femulating is hard work

My wife often comments that since it takes so long for me to get ready to go out en femme, is it worth it?

Of course, it is worth it (what a silly question), but she does make a legitimate observation, i.e., it does take me a long time to get ready.

My excuse is that I am obsessive compulsive. According to Wikipedia , "The phrase "obsessive-compulsive" has worked its way into the wider English lexicon, and is often used in an offhand manner to describe someone who is meticulous or absorbed in a cause. Such casual references should not be confused with obsessive-compulsive disorder…" (So, I'm not nuts, just a little crazy!)

As a result, when I go out en femme, I want to look as perfect as possible, which means flawless makeup and not a hair showing that should not be showing.

I love putting on makeup and if I have the time, I indulge myself in the makeup process and can while away an hour or so putting on the war paint. But usually I don't have the time and I must get the job done as quickly as possible.

After years of practice, I have my makeup routine down to about 45 minutes if everything goes smoothly. I see no way of reducing that time without cutting corners and I refuse to cut corners, so there is that 45-minute investment put into getting en femme.

The actual dressing is the easy part. I usually have my outfit picked out beforehand and I can have it on from soup to nuts, or should I say from corset to wig in 15 minutes or less.

The wig I wear these days is a "shake and bake" wig. I just shake it out, put it on my head, make a few adjustments, and I'm done. I use self-stick pre-glued nails and they go on in less than five minutes with no muss or fuss. So, once my makeup is on, I can be out the door in less than a half hour.

Now the part I hate: hair depilation.

I am hairy. It is everywhere and depending on what I plan to wear, it can take 30 minutes to an hour just to get rid of it all.

I have long legs and they alone take some time to depilate. If I wear anything other than a long sleeved dress or top, then I have to depilate my arms. If I am wearing anything that exposes my shoulders, then they must be depilated, too. And so it goes for my chest and back if I am wearing anything that is low-cut in the front or back. Shaving my face is a joy in comparison.

When I come face-to-face with my hairy problem, I start thinking that my wife might be right, i.e., is it worth it?

Yes, it's hard work, but I still think it is worth every minute of it.

Monday, Monday

Saturday, Saturday

I am really jazzed about my upcoming night out on Saturday. It is a semi-formal event and I will be dressed to the nines!

I always get jazzed when I attend an event like this en femme, but this event will be different because it is not a transgender event; it is a benefit for the Hartford Gay & Lesbian Health Collective, so there will be a mix of attendees from the LGBT community and from the general public, as well.

I promise a full report and photos afterwords.

yet another womanless pageant

Google has alerted me to a bunch of womanless beauty pageants that have occurred this fall, but none of them were worth mentioning here as they were all of the "man in dress" variety showing little effort to truly femulate.

However, a regular reader of this blog, Ann Onnymus, sent us a link to a set of photos on Picasa from a womanless beauty pageant held in December 2007. There is no other information regarding the photos, but it looks like a high school event. The "girls" worked hard at their femulations, so the photos are definitely worth a peek.

male fashions

I am a fashionista when it comes to female fashion, but I usually do not follow male fashion trends.

However lately, things are getting interesting in the male fashion world from a femulator's perspective as fashion designers promote female-inspired fashions on the male. And unlike past attempts to feminize menswear, the males seem to be taking the bait this time and are wearing skirts, dresses, high heels, etc. out in public, often with make-up and a feminine styled coiffure.

I eyewitnessed these fashion trends when I visited Manhattan back in June and now I am seeing these trends back home in Connecticut. (Just last week here, I spotted a young male Wal*Mart worker in full makeup and a curly coiffure.)

To keep up with what is going on, I have become a regular visitor to two blogs that are on top of the topic, high heels for men and new male fashion. If you are curious, visit those blogs and you will probably be surprised with how some males are dressing these days.

voting

We are approaching the half-way point and so far 412 of you have voted in my poll (thank-you for voting).

If you have not voted, it only takes a few seconds to vote, so I encourage you to do so before the poll closes on Friday.

vote

Please vote in my Who Are You? poll. If you have already voted, thank-you!

who are you?

Yesterday, Calie wrote about who reads her blog and it got me thinking about who reads my blog.

Google Analytics provides a lot of information about the readers of my blog. For example, it informs me where you come from, how you get here, what you read here, how long you stay here, etc., but it does not tell me who you are.

So, it is time to conduct a poll to find out who you are. The poll starts today and runs for a week, so please vote, but please only vote once.

Thank-you!

UPDATE: Viewing the early results, I should not have used "transperson" in the first two selections. So, please ignore the word "transperson" and just consider the selections "male-to-female" and "female-to-male."

(Once the poll starts, I can't change anything, otherwise I would.)

not amused

The current issue of New Yorker contains a trans-related cartoon.

It depicts a fellow driving down the road passing a warning sign on the side of the road. The sign has the silhouette of a deer standing on its back legs, wearing a skirt and high heels, and reads DEER XDRESSING.

I thought the cartoon was dumb and lacked the quality of cartoons that usually appear in New Yorker.

I was not insulted because the cartoon poked fun at the trans, it was just not funny. The magazine has published cartoons in the past that poked fun at the trans that were funny, but this one was not.

For example, the following is based on a cartoon the magazine published a few years ago. I thought it was much more amusing and witty than this week's offering, but your mileage may vary.