Stepan Maletta, male model.
Wearing DSW.
Monday, March 18, 2013
Sunday, March 17, 2013
Saturday, March 16, 2013
Friday, March 15, 2013
She’s tall!
5'8" - Marthe Keller - actress, film The Marathon Man
5'9" - Jennifer Hudson (photo right) - singer
5'9" - Jennifer Lawrence - actress, film Silver Linings Playbook
If you are new here, you may wonder why the list.
Since the average femulator is taller than the average female, tall femulators might worry that their height might give them away (if they were concerned about passing). The list demonstrates that there are tall females out there to assure the tall femulators that they are not alone.
I used to worry about being tall.
I held back going out in public en femme for a very long time because I assumed that my height would prevent me from passing. But after overhearing comments from passerbys that I was an "Amazon" and a "dyke" and having a tall saleswoman at Nordstrom ask me how I liked growing up tall when I was a girl, I don't worry about my height any longer.
Happy Birthday, Kate Bornstein
Femulators partying at El Dorado in Berlin, 1935 1933.
Wearing Terani Couture.
Thursday, March 14, 2013
Southern Belle Boys
Starla continues to amaze me with more new femulation finds in the online high school yearbooks. She sent me 89 new ones* that are now in the Yearbook Femulations flickr archive.
What also amazes me is how many schools have held femulating events over the years. So I ran some numbers on the over 2600 images in the archive to find the epicenter of high school femulations.
With the popularity of womanless beauty pageants in the Southern United States, it was no surprise that the South had 10 states in the top 15 (based on the number of images in the archive).
Texas and California were number 1 and 2 respectively, again no surprise, but I was very surprised to see Oklahoma (ranked 28th in population) in the number 3 slot beating out the more populous Florida (ranked 8th in population).
Here is the ranking of the 50 states and the District of Columbia:
| 1 Texas 338 | 14 Pennsylvania 72 | 27 Wisconsin 27 | 40 North Dakota 7 |
| 2 California 240 | 15 Tennessee 68 | 28 Massachusetts 26 | 41 Wyoming 7 |
| 3 Oklahoma 190 | 16 Indiana 62 | 29 Maryland 24 | 42 Utah 5 |
| 4 Florida 153 | 17 Oregon 52 | 30 Arizona 23 | 43 Alaska 4 |
| 5 Louisiana 122 | 18 South Carolina 49 | 31 Kansas 20 | 44 Montana 4 |
| 6 Michigan 101 | 19 Mississippi 47 | 32 Nevada 18 | 45 Delaware 3 |
| 7 Georgia 96 | 20 Missouri 42 | 33 West Virginia 12 | 46 Hawaii 3 |
| 8 Alabama 94 | 21 New York 41 | 34 Idaho 10 | 47 Maine 3 |
| 9 Arkansas 92 | 22 Kentucky 37 | 35 Connecticut 9 | 48 New Hampshire 2 |
| 10 Ohio 91 | 23 New Jersey 36 | 36 New Mexico 9 | 49 Vermont 2 |
| 11 Illinois 90 | 24 Washington 34 | 37 South Dakota 8 | 50 District of Columbia 1 |
| 12 Virginia 84 | 25 Minnesota 32 | 38 Colorado 7 | 51 Rhode Island 1 |
| 13 North Carolina 77 | 26 Iowa 28 | 39 Nebraska 7 |
* To view the latest additions to the collection:
Method 1: Open one of the Yearbooks sets (A through Z) and you will find the newest uploads at the end/bottom of the set. (The oldest uploads appear at the beginning/top of the set.)
Method 2: Open my photostream and you will find the newest uploads at the top of page 1. The uploads get older as the page numbers get higher with the oldest uploads on the last page.
By the way, the contents of the Yearbook A through Z sets are organized according to school name, for example, the photos from Hard Knox High School would be in the Yearbooks H set.
Happy Birthday, Diane Arbus and Hank Ketcham
Kim Christy, professional femulator, 1975.
Wearing Jason Wu.
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
How do I read?
If we had the resources that are available today when we were school-aged, I would be wearing a dress today and I might even have different plumbing.
That is what I wrote in response to an e-mail from Paula in which she commented on how common femulating has become among young people today. She referred me to a forum on Reddit as evidence.
Perusing the forum, I learned something new, i.e., the question "How do I read?" --- which is another way of asking, "How well do I pass?"
I visit deviantArt regularly. It "is an online community showcasing various forms of user-made artwork," according to Wikipedia.
It seems to me that most of the deviantArt community is comprised of young people and that there is a strong femulating presence in that community. This is another indication that today's youth, especially art-oriented youth, in this case, are very open about femulating.
During my latest visit to deviantArt, I encountered photos of a young femulator from the UK who attended her senior prom in the manner that I wish I had attended mine 44 years ago.
How does she read? Beautifully!
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
Milestones
As we progress as femulators, we pass common milestones in our journey en femme. The following lists those milestones roughly according to their degree of achievement. Your mileage will probably vary. - Drive your vehicle.
- Join a trans support group and attend their meetings.
- Attend a trans convention.
- Somebody refers to you as "she" or "her."
- Somebody addresses you as "Ma'am" or even better, "Miss."
- Go shopping (at a mall).
- Dine at a restaurant.
- Get a makeover.
- Have your nails done.
- Shop for a wig at a brick and mortar wig store (not on-line).
- Get fitted for a bra at a lingerie or department store.
- Use public transportation.
- Attend a religious service.
- Use the women's dressing room to try on clothing.
- Use the ladies' restroom.
- Go to work en femme on Halloween.
- Vote.
- Legally change your name.
- Go out on a date.
- Kiss.
- Live full-time as a woman.
- Have sex as a woman.
Happy Birthday, Barbara Feldon
Pauline, a Femulate reader during her first time out en femme.
Wearing Newport News.
Monday, March 11, 2013
Boys Being Girls Again
Hi Stana,
Just posted - Ernest Ward Middle School has held another excellent pageant, with once again some incredibly good femulations.
Note that the last couple pages of that gallery are shots of the "real" girls hosting the pageant. Although, really, the other "girls" really hold their own in comparison!
There's something both fascinating and, frankly, mildly disturbing about a womanless pageant of such high quality at this age level. I mean, the dresses are up-to-date, the make-up impeccable, good-quality wigs, and the boys have clearly been well-coached in deportment, posing, etc. Someone takes this annual project very seriously, and this is one of those exceptional pageants that goes well beyond the level of a silly lark or farce.
I'm guessing that whoever coordinates and organizes the event is probably heavily into "normal" teen female pageants, perhaps a professional pageant coordinator or coach. They certainly know what they are doing, as you don't get these sorts of results from leaving the contestants on their own, where they would typically be subject to the preparatory ministrations of amateur friends and family.
And it stimulates suspicion that there may be more behind the motivations involved than mere fun and games. The stereotypical "older woman/women feminizing young boys" scenario is a common staple of TG fiction, especially in the "sissy" sub-genre. Most of these stories fall into the category of unrealistic "too good to be true" set-ups. And yet, such situations DO occur in real-life, albeit much more rarely than the fantasy readers and writers would like to believe.
Is it possible, when confronted with a middle school age "pageant" of such exceptional quality, that we are dealing with a person or persons running the show who is/are actually "into" femulating young teen boys? I'm not saying that this is necessarily the case or, if it is, that it rises to the level of something immoral or questionable. But it is something to wonder about, which is why even though we enjoy seeing the results, we may well be left with mixed feelings and some level of discomfort.
Maybe I'm over-thinking the whole thing. But I'm just saying.....
Yours,
Starla
***
I too often wonder about the perfection of such femulations.
It could just be some very competitive people behind the scenes or wearing the evening gowns. Or it could be something else.
I would love your comments on this topic.
Happy Birthday, Lady Chablis
Fernanda, a Femulate reader during her first time out en femme, Mexico City, 1970.
Wearing Theory.
Saturday, March 9, 2013
Friday, March 8, 2013
Another Happy Birthday
Linda asked about my shout-out to Del Crandall.
I explained that my catcher's mitt was a Del Crandall model. It was a birthday gift from my parents, whereas my fielder's mitt was a Harvey Kuenn model that I obtained by saving S&H Green Stamps.
All my shout-outs are related to something or someone that was influential to me during my 62 years on the planet Earth. Some of the influences were minor, some major, some trans-related, some not.
For example, Mary Wilson was someone I wanted to femulate as were Lee Radziwill, Anne Jeffreys, and Tippi Hedren.
I always found Sandie Shaw's (There's) Always Something There to Remind Me haunting and I almost used it for one of my lipsynching performances.
As an amateur astronomer, Nicolaus Copernicus, was an important figure, not to mention that I toured his home when I visited Toruń.
Eddie Izzard is one of my heroes because he is completely out about being "a straight transvestite or a male lesbian."
Groundhog Day is one of my favorite films, as is The French Connection, thus my shout-out to Popeye Doyle as portrayed by Gene Hackman, who also happened to femulate in the film The Birdcage.
The list goes on and on. I think you get the idea, but I will be happy to explain any obscure shout-out that you don't get.
The Birthday Girl, 20 years ago.
Wearing Alexander Wang.
Thursday, March 7, 2013
I’m just sayin'
Coming from the New York area, “I’m just sayin'” is a colloquial way of telling someone that this is my personal opinion on a subject. So with that in mind I’d like to tackle a topic that has been stewing on my mind for some time.
During my lunch break, I like to Google “transgender” under the News section. I typically get a great selection of articles pertaining to transgender people around the country. Quite often in the comments section after an article about a transgender person, I’d see the argument that “God doesn’t make mistakes when it comes to sex” A person can’t change their sex, because sex is defined by their DNA.”
I’d like to discuss the idea that a person’s sex is defined by their DNA and that there is no variation found in nature.
First, DNA does not determine sex, but chromosomes do. Recently a judge in Oklahoma refused the name change of a transgender woman on the grounds that according to “his” research, you are born one sex and the DNA cannot be altered. He’s correct that DNA can’t be changed, but he failed to mention or comprehend that there are many variations of sex chromosomes, specifically inter-sex people.
The list of intersex conditions is so extensive it is too long to list here. One example would be Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome (AIS). A fetus with 46 XY chromosomes typically develops into a male, but with AIS, the receptors on the Y chromosome fail to absorb testosterone during development. Often the child is born without a cervix or ovaries, but with testes and shortened vagina. Most AIS babies live happy fulfilled lives as women. While some identify as male. There are dozens of different conditions like this involving many different types of variations. So as far as I’m concerned, this blows the whole “God made you either binary male or female" argument out of the water!
I understand that transgender and intersex are two different conditions and I do not want to offend anyone. My point is to demonstrate that in nature there are variations of physical sex other then binary male or female. With that established, I’d like to make the point that the same is true for gender identity. A transgender person will tell you they have felt that way since birth, that is they are wired deep down as the gender opposite their physical sex. Medical science is in the process of identifying possible differences in brain structure and genetics that would explain the reasons why people are transgender.
There are physical and genetic variations of sex that occur naturally. There are also variations of gender identity that occur naturally. Because we have not conclusively traced transgenderism to a gene or a certain part of the brain doesn’t mean that it doesn’t exist. There is no evidence that social environment after birth has an effect on gender identity. In the past, religious leaders have incorrectly labeled people with misunderstood conditions such as, bipolar disorder, Tourette syndrome, Asperger Syndrome, and clinical depression as having flaws in character. Today we know better. Research has led us to understand why these differences occur.
I don’t want this to be turned into a religious argument, but I wanted to illustrate that sex and gender are not absolute. The statement "God made only male and female without any variations" is false. There are intersex people and transgender people and they have always been part of humanity. They are part of the human experience. Instead of condemnation, it’s time to open our minds, to begin learning, to begin understanding, then accepting and finally celebrating. “But, hey, I’m just sayin.”
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