Your Turn

During my brief hiatus last week, many of you told me how much you would miss the blog if I shut it down. You seem to have a lot invested in the blog, so I want to ask you what you would like me to write about. So send your suggestions to me via the Email Stana link just below my photo in the righthand column or use the comments function at the end of this post. 

I look forward to hearing and acting upon your suggestions!  

Wearing Ann Taylor

 

Nick Sinckler, Kuba Szmajkowski, Marcin Januszkiewicz and Ewelina Flinta impersonate The Pussycat Dolls on Polish television's Twoja twarz brzmi znajomo (Your Face Is Familiar).

Someday Funnies

Wearing Diane von Furstenberg

The Girls of La Cage aux Folles, Before and After

Saturday at the Salon

Wearing Elàgia

Noah Galvin femulating in the 2023 film Theater Camp. 

Little Boy Blue

Gender confusion arrived early in my life. 

I had my own bedroom from the get-go. Eighteen months after my birth, my sister came along and we became roommates. 

I am not sure when my parents wall-papered our bedroom because I only remember it having wallpaper depicting various nursery rhyme superstars.

One superstar confused me: Little Boy Blues was wearing girls’ shoes... Mary Janes to be specific. I suppose that at one time, little boys wore Mary Jane style shoes, but not in my lifetime and the wallpaper’s take on Boy Blue did not make sense to me. Why was he wearing girls’ shoes?

Weirdly (or maybe not so weirdly), when I asked AI to generate an image for the blog of “nursery rhyme Little Boy Blue wearing Mary Jane shoes,” it created the accompanying image with Little Boy Blue wearing a dress in addition to the Mary Janes!

Wearing ModCloth

Ann Nonimus Femulate reader

Lunch Ladies

Wednesday, the ladies who do lunch met again and dined at a local restaurant. The restaurant staff treated us like ladies and the barflies we passed on the way to the dining room glanced at us briefly and there was no discouraging words.

It was nice to get out en femme. I wore a new red sweater dress from Venus. I usually don't do red, but this dress looked good on me, so I may not shy away from red in the future! My black patent chunky block heel shoes were comfortable from start to finish and the new red lipstick that I bought from Avon matched the red of the dress. I felt like a million bucks!

Nailing It

Awhile back, I had stocked up when there was a close-out sale for Kiss stick-on nails. I am running out of nails from that purchase and the ones that I have left have lost their adhesiveness and fall off as soon as I put them on. So I did not wear nails on Wednesday and it’s time to restock my nail collection.

Your Opinion

Planning to shut down the blog then changing my mind resulted in lots of comments and emails (over 250 in all). Most were positive – supporting my decision whatever I decided to do and thanking me for the previous 17+ years of blogging. 

Your words opened my eyes about what this blog means to so many of you. Over and over again you mentioned that this blog motivated you to exit the closet en femme and mix it up with civilians. So the goal of this blog has been achieved hundreds of times over and that does my heart good.

Wearing Venus

Red Skelton femulating in the 1939 film Seeing Red.

Stasha’s Sister’s Shoes

I was looking for a pair of shoes to wear today and happened upon a pair of black patent T-strap pumps with a block heel. It is a cute shoe and the last time I wore it was for the company Christmas party in 2017.

Are chunky block heels still in style in 2024? I think so, and if not, I don’t care and I will wear them anyway.

Funny thing is that chunky block heels have been in and out of style three or four times since I began an crossdressing circa 1964.

First time was in the late 1960s when I fell in love with a pair of block heels that my sister owned. It was unrequited love, however, because my sister’s size 10’s were too small for me. 

I could wear some of her size 10’s depending on the style and width of the shoe (not her chunky block heels, though), which is why I was able to wear a pair of my sister’s shoes the first time I went out dressed for Halloween.

That was the first of my I-don’t-give-a-damn-what-people-think Halloweens. Not because I had dressed to pass (far from it), but because I was so desperate to go out dressed that I went out without any place to go! I ended up driving to my best friend’s home (he wasn't home) and to three relative’s homes. Two aunts gave me the bum’s rush, but the third aunt I visited welcomed me with open arms and began calling me Stasha!

And so it goes!

Wearing Venus

Robert Sella femulating in television’s In Plain Sight.

Inappropriate?

Wearing Theo the Label

Steve Coogan femulating in British television’s Pauline Calf's Wedding Video.

I'm Back

I changed my mind.

In response to my plans to shut down the blog, I received over 125 comments and 40 emails. Most of them thanked me for the blog and urged me not to shut it down.

As a result, I hemmed and hawed about my decision. Some of your comments/emails were very moving… in one of two ways. Some convinced me that I made the right decision to shut it down, while others convinced me to restart the blog.

So I was on the fence until Monday morning when I remembered that it was Veteran’s Day and I thought about the only veteran in my life, my father. He joined the Marines during World War II, fought in three battles and took home two Purple Hearts for his troubles. 

My father and millions of other veterans fought our foreign enemies to preserve our freedoms. They did not run and hide and that convinced me to not give up and instead, fight the enemies within who are trying to eliminate our freedoms.

Wearing Ronny Kobo

Joe E. Brown femulating in the 1942 film The Daring Young Man.

Going Dark

The goal of this blog is to encourage male-to-female crossdressers to get out of the closet and experience the world as females. I believe that the blog has been very successful in that regard.

Lately, it has become more dangerous to go out and about en femme due to the open transphobia encouraged by the republican party. Tuesday’s election will just embolden the haters; they will feel that they now have free rein to attack us and it will no longer be safe to go out en femme anywhere.

So I am loathe to encourage anyone to go out and about en femme. It was fun while it lasted, but now it is scary and I don’t want anyone to get hurt. And since the goal of this blog is something I no longer advocate, I plan to shut it down.

Sandpaper

Wearing One Million Baby

Rod Stewart femulating for the “If We Fall in Love Tonight” music video.

Click here to view this video on YouTube.

Go Vote!

This year was the first time that early in-person voting was an option in Connecticut, so I decided to try it out. My guess was that in our town with a population of 16,000 that there would  not be many people early voting and that I would be in and out of the town hall quickly. 

Wrong!

The parking lot was full, but I lucked out as another car was just leaving when I showed up. There was a very short line at the check-in desk, but after checking-in, I found a longer line of  winding  through the hallway to the voting room. So it took about 30 minutes to get in and out of the town hall.

A word about checking in… I did not recognize the woman staffing the check-in desk. I handed her my driver’s license and when she examined it, she looked up and said, “Stanley! How are you?” She was a family acquaintance who I had not seen in years. She asked about my family and then she sent me on my  way to end of the long line.

She never said anything about how I was dressed. I was wearing skinny jeans, a long sleeve tee, sneakers and minimal jewelry and minimal makeup (how unlike me!) so that I matched the boy photo on my driver’s license. I guess I was so androgynous that my old friend did not notice or she was so nice that she did not want to say anything to embarrass me.

Go figure!

And go vote!

By the way, I voted for Harris and Walz and I hope you will, too.

Wearing Alice + Olivia

Alexandre Wetter femulaing in the 2020 French film Miss.

Stuff: The Cruel Mirror

By J.J. Atwell 

Finding the Right Outfit

Looking at yourself in the mirror can be a cruel experience. While I was idly browsing the Internet, I came across an article that I thought was a very good take on the issue of finding the right outfit. 

The story is aimed at generic girls, but as CDs, we face the same challenges that they face when picking out an outfit. The big question: is it right for your body? As I think about it, our challenges as CDs might be more difficult. But then again, we can make some changes to our apparent body whereas GGs mostly have to deal with what they have. 

I’ve Got Nothing to Wear!

I’m sure we have heard these words from our significant others. I’m also sure that we have repeated those words to ourselves when contemplating our next outing. I have a closet and a half full of clothes for my femme side. Sometimes I’m embarrassed by how much I have. My GG friend, Alicia, commented after one of my recent thrifting excursions that I have more outfits than she normally wears in weeks of day-to-day real life. And JJ only gets out once or twice a month! 

But I still have nothing to wear. Our group sometimes has themed evenings which might call for a special type of outfit. Perhaps a beach theme? How about a holiday theme? I just don’t have things that work for those occasions. Yes, JJ needs to shop for more outfits! 

I have a lot of everyday outfits like skinny jeans, skirts and tops. Just normal stuff that you see women wearing out all the time. But for meetings, JJ prefers to only wear them once. Once an outfit has been seen by the group it gets consigned to the back of the closet, perhaps to only be worn again at home. Some things can get re-used though. I’ve got a couple of skirts that go well with many different tops. The mix and match strategy can expand your wardrobe.

Does this Match?

I haven’t quite mastered the art of knowing what matches. My sense of color and style seems to abandon me when faced with a flowery top. I might be tempted to pair it with a striped skirt if left to my own devices. Fortunately, I have an SO and some GG friends that I can bounce ideas off of. It is so helpful to get expert advice from a gal pal. 

The Happy Mirror

Now that we have taken all that into account, is that mirror still cruel? In my case, I think I’ve moved on to a happy mirror. When I see myself dressed in the right outfit, I also see a smile on my face. Yes, when you look good you feel good.

I love the suggestion in the article referenced above that we should take inventory of our clothes and pick out the ones that most make us feel good. At that point, it’s time to thin out the closet by getting rid of the other stuff. Yes, it is hard to toss things that we spent time and effort and money acquiring in the first place. But sometimes you have to be cruel so that the mirror is happy. 

I’ll Be Back

I hope you find the referenced article to be interesting. I’ll be back with more Stuff in the next installment. 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, so let me know what you would like to read about.

Wearing Elàgia

A womanless beauty!