TAGGED POSTS / Transsexual

In the past, when my only outings en femme were support group meetings and Halloween parties, I was not fooling anybody, so there was no need to make an effort to pass.

Not that I looked like a guy in a dress – I have always been a perfectionist, so I learned how to apply makeup, style wigs, and dress to impress. Yet, passing was not important because my public forays were next to none, so what I did then worked.

However, as my outings en femme increased, I realized that I had to do better. What worked at a support group meeting would not work on the streets of Gotham City.

My weight has always been on the heavy side with 20 pound swings from one year to next.

I decided to end the roller coaster ride. I lost a dozen pounds and two dress sizes. For the past few years, I have managed to avoid the 20 pound fluctuations and have lost even more weight since then.

Now, there are 2 or 3 pound fluctuations and they set off an alarm to alert me to watch my diet or my figure will suffer.

In addition to a smaller dress size, losing and maintaining a lower weight had some other benefits.

Gone are the uncomfortable heavyweight foundation garments. Comfortable and lightweight Spanx-style support is all I need these days to create the semblance of a girlish figure.

Also, my toes got thinner! Before I lost weight, the fourth and fifth little piggies on my left foot were not getting along. They overlapped, which caused friction, discomfort, and severe irritation. It was so bad that I planned to see a doctor about the problem.

After I lost weight, the toe problem went away. I assume it was a combination of thinner toes and less weight pressing down on those toes.

Whatever – my feet are happier in heels these days!

Wearing Bebe.

Andrej Bičan femulates on the Slovakian version of television’s Your Face Sounds Familiar.

Some things never get old.

After doing my hair and makeup, that first reflection of a woman I see in the mirror.

Being referred to as “she” and “her” while I am out among the civilians.

Wearing high heels.

Hearing the click of my high heels.

When a gentleman holds a door open for me.

Touching up your hair and makeup in the ladies’ room.

When a civilian female engages you in conversation.

Smoothing the back of my skirt as I sit down.

Carrying a purse.

Taking my compact out of my purse to touch up my makeup.

Being called “Ma’am.”

Even better… being called “Miss.”

When a complete stranger stops to say, “I like what you’re wearing!”

Shopping.

Dangly earrings.

Wearing lipstick.

Admiring glances.

Realizing that while I am presenting as a woman, it comes so naturally that I don’t have to think about it.

Wearing Lulus.

British soldiers femulating on stage in Forces in Petticoats, circa 1952.

The future is female, so as my blogging friend Juan once said, “Gentlemen, put on your skirts and high heels, fetch your purses, and head to the future.”We may not all be women soon, but I believe that in the future, being a male woman will be as accep…

Twisted Viewpoint

My perspective of the world around me is heavily influenced by being a transwoman.

A few days ago, one of the e-mail fashion newsletters I receive (The Cut) featured an article titled, “I’ve Started Dressing Like My Mother.” You can guess what came to mind when I read that title, whereas a civilian would likely interpret that title very differently (and correctly).

So Retro

While I was touching up my makeup in the ladies’ room at UConn on Friday, a young woman remarked, “I love your earrings!”

After I thanked her, I laughed to myself because I was wearing a big old pair of clip-ons, which I am told are so old school when compared to the pierced variety.

Good Reception

My friend Diana is active in various LGBT organizations and as a result, she gets to attend GLAD’s annual “Justice for All” reception in Hartford. The reception attracts many of the makers and shakers of Connecticut’s LGBT community as well as Governor Dan Malloy and other state politicians.

Diana invited me to attend the reception. Of course, I accepted her invitation and am very excited about the prospect of rubbing elbows with the Governor, who has been a big supporter of trans and gay people.

So what does a girl wear to a Sunday afternoon reception that the Governor will be attending?

Wearing Talbots.

Still femulating at the 2017 Night of Stars in Austria.

Friday, I attended the True Colors Conference and presented “Makeup Basics for Trans Females.”

The site of the conference is the UConn campus in Storrs, Connecticut — one of my life’s happy places — and it is always wonderful to return to my alma mater.

My presentation was at 1:15, so I did not have to get up early and rush to Storrs. Instead, I even had time for breakfast, dressed and left home at 9:30 arriving on campus an hour later.

I wore a dress rather than pants as I originally intended and I don’t think it made much of a difference during the five-minute walk between the parking garage and the Student Union. What I really needed was a hat. The wind was so blustery that I thought my wig was going to go airborne, but I made it indoors in one piece.

(Fashion Note: I wore my black laser cut dress from Avon, nude pumps from Payless, fake white fur jacket from Fashion Bug, nude thigh high hosiery from Berskshire, big beige bag from Avon, jewelry from Napier and Avon and a variety of unmentionables.)

Indoors, I checked in and received my presenter’s package. The first round of presentations were underway, so there were not many students moving through the building. I took advantage of the low level of activity to camp out in one of the Student Union lounges to go over the presenter’s package and review my presentation. I found a window seat with a nice view of the quadrangle between the Student Union and the Benton Art Museum.

It is one of the few open spaces remaining from my days as a student on campus in the early 1970’s. Most of the other open spaces have been taken over by classrooms, dorms and sports facilities (when I was going to UConn, we launched model rockets and played touch football in the space now occupied by the garage where I parked my car). That’s progress!

After doing some paperwork and going over my presentation, I thought I was in an excellent spot for a photo, but I did not see anyone I knew to designate as the photographer. A woman seating nearby was reading texts or e-mails with her iPhone, so I figured she would be a good candidate to take some photos with my iPhone. So I asked and she was very happy to shoot me.

Just as she began, one of my long time trans girlfriends, Angie, came into the lounge, called me “Beautiful” like she always does and that put a big smile on my face that is evident in the photos I posted from the conference. (It is amazing the difference between a posed smile and a natural smile.)

As the time for my presentation approached, I found my assigned room and settled in. Thirty-two people showed up. They were all school-aged (middle school through college) and I thought that some of them were already gorgeous and did not need any help from me; they could probably teach me something. It turned out that one of the “gorgeous” girls works part-time at Sephora. I asked her a question about lip gloss that she was happy to answer, so “they” did teach me something!

The presentation went well. There were questions, answers and a lot of give and take, but I don’t know. I wonder how valuable it is to teach teens and twenty-somethings makeup basics and tricks that a 66-year-old transwoman uses? Some of what I do is applicable, but I will have to make some adjustments to my presentation for any future young audiences.

After my presentation, I attended my friend Diana’s presentation on post World War II trans history. One goal of her talk was to counter the popular notion that there was no trans advocacy until recently. Her presentation showed that there was a lot of trans advocacy throughout the post-war era including Stonewall, where trans peeps have been written out of some histories of that uprising.

Diana and I planned to dine after her presentation, so we left UConn and rendezvoused a half hour later at a restaurant in Manchester, where we have dined after the previous two True Color Conferences. The big difference this year was that the conference was on St. Patrick’s Day, so the restaurant was busier than after past conferences.

Our waitress was the same as in previous years and she was as affable as before, but this time, instead of referring to us as “ladies,” she called us “girls.” That was different in a good way and made me smile.

After dinner, we went our separate ways and I arrived home at 7 PM, a little tired, but very happy after a productive day out.

Wearing Tumi luggage.

David Walliams (right) femulating in an advertisement for television’s Britain’s Got Talent.

SaveSave

I was up at 5:30 AM and the first thing I did was power up the TV to watch the weather and traffic reports.

I tuned to channel 8, WTNH out of New Haven and the talking heads (Keith Kountz and Laura Hutchinson) were at it. Suddenly I am wide awake as I notice that Laura is wearing the same Calvin Klein dress that I own –– the white cable knit sweater dress I am wearing in the photo at the top of the blog.

That is second time in the past month that I noticed a woman wearing the same dress I own. The other was Kate Goselin, who was wearing a Calvin Klein color block dress that I own.

I have to say that Laura and Kate have excellent fashion sense!

Wearing Veronica Beard.

Ryan Downey, male womenswear model

Yesterday, our male mail man (how redundant is that?) delivered my new shoes from Payless.

Whenever I shop in person at Payless, I try on sizes 11, 12 and 13 even though 12 is my “normal” size because sizing is very inconsistent and varies depending on the style and the maker of the shoe. So buying shoes online is a crapshoot and I try to avoid it because my success rate is about 50%.

But occasionally this girl falls in love with a shoe that she just knows will not be on the racks in her size at her local Payless store, so she orders online and hopes for the best – as was the case with the shoes USPS delivered yesterday.

As quick as a Playboy bunny, I switched from boy sox to knee-highs and tried on my new shoes. They fit perfectly and felt comfortable as I took a short tour around the house.

I was a happy camperette, put the shoes back in their box and stacked the box with my other shoe boxes, while plotting outfits to wear with my new shoes.

Then it occurred to me that the heels of the shoes looked higher than I expected them to be. Not that I have any trouble walking in high heels, but I was curious about their height because Payless claimed they had a 3 ½-inch heel.

So I got out Stan’s Stanley tape measure (all his tools are personally engraved) to size up the heels of my new shoes and confirmed my suspicions: the heels were 4 ¼ inches high, not 3 ½ inches high.

This girl knows her heels!

Source: Intermix

Long time Femulate reader, pretty Mindy

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