On My Toes

Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo

Today’s “Not a Civilian?” selection inspired me to retell this story.

One of my first girly moments was related to the ballet. When I was 5-years-old, my mother enrolled my younger sister and I in a dancing school. My class had about 15 girls and one other boy. Once a week, we practiced tap and ballet for an hour under the tutelage of young female instructors.

I have no idea why my mother enrolled us at dancing school. I could understand enrolling my sister, but why did she immerse me, her only son, in that world of femininity? It certainly was not going to make a man out of me. Maybe she detected the girl in me and thought that I would enjoy participating in such a girly activity. If that was her plan, she was correct. I enjoyed every minute of it!

I loved learning dance and being treated like the other girls. The young instructors became my role models. I even recall dreaming (both day-dreaming and sleep-dreaming) about dancing as a ballerina, wearing a pink leotard, tutu, ballet shoes, and makeup with my long blond hair put up in a pony-tail.

In the spring, we had a dance recital. It was held at the Loew's Poli Palace theater in Waterbury. “Registered as a National Historic treasure, the Palace's elegant lobbies, crystal chandeliers, gold detailing, almost 3,500 seat capacity auditorium, along with its Broadway-sized stage, make this the largest seating capacity theater of its kind in all of New England” when it was built in 1922 (Source: Cinema Treasures). So my first appearance on stage was big time!

Since we were appearing on stage, we had to wear makeup. My mother was my makeup lady, but she knew bupkis about stage makeup. So when she applied our makeup, she made my face up just like my sister's face – lipstick, rouge, eyebrow pencil, eye shadow, mascara – the works! Although I was wearing a boy's costume, I had the face of a girl!

Due to tight family finances, we only took dance classes for one year, but that one year immersion in femininity left a life-long impression on this girl.

Wearing Venus

V is for Vancleave High School in Mississippi where this pretty ballerina tip-toes.

Hard to believe! (Professional femulators advertisement from 1969)

Someday Funnies

Wearing Boston Proper

U is for Upper St. Clair (Pennsylvania) High School’s 1997 Best “Boy” Costume Award winner. 

Femulating Tolga Cevik (right)

Go Figure

I have been trying to achieve a female figure ever since I slipped on my mother’s bra and girdle in 1963. In that quest, I have experimented with a wide variety of foundation garments and accessories. I have had some success, but I was never completely satisfied with the results.

Recently losing 25 pounds should have made a difference and I thought that with a few tweaks I could finally grab that brass ring. Two problem areas were holding me back: a flat rear end and a roll of fat above my hips.

(For reference: My foundation garments at the time consisted of an underbust corset worn under a Rago Style 2202 long-line bra and Rago Style 6207 high-waist panty girdle. Spanx open-bust panty bodysuit smoothed out the trio.)

The underbust corset ended at the waistline and caused a roll of fat to sit on my hips just below the bottom of the corset. I thought the solution might be a wider underbust corset that extended below the waistline to rein in the roll of fat.

I found just thing on Amazon: frawirshau lace-up underbust corset. It only cost $12.99 and it worked! The roll disppeared!

You’ve read my thoughts here in the past about eschewing butt pads to add some curves to my flat rear. And I was pretty much resigned to those flat facts. But on the heels of my success in getting rid of my roll, I was tempted by Rago Style 915 high-waist padded panty. The price ($27.49) was reasonable, so I ordered the panty and now I have an ass!

The new trio of shapewear works so well that I don’t need Spanx to smooth things out!

I am completely satisfied with my figure now... a promise of femininity fulfilled!

Wearing Boston Proper

T is for Trinity Heights Christian Academy in Shreveport, LA, where this charming young laddy struts his stuff in the school’s 1984 womanless beauty pageant

Femulator, circa 1895