Female Walk

[Sienna_cd]

Ladies, any tips or tricks you?ve used to get a ladylike walk?

[CharlotteCD]

My parents criticised until I "walked like a man", so it was seemingly natural for me.

[Kris Burton]

I'm working on this too. I try to put one foot in front of the other, standing very straight as i do...very unlike my usual walk, which is kind of an ungraceful lumber. Interestingly, the addition of heels seems to enhance the foot position and good posture. Seems to be going OK, and fun to practice whether en femme or not.

[Connie D50]

https://www.biomotionlab.ca/html5-bml-walker/ if the copy worked this might help

- - - Updated - - -

https://www.biomotionlab.ca/html5-bml-walker/ hope this copied ok you can chance the gender.

[BTWimRobin]

Shoulders back, head up, boobs out. Shorten your gate. Put one foot slightly in front of the other. Turn your arms so the inside of your elbows face out. Gentle sway of the arms. Wearing heels helps.

Have fun!!!

[Stephanie47]

I suggest Youtube videos. There are very good tips. You may also want to locate videos shot by the CD-er walking. It may give you a clue as what to do and not to do. I think the biggest problem is trying to look "natural" without conscious thought. Personally, I like watching Vanna White strutting across the stage and turning letters. That gives some fluidity of motion of what may be possible.

[Cheryl T]

Smaller steps, one foot in front of the other, arms at your side with elbows tucked in.

[docrobbysherry]

Hi heels help. I mean 4"+ spikes! They change your posture, force u to take short, mincing, steps, and make u put one foot in front of the other.:battingeyelashes:

[Pumped]

Connie, that was a good link! You can run the video and move the slide from male to female and back to see what changes. The male walks with his feet apart, elbows out, and no sway or rocking motion in the hips. A woman walks one foot in front of the other, (or very close!), elbows in and sway or rocking motion in the hips.

Some of my more comfortable heels I can mimic the action if I think about it, but I forget!

[lingerieLiz]

I practiced, but was unsure about how to walk.When I presented for the first time my aunt she told me I walked like my mother. She assured me that I shouldn't worry about going out as I had a very feminine walk. She had me walk in several different shoes and told me to relax because I looked like a pretty girl. What more could one ask for. One thing she told me about was to put one foot in front of another when walking on a run way and let your hip move forward.

[JenniferWhenCD]

Hi All,

From watching lots of women walk, the one thing I have discovered is that there are as many ways to walk as there are women. My thoughts on Walking...

If you use the male / female slider on the biomotionlab website, you can see that women tend to have their upper body tilted slightly back to compensate for the weight of their breasts. You can see this when sliding the male/female adjustment back and forth, as you move toward the female position, the upper body tilts backwards (use the rotate option to get a side view of the figure).

For everyone, to counterbalance the motion of the legs swinging, a portion of the body above the legs will also move. For men, the largest part of their body above the lets is their chest and shoulders, so men tend to rotate their shoulders as they walk. For women, the hips are the largest part of their body, and thus when women walk, they use their hips to balance the motion of the legs, and their shoulders tend to stay rather motionless. This is also visible in the biomotionlab website when the slider is moved. Thus, try to minimize the shoulder sway when walking.

I also like the motion study (a short video) at:

https://vimeo.com/69217700

With the added gridlines you can see the alignment of the shoulders with the hips (shoulders behind hips, body tilted backwards), thus demonstrating the tilt discussed previously. in this video you can also see that at the end of each stride, the rear leg is extended well back behind the body, the heel is low to the ground, and the knee is almost locked. Men tend to walk with more of a bent knee walk and do not keep their heel down near the end of the stride. The result of female leg positioning is that the hips must rotate back somewhat and drop down slightly on the side of the rear leg to allow this to occur. This hip pull back and slight drop is also visible in the biomotionlab website, as the hip motion is much more dynamic (as well all know). If you try this, and you may need to stretch first to loosen your body up, you can see that your hips will be pulled naturally back during the end portion of the stride, and then will recover and recenter once the rear leg is brought forward. This creates the dynamic hip motion without creating an over exaggerated motion. It is also easy to practice on a treadmill or just walking around.

Good luck and happy walking!

[Geena75]

A lot of excellent points mentioned. The hardest thing for me is to just relax. I have done a number of videos of me walking and the common flaw is that I look so stilted. Finding comfortable shoes is the first thing -- I think I do best in the simple flats I got. The other is to practice, but only when wearing women's shoes. It can develop muscle memory and becomes 2nd nature when dressed (and lessens the risk of walking like a girl in guy mode).

[Sometimes Steffi]

Shoulders back, head up, boobs out. Shorten your gate. Put one foot slightly in front of the other. Turn your arms so the inside of your elbows face out. Gentle sway of the arms. Wearing heels helps.

Have fun!!!


All that, and use kind of an exaggerated sway to your hips. And don't forget. Stand tall and straight. Enter a room tits first. LOL.

[Di]

I suggest put up a camera and video yourself……just practice and critique yourself and work on it.

[Helen_Highwater]

I think there's two aspects to this. Physical and mental.

The Biomotion animation is a great way to see the differences in the genders and what it is you're aiming for. A bit of practice and you can get a female gait. That said I also believe there's the mental side of it. When I go out part of the process is to think female. Now I know there are those who will rightly say how can we think female when we're males and have no experience of growing up as a female. So what I guess I'm eluding to I try to loose the male side of me and switch on that which is the femme side.

It's not sufficient to get the mechanics right. A man consciously trying to walk like a female will run the risk of looking false. You have to immerser yourself into the female character that you are, act the part fully. relax into the role. Then you will look as natural as you can.

I should also add that you need to get all the other mannerisms sorted as well. How you hold a bag can be as important in creating the most convincing picture as anything else. It's a whole of parts.

[GretchenM]

Wonderful analysis of walking motion and differences between men and women, Jennifer. I can add that women with wide hips have their legs attached to the pelvis a bit further from the center line. That creates a bit more rotation of the hips and the swing that many women show and men don't. The exact way the legs attach to the hips tends to create differences in the motion of the pelvis and the rotation of the lower spine. Hard for men to do that naturally as the distance from the center line to the leg attachment is considerably shorter. Biomechanics is amazing.

[DianeT]

My tip of the day: for a credible female walk, don't take the shortcut by the park after 10pm.

[Stephj]

I have been told by many people female or male that I walk like a lady I have never practiced my walk I guess it just comes naturally to me

[Krisi]

Watching crossdreser videos posted on youtube, I would say the walk and dressing inappropriately are the two biggest signs of a "man in a dress".

[EricaCD]

This will sound stupid but it REALLY worked for me. I was working with an acting coach on all aspects of my movement. She had all the usual advice - good posture, shorter steps: all completely valid stuff. But then she said to imagine I was being led by my hips... Think of them as leading my walk, pulling me forward and sort of dragging the rest of my body behind just a tiny bit. Then she said add a TINY bit of side-to-side as you walk. Don't overdo either part, but those two tips made a huge difference. Even more importantly, I can quickly go to them if I am not feeling confident about how I am walking. I just say to myself "hips lead, a little sway" and I quickly get myself back into a good movement. Best of luck!

[Angela Marie]

I've been told I have a natural female walk. Slight movement of the hips from side to side, sort steps, etc. I was suppressing it for years; now i'm just doing what feels natural.

[Maid_Marion]

Wear kitten or short heels all the time to learn a feminine walk.

Try not to overdo things. It is better to do too little than too much of something.
If something falls in the ambiguous gray area that is OK. Exaggeration is an obvious clue that you don't want.

Marion

[Richelle423]

I take low cut ankle socks fold them in half and place them in the heels of my shoes or sneakers. That works for me

[Ressie]

I agree with Maid_Marion. In fact, the biomotionlab thing gets overly exaggerated!

Fully female - I don't wanna sway my hips that much!
Fully male - neanderthal walk!

I think it helps to watch women walk. Most women don't sway their hips very much or walk with one foot in front of the other.

To be honest, keeping elbows in is quite a challenge for me. I've made videos of myself walking and the elbows stick out no matter how much I think they aren't.

[Shiny]

I have never needed to sway or wiggle. I just dress as I like, most of the time a bit vintage with 5 inch heels. What I have noticed that has happened to me over time is the realization that it's the clothes and heels themselves that mostly dictate how you move, sit and walk. I dress a lot and often if doing house or kitchen work often just forget about what I am wearing but when I stop and think it always comes back to my movements that are to to the outfit I am wearing.

[Georgina]

For me it's not about a female walk or mannerisms but about being elegant.

[Barbara Jo]

Having a bit more wider hips than the average male, walking feminine seems natural for me.

One thing to keep in mind..
When waling, it is said that men lead with their knees.
However, females lead with their hips.

BTW, the sexy female walk is something many females have to learn also

[Genifer Teal]

Many of these suggestions are great. There's a lot you can do to fake it. The results will be okay. What I've learned it's that it's better to let it happen naturally the way it does for women. Let me explain. Men keep their abdomen muscles tight and their bodies more rigid. This connection between the hips and the upper body changes the way we walk. What needs to happen is to loosen the muscles in your abdomen. When it happens right your whole walk changes. The best I can describe it is if you think about sucking in your gut to hide your belly well do the opposite and let it out almost like you wanted to show the biggest belly ever. But you can't be forcing it out you just have to be relaxing it out if that makes sense. we wear name tags at work. I've noticed on women around the office the name tags just sort of rest peacefully on their chests and pretty much stay put . I find when I walk like I normally do it keeps bouncing off my chest. when I'm able to loosen up it just sits there because the movement (of my walking?) doesn't transfer to my upper body. my upper body is kind of floating on top of my hips if you will. I wish it was easier to describe and also easier to actually do. I get brief moments of aha that's it but they typically don't last unless I really concentrate and even then they tend to be fleeting moments. I've tried to find articles about losing muscle memory. I know there's a lot about how to create muscle memory but nothing talks about losing it or changing it. We've walked a certain way for all our lives, how do we do it differently now? Not an easy one but I can definitely say when I get it right you immediately know. I wish there was a better way to describe it. I guess it's like describing color to a blind person you don't know it until you see it.

[DianeT]

Genifer, actually your description is very good and rather interesting concept wise. Hopefully you reverse engineered the female walk and just wrote the missing manual for it!

[Genifer Teal]

Genifer, actually your description is very good and rather interesting concept wise. Hopefully you reverse engineered the female walk and just wrote the missing manual for it!

Thanks for your kind words and encouragement on my description. I guess it shows how much I thought about it and tried to figure it out. I remember watching my three-year-old nice walking for some of her first times and she already walk the way women do. It comes naturally to them. Partially due to wider hips which changes the angle the legs come down at and also due to posture which changes the angle of the hips to tilt forward the anterior tilt I think they call it. Both of those things combined make it automatic and I think relaxing the abdomen helps that pelvic tilt happen. I even got a treadmill to practice and also for necessary exercise but it certainly comes in handy to practice walking. I don't always get it right but my walk isn't terrible I actually think it's pretty okay just not up to the standards I'm hoping for. Something else I find that it's easy to overdo it and try to make your walk look like you're going down the runway at a fashion show. that's not how women walk all the time. Like over crossing your legs with each step. 1 foot tiles are pretty common on Floors. I don't try to walk a straight line like a tightrope I try to walk within that 1 foot square, not Crossing but I'm still keeping my legs close. Once you get the right walk happening it's easy to manipulate it and cause it to exaggerate a little bit. Once again hard to describe but when you experience it it's you can have fun with it while it lasts. Then your old walk creeps back in.

[Ressie]

There are a few videos on youtube geared toward women on how to walk more ladylike. What I found was not overdo any of it (such as walking with one foot in front of the other). Now to practice!

[NjJamie]

One thing that helps with the transition to feminine walking is to cheat with a shopping cart or other crutch, it makes it easier to get in the mindset that I know I need to make as feminine an appearance as possible. I was often "in a hurry", wanting the experience to be so intense, but now going with a comfortable outfit, low key setting (supermarket, mall, etc.) and trying to blend I have a much easier time of getting much closer to a femme walk and physical appearance/impact.

Once you find "it", repeating it will become easier each time. I think many of us figure that the right wig, outfit, makeup, jewelry or whatever will magically make us look the way we want but from so many posts and my own experience, being as comfortable as possible made a huge difference in the final effect.

[Ruby62]

I have also found that wearing heels and placing one foot slightly in front of the other seems to create and acceptable walk.

[NaughtyMichelle]

One time I was told men walk with their shoulders forward and women with their hips forward. There's more to it than that, but I always remember that short description when I'm out and about.

"Posture, ladies."

[Krisi]

People keep saying to wear heels to walk like a woman. Women walk like a woman even barefoot. It's not the heels.

It's mostly a swaying of the hips. And other things like how you swing your arms and your posture.

[TexasLegs]

1. Wrists forward, elbows backward
2. Imagine you're trying to hold a golf ball between your thighs
3. Sway the hips and shoulders more than normal

[Linda K.]

I found that the more I wear my heels, the more feminine I walk. My posture seems to automatically change when dressed. I love that! :daydreaming:

[Wendy me]

Hello I have been in some form or an outher dressing up as my Wendy slef for a wicked long time my first times as Halloween then more Putin my own.. all the trying to look walk and be as feminine and girly... all good but just walk be relaxed don?t over think it if your passing game is ok worst thing anyone might think is god she walks like a guy

So get out and just walk ..

[Kris Burton]

I found that the more I wear my heels, the more feminine I walk. My posture seems to automatically change when dressed. I love that! :daydreaming:

I have a pair of shoes like that as well. If no one is home, I have them on - and feeling great!

[suchacutie]

Start with all of the above with 2 additions: 1) do it every day if you can even if only for a few minutes, and 2) the stronger your core muscles are the more control you will have over your walk, especially in hels.

[Barbara Jo]

Observing ladies at the mall etc..

Many, particularly the younger ones walk very much like a lot of males.... not particularly feminine.
The one difference is if they are wearing a skirt or a dress and their walk is a bit more refined and feminine

However, the older female tend to walk rather feminine no matter what they are wearing

So is walking feminine more of less a learned experience for them and is not a natural walk?
Ahh....... but you say a female walk is the result of their wider hips ..
No so, I have known ladies with relatively narrow hips and and butt and they still walked like a lady.. :)

.

[Linda K.]

Wendy - Agreed! I saw a video on how we should walk and it was too hard. I spent more time trying to emulate the walk than just walking. I found that once I was dressed, I was more relaxed and it just came naturally.

Kris - I am not sure if the higher my heels the more feminine my walk is but I do know that once I put my work boots on, forget it, I'm in guy mode again! LOL!

[lingerieLiz]

When I was a teen I started to be teased about my walk. It went along with guys pinching my boobs which were bigger than some of the girls. When I showed my Aunt my wardrobe she said I walked like my mother and. She also said that I could pass.

[Devi SM]

Two things:

Remember ALWAYS to bring your knees almost touching each other when they are close while walking, of course. I don't mean to walk with your knees not moving. I hope it can be understood.

Second, the movement of balance of the hight part of the body for men is for the biggest mass of weight there up, in women the weight travels on the hips. So avoid that balance of the arms and shoulders.

The last is to tuck in a good way, not hiking on hide them but to do not feel the twins in between that are the responsible of make men open the legs. When I got the orchiectomy I could immediately feel the difference.

[AngelaYVR]

Avoid the ape walking (all too common) but also do not go overboard with hip swinging!

One of the best things you can do is make sure you get FULL extension of the leg when you walk in heels (you want the leg to be straight as it goes back, no bent knees) otherwise you look like you are climbing a hill. This will also naturally add a bit of roll to the hips.

[Suzih]

Angela: That "Ape Walk" thing is what I seem to do, and hunched over as well. Not a good look and I need to get it down. Good news is I can walk and climb stairs in 4"
" heels. SuziH

[Snide_lobster]

I find it looks most natural when you try to keep your legs slightly pressed inward. Obviously don't over exaggerate it, but more so than usually walking in guy mode.

[char GG]

All good suggestions about gait, leg position, etc. However, my observations indicate that men tend to walk with their heads jutted forward and a slouch position of the shoulders. If you can get that posture straight, the gait should be the next thing to think about.

[Marissa Q]

Great point, char GG. You're so right about male walking tendencies. The irony, of course, is that men who walk with straighter posture (chest out, shoulders back, head high) exude the same confidence and attractiveness as do their female counterparts. That posture of confidence is an interchangeable element. Exactly as you state, the gait needs addressing after that.

[kimmy p]

A few Halloweens ago I went to an outdoor event in Michigan. My footwear was 4.5" heeled boots. Now these boots were Goth style, that means rectangular heels and round toes. I spent over 6 hours in those boors outside, and walked miles in them. I expected my feet to be killing me the next day due to the severity of the heel height and the fact that I don't dress that far very often. I woke up the next morning, and lay in bed thinking that I got away with no pain in my feet because of the previously mentioned boot style. Then I stood up..... My feet were still fine. But in my attempts to look as feminine as possible I had spent the entire night walking as ladylike as I could. Swung the hips and one foot in front of the other. My hips were very angry with me. I could not walk a straight line for hours. Walking so differently for so long, without much practice, tore my hips apart. I still hurt three days later. So, if you want to walk like a lady....practice before you fully commit to an evening. Your body will thank you for it.

[Genifer Teal]

People keep saying to wear heels to walk like a woman. Women walk like a woman even barefoot. It's not the heels.

It's mostly a swaying of the hips. And other things like how you swing your arms and your posture.

And even at a very young age.
It's very hard to explain something you won't understand until you experience it. I discovered SOMETHING NEW! It's helping me get the fundamentals right. My strategy as previously explained is to understand what makes women walk that way and do it the same. Don't just try to fake it to look the same.

Explaining how to separate the hips and upper body is difficult. Then I came up with this. Imagine you pick up a gingerbread man and you're going to make it "walk" across the table. There are no joints so the whole body would rotate with each step. It would kind of waddle. Maybe like an old time gunfight when the do that slow walk.
Now the change you make is to only do this from the waist down. Your hips rotate but your upper body remains still. This is a good start to practice separating hip movement from your upper body. The walk/hip motion is not quite right. Don't focus on that, just on walking from your hips and legs. Not using your upper body.
Maybe all my previous work made this easier for me. It helps me switch up my walk . Still have to work on it but getting there. Hope someone finds this useful.

[Devi SM]

I completely agree with Genifer.

I'd been living more than 2 years as a woman and always pay attention to just do short steps and trying to keep knees the closest when they are moving, so avoiding that balance knees out some do like in purpose, like saying "see what's hanging between my legs, is huge" lol. At this point I have yo say that I got orchiectome June last year so those things not longer bother me.

We go to camping all time and last time I use a camera to do some hyperlapses of our life there. I paid attention to myself and I look great, as a woman but sometimes I balance the upper body, opening my arms, like distancing my elbows from the body and pull shoulders to the front and down.

So I did those corrections, that, I confess, is hard to keep but you must concentrate. It's like voice training, you must do exercises and practice, the most, the brain will learn. For that's been the clue, I'm a woman in the world now but you, crossdressers, how can separate your real life from the weekly or monthly "hobby" of being a woman?

Kind of dangerous. I remember years ago when working in a furniture store as a sales person, sometimes they would call us from through the speakers. One day they call Vanessa and I reacted to that...that's no longer my name but be careful how you train your brain...I just say...

[Genifer Teal]

When you consider the male to female gender spectrum, I crossed the mid point a long time ago. I jokingly say I'm not a working girl. By that I'm saying I don't dress as a woman at work. Fun way to put it. Otherwise everyone only knows this side of me. It's a most of the time thing.

[sometimes_miss]

Easy. I already walk like an old lady with terribly arthritic knees, cane and all.

[SarahLynn]

The first thing I was told, or maybe read here, men walk like they are falling forward, thus they lead with their shoulders. Women walk with their legs and thus lead with their legs. I try to remember this and use in when Sarah Lynn gets to show herself. A slight bend in the knee when placing your feet down aids in "the look." In all the videos I see of women walking naturally they seem to put the leading foot down flat to the floor rather than heel then ball of foot. They are pulling themselves forward not pushing or falling forward.

Men the opposite. To confirm this, look at your man shoes and compare them to your wife's. If hers are worn at the heel then she is walking more like a man then a woman. I doubt many of you will see this on your wife's shoes. Yours will likely have a warn spot on the outside quarter of the back of the heel. This indicates a heel first with the toes pointed outward from the line of walk. Like we were taught in the military, feet at a 45 deg angle to the line of walk. It would be best if when we were youngsters we were taught to walk in a fem manour.

Another thing you can do is place (balance) a book on your head and then walk around the house. Don't forget to use stairs if you have them. The idea is to move in such a manour as to keep the book on top of your head all the while you are moving. You will find this helps in taking smaller steps and in moving just the legs, not the upper body, when walking.

[DanielleDubois]

Lots of great hints and tips and it sounds like practice makes perfect. What I have found is that the weight distribution of my silicone hip pads and silicone breast forms changes my centre of gravity and helps to naturally give me a more feminine walk without even thinking about it.

Oh, as Devi SM commented, I also find a tight but comfortable tuck makes it easier to take those smaller one foot in front of the other foot feminine steps without the "boys" getting in the way.

[crobeson96]

I'd love to see comments on this: When I'm dressed I feel my spiritual center shift downward from just below my rib cage to where a woman's womb would be. This is partly natural and partly conscious. I do feel my walk improve when it happens. If you've not experienced it, try to imagine it.

[SarahLynn]

A couple (or maybe more) of things to add to my earlier posting. I've been thinking about how I did it way back when. Since we do this trip with small steps first there is the beginning for everyone. Instead of trying to master "the walk" all at once here are some first small steps. These are things we can do regardless of whither we are wearing shoes or not. If it helps you in any way, wear a pair of flats or very low heels, just something to get yourself in "the zone."

#1. Practice walking with your toes pointed forward not out to the side. This step is really hard for most of us older girls because of a lifetime of walking the other way. It won't be long and you will not have to think about it. Remember legs forward pulling yourself forward not falling forward.

#2. Once you have taught yourself to walk with your toes pointed forward place something between your legs in the delicate area where the thighs touch, then walk toes forward. I used a travel size bottle of shampoo for this step as I had lots of them from all my travels. This will teach you to keep your legs together, and taking smaller steps when walking. If you need to, put some kind of elastic something around your legs to keep the knees together. A really tight skirt might help. BTW, A long time ago, when I was much younger, my mother taught me this because I would walk like I saw the men in the westerns do. More of an amble and like I was bow legged from riding a horse. She didn't do this to make me walk like a girl but to make me walk like a confident man.

#3. Continue to walk in this fashion while balancing a book on your head. Small steps, legs together, toes forward, knees slightly bent, putting the legs forward, pulling the rest of the body in the direction of travel. Again, something my mother taught me.

Wow, we are almost there but still some things to work on.

#4. So the next step is placing one foot in front of the other while wearing heels. Seems like this should be an easy step but remember it's all about "the look", and walking in heels is not all that easy. Start low and work up. Even kitten heels or a 1" rise is a good place to start, just make sure to have a good solid and wide base to the heel when you first start. And it doesn't have to be directly in front but it should not be way off to the side. Step 2 will help with this because you can't walk with your feet off to the side and keep that item between your legs. Do not attempt to walk like you are a model on a runway. They exaggerate the one foot in front of the other by over stepping and placing one foot over and beyond the one already on the floor. They do this for the buyers of the fashions. It has caused more than one broken ankle.

As I think of other aids I'll update this thread, so keep an eye on it.

[CrossKimmy]

I honestly think this is a mindset and how you connect to your inner woman. Women?s bodies are built differently than men?s so we have to compensate for the lack of. Sometimes that looks clunky at first but the more you practice the more you can adjust to your body to make it flow more naturally and gracefully.

[Sallee]

interesting I wonder if my walk has ever given me away

[Kitty Sue]

I gave up trying. Just like when I talk. These days I am just a dude in a dress. Or a dude in drag and I love it.

[HollyGreene]

If you really want to know how women walk, go and watch them.
Find a bench in a public place and sit and watch the world go by. Or sit in your car and watch them if you want to be more discreet.
I rarely see women of any age walk with one foot in front of the other. It's the sort of thing that fashion models do on the catwalk.
Having said that, a lot of women wear flat shoes nowadays, except when they're going out for a night on the town, and the catwalk walk seems to come about when they're wearing heels.

Women's hips have a more pronounced sway to them, and heels definitely seem to make that easier for me.