Someday Funnies: Cross Dressing Appropriately

Wearing Ulla Johnson

Alex Newell on the blue carpet at the Independent Spirit Awards

We Are Tootsie

By Paula Gaikowski

Paula channeling her inner Tootsie
(1999)

Back in 1982, there was a scarcity of information on transgender persons and crossdressing. So when I saw the Life magazine article about the upcoming release of the movie Tootsie, I was thrilled. 

Although Tootsie is not a movie about transgender persons or even crossdressing, it’s a movie about a man walking in the shoes of a woman both literally and metaphorically. The man, Michael Dorsey, is a narcissist and arrogant actor who no one will hire. He unintentionally sheds this toxic behavior and finds what life is like from a woman’s point of view and learns a lot about himself and the world we live in.

The role of Dorothy Michaels (Michael’s femme name) was also life-changing for Dustin Hoffman. Here he’s speaking about the first time he saw Dorothy in the mirror.

“It was at that moment I had an epiphany and I went home and started crying, talking to my wife. I said I have to make this picture and she said, ‘Why?’ And I said, ‘Because I think I am an interesting woman when I look at myself on screen. And I know that if I met myself at a party, I would never talk to that character because she doesn’t fulfill physically the demands that we’re brought up to think women have to have.”

Before Hoffman would even consider making the movie, he asked the studio to spend money on makeup and wardrobe to see if he could realistically look like a woman. He spent weeks in wardrobe working on a look and yes, I am jealous too! He wanted to look like an authentic woman in his words, “I wanted to walk down the streets of New York and not have anyone think ‘hey that’s a guy.’ 

In my opinion he was successful, the attention to detail was there, padded hips, breast forms, shaving and neutral makeup. Seeing all this, it spoke one thing to me as I sat there and read that Life magazine article, I could do this! I could make myself look like a woman and experience life as a woman. It would be years before I ventured out as Paula but make no mistake, Tootsie had a huge effect on me; for me too it was life changing. 

Dustin Hoffman sure looked fantastic as Dorothy. I understand he went out as Dorothy to restaurants, shops and businesses to see how people reacted. He seemed to have a zeal for this, much as we do. I wonder sometimes: civilian or non-civilian?

Wearing Joseph Ribkoff

San Francisco professional femulator D'Arcy Drollinger

Someday Funnies: Not a Funny Valentine

Wearing New York & Company

Ed Jones, David Cerda, Adrian Hadlock and Grant Drager femulating on stage in The Golden Girls: The Lost Episodes.

Getting Serious

Years ago, I created a list of the top 30 things every femulator needs to emulate a woman. Some of the items in the list were essentials (like wigs, jewelry, etc.) and some of the items were less essential. The casual femulator could get away without the less essential items. However, the serious femulator, that is, girls who pass among the civilians, it’s the little things that count, so the less essential items become essential.

When I say “it’s the little things that count,” I am referring to all the little things that together comprise a femulator. Reminds me of a trip years ago to attend First Event in the Boston area. Elaine was driving and I was riding shotgun en femme. I thought I looked pretty good and while I was admiring the false nails on my fingers, I noticed that (horrors!), I forgot to shave my hands! Luckily my electric shaver was accessible in my luggage in the back seat and I was able to fix that little thing before we arrived at the First Event hotel.

Checking into a hotel or using a credit card is another little thing. Most credit card companies will issue additional cards under the same account for other family members. So get an additional card issued to yourself, but just use the initial of your first name with your last name. For example, John Smith would get an additional credit card issued for “J Smith” to use when en femme. But that only works if John Smith goes female as Joan, Jean, Jackie, or some other female name starting with the letter J. (Lucky me, my male and female first names both start with the letter S.)

If you wear eyeglasses, next time buy a pair with unisex frames or if you can afford it, buy a second pair with a feminine frame. With an eyeglass prescription in hand, you can order eyeglasses online at very reasonable prices. (I recently bought a pair of girly glasses online for about $50.) 

If you need eyeglasses for reading, you can buy inexpensive reading glasses with very feminine frames just about anywhere (the local pharmacy, Walmart, etc). Also, you can buy woman's sunglasses just about anywhere, too.

Voila!

Wearing Roller Rabbit

Raimu femulating in the 1933 French film Théodore et Cie.

Someday Funnies

Wearing Badgley Mischka

Alex Saxon femulating in a 2015 episode of Ray Donovan.

What’s Going On?

Regarding my knee replacement surgery...

My Physical Therapist (PT) says I am well ahead of the curve regarding recovery. Pain is mild and infrequent and I am getting around without assistance except when I go up and down stairs when I use a crutch. 

PT believes that when I see my doctor/surgeon on Monday, he will probably give me the green light to start driving again (just two weeks after surgery). My fear that I would have difficulty depressing my Subaru’s clutch with my new knee proved to be just fear – my therapist insisted that we test it yesterday and there was no pain using the clutch.

I am a just little anxious about what my leg will look like when the bandages are removed on Monday.

And so it goes.

Someday Funnies: 1 is better than 2

Wearing Alexia Admor

World War II allied Prisoners of War femulating on stage at Stalag XXI-D in Poznan, Poland.

Changing Interests

Over the years, the more I femulated, the more I paid attention to feminine things. Since there are only so many hours in a day, my new attention to feminine things resulted in less time for other things that previously received my attention. 

My radio hobby definitely took a hit and I certainly did not follow my favorite sports teams as closely as I did in the past. I did not drop my interest in those things completely, but given a choice to attend a radio convention or a crossdresser convention, I would choose the latter over the former. 

One solution I found is to mix femulating with your old interests. For example, I have attended radio conventions en femme numerous times. I have not gone to Fenway Park en femme yet, but if the opportunity arises...

And so it goes.

Wearing Boston Proper

Barry Scott femulating in the 1970 British film Goodbye Gemini.

Someday Funnies: Stay Stylish

 

Wearing Venus

Wally Brown and Alan Carney femulating in the 1944 film Girl Rush.

J. Harrison Ghee: A New Normal?

J. Harrison Ghee

Tuesday morning, I was watching Morning Joe and they interviewed Amber Ruffin and J. Harrison Ghee. Ruffin wrote the book for the musical version of Some Like It Hot that is now playing on Broadway. Ghee plays the role of Jerry/Daphne in the musical (the role played by Jack Lemmon in the film version).

I could not help noticing that Ghee was dressed as a boy more or less (a tunic over some kind of bifurcated bottom), had a boy haircut, but was wearing makeup including lipstick and full eye makeup. I was intrigued.

My first thought was that Ghee was wearing the makeup to promote the musical. But that did not make sense; if he was promoting the musical, why not go all the way and wear a wig, dress, heels, etc.

Then it occurred to me that maybe Ghee was trans. 

I was not familiar with Ghee, so I did some research and discovered that according to Wikipedia, Ghee “is non-binary and uses he/they pronouns.” And Ghee has been doing drag for quite awhile playing Lola in Kinky Boots and Velma Kelly in Chicago.

So is Ghee representing a new normal? Has crossdressing become so normal and accepted that one can go out and about like Ghee – full “feminine” makeup while otherwise dressed as a male (more or less)? I like to think so, but I have my doubts. It may work in Manhattan and Hollywood, but how will it go over in Podunk?

Wearing Bebe

J. Harrison Ghee femulating in a stage production of Kinky Boots.

Someday Funnies: Secret of His Success

Charli D'Amelio at the 2023 Grammys

Kacey Musgraves at the 2023 Grammys

Sheryl Crow at the 2023 Grammys

Shania Twain at the 2023 Grammys

Michal Rudas femulating Shania Twain on Polish television’s Twoja Twarz Brzmi Znajomo (Your Face Sounds Familiar).