, I had to try.

So I did and it was a breeze.

One never knows once you arrive at the airport if you will depart on time. I never check my bag and I am prepared if my connection leaves me stranded for hours. I dress to fit in – jeans with a stylish top and sweater or jacket; or a casual midi dress or skirt and jean jacket, depending on the weather. Comfy sneakers or loafers that allow for a long walk are a must.  Dressing nicely (I think) earns points when you sit in first class.

My best advice to all is that TSA has seen it all before. You hand them your ID, your picture pops up on their screen and they look you in the eye to compare. They really don’t care if you are trans. I once had the agent take my ID, ask another agent to compare the ID and me to be sure it was me! There is one TSA agent who I have seen multiple times and he is very friendly.

Of all the times through the TSA scanning machines, I have never set one off until just recently. On a flight to Arizona, the scanner showed something on my back side on the female screen image. So the screener asked me to stand aside. He called for a female agent to assist.  Everyone was busy. Another agent saw me waiting, “I will get you an agent, ma’am.” In a bit a nice woman came over, gave me the standard back side pat down and gave me the “All set, ma’am.”

As Kimberly has written, it is easier than you may think.  

I can’t count the many flights I have taken, but all have been stress-free. On one of my earliest flights as Tami, I took my seat in row 20, aisle. Just before takeoff, a stewardess came down the aisle looking for a male. She had an upgrade for me to first class. She came directly to my seat, looked at me and showed a very puzzled expression. She turned, walked back up front, turned and came back to me again. She asked if my last name was X (formerly Twitter) and I said yes. She offered me the upgrade and since the flight was so short, I suggested she give it to someone else as I was comfortable. (I get upgraded a lot, which I usually jump for.)

If your ambiguity is minimal like me, you will not miss a beat with TSA, stewards or passengers. Know that each airline agent has access on their phones to identify each passenger in every seat. Your status with them and likely lots of other data, is readily available. That being said, no one from ticket agents, to TSA, to passengers, to stewards
has ever been anything but helpful and kind on all my flights.

Wearing Altuzarra

Kimberly Huddle, who inspired me and so many others to travel pretty.

Tuesday Toon

Wearing IRO

Jaime Camil femulating on Mexican television’s Por Ella Soy Eva.

Stuff 12

By J.J. Atwell

More Stuff

There seems to be no end to stuff. This is the 12th installment and I’m grateful to Stana and especially those that follow her blog for the feedback that I’ve received.

Trapped

No, not in a maze. But in a rewards program. You know, like frequent flyer miles? But for retail purchases for you in either mode.  

Jennifer belongs to several retail rewards programs and regularly gets coupons or discount offers from them. The programs I belong to are DSW, Soma, Sephora and a few others. So Jennifer’s in-box regularly gets these special offers.  

But I titled this section “Trapped” because that’s just what these offers are designed to do –keep you a loyal customer of that store. Not that this is a bad thing though. Right now I’ve got discount coupons for DSW and Soma burning a hole in my purse. 

Trouble is, Jennifer doesn’t really need anything from those stores right now. Yes, that’s probably hard to believe. After all, what does “need” have to do with shopping?  

There is a certain value in belonging to these programs. If you’ve found a good product/service and want to stick with that retailer it just makes sense to join their club. I always give my femme email address to the women-oriented sites like Soma and Sephora. For others, like DSW, the offers come to my guy address, but often include suggestions for women’s shoes they think I might like. 

I guess I better get this column wrapped up and get on with my shopping for stuff.  

I’ll be back

I’d love to read your comments about how you are trapped. Comments are welcome either here on the blog or by email to Jenn6nov at sign gmail dot com. JJ is always looking for more stuff!

Wearing Boston Proper

Ladies and genteel men at Eldordo, a glittery nightclub in 1920s Berlin that became a haven for the queer community. Eldorado: Everything the Nazis Hated is a documentary now playing on Netflix that explores the story of the nightclub and the freedoms lost amid Hitler’s rise to power. 

Sunday Funnies

 

Wearing Venus

Terry, Circa 1960

Saturday Satire

 

Wearing Ann Taylor

Martin Weiß femulating in the 2004 German film Agnes and His Brothers.

Just Another Avon Lady

This is a previously posted story of one of my more memorable days out en femme. 

My day started earlier than usual because I had to get up, get en femme and drive to the other end of the state by 10 AM to attend Avon’s “Come Home for the Holidays” show. The show was intended to acquaint us Avon representatives with new products to sell during the holidays. Besides the opportunity to see the new products and hobnob with the other Avon ladies, a $50 gift bag awaited each attendee. How could I resist?

The show took place at the Foxwoods casino, the biggest casino in the USA. Problem is that you can’t get there from here. It is only 70 miles away, but the route is so convoluted that it takes 90 minutes over some bad roads to get there.

I was on the road at 8:20 and the weather was terrible. The Northeast was being deluged again, flash floods and traffic accidents here and there throughout the state, Noah was gathering lumber... not ideal driving under the gun conditions, but I managed to pull into a Foxwoods parking garage at 10 AM on the dot.

I wore my mid-heel Mary Janes, a very comfortable shoe, probably my most comfortable shoe. When I bought the shoe, the salesman said that it sells out quickly because of its reputation as being comfortable, yet it is a nice-looking shoe. Anyway, I needed the comfort because now I had to sprint to the other side of the casino.

The casino is very big and I had to walk about one-third of a mile to get from my parked car to the site of the show, the Grand Pequot Ballroom. I arrived at the Ballroom at about 10:15 along with a huge throng of other Avon representatives. Turns out that they opened the doors at 10 AM, but that the show was continuous all morning long. There was no need to be there at 10 AM on the dot, so I did not have to hurry to get there. C'est la vie.

I joined the throng, which was about 99% female and 1% male and probably 75% of the males were with their spouses, so I assume the wife in these couples was the Avon rep and the male was their supportive husband.

Just about everyone I encountered treated me nicely... as if I belonged. I only noticed one or two in the huge crowd that might have had some transphobia, but that is only my take on them – they just might have been having a bad day or they could not handle crowds.

As far as I can tell, I was just one of the girls. I chatted with a few and everyone I asked, graciously took my photo. I must have made a positive impression because whenever I encountered someone I had chatted with earlier, they acknowledged me with a wave and a smile.

One woman said that she loved my dress (she was also wearing a dress). I'd estimate that about 10% of the women wore dresses or skirts; the rest wore slacks, but almost all the outfits would be considered “business casual” garb.

By the way, I was not the tallest woman in attendance. I counted three that were as tall, if not taller than me. And there were perhaps a dozen six-footers in the crowd. This was the first time I had the opportunity to get up close to my manager and she was tall, too.

I saw a couple of items that I will definitely order for myself (for myself or as gifts). After 90 minutes, I repaired to the ladies’ room to fix my makeup, then I proceeded to the various casinos in the complex to try my luck at the slot machines.

I usually play 25-cent slot machines and I had to search for them because it seems that the penny slot machines are taking over. The first quarter machine I played, I walked away up $20. That was an auspicious start.

The second machine I played, I won 600 quarters ($150) on the third spin! It occurred to me that whenever I play the slots en femme, I am always successful – maybe the gods are trying to tell me something. After that, I held my own and managed to walk away $180 ahead at day’s end. Nice!

I exited the casino at 2:30 PM headed for home.

Wearing Bebe

Paul Gilbert femulating in the 1965 film Sylvia.