Hi,
I am workign on being passable and one of the blocks I am facing is my male stiffness. My voice is not deep but not feminine either. Being an introvert, I ve never expressed myself fully. I am trying to pick up female way of speaking and gesturing but dont know where to start.
I am currently watching sex and the city to see what are the topics girls talk about and how to respond and be one of the girls. Would appreciate if others can share their experience and guide me.
First of all NO! Do NOT try to emulate Sex and the City. Watch REAL women in the real world. If you watch modern women, they don't really behave all that different than men. When there are differences there is usually a practical reason behind it. For example I used to notice women's hands a lot. The way they held things, the way they manipulate objects, etc always stood out as distinctly feminine. Then I got a manicure and realized, oh, this is just how you have to do things with nails. The way women walk? Mostly the shoes. The way they sit? It's the skirt. Without understanding WHY women do things it's easy to turn into a bad pantamime.
Video tape yourself. You'll see what is working for you, what needs work (I thought my walk was OK until I saw the tape), and (importantly) what you may be over-exaggerating.
Micki is right!! (Micki I do not why you and I agree so much!! LOL) Watch women in the real world notice the way they do things and speech patterns. Try what you found and then go out and watch some more. It takes a lot of observation and practice. Keep working on it! You will get close eventually. Lucille Sorrena has good exercises to loosen you up and lots of good advice on things crossdresser. Look her up on the internet. (I think I spelled her name correctly.) Good luck (I am not there yet either.) Hugs Lana Mae
Another thumbs up for Micki_Finn (#2)! What you say is so true.
Go to advanced search and enter mannerisms, than look at "What GG's idiosyncrasies fascinate you?" by Vikky on 9-17-2014. It may help but is a fun read. The thread is closed or I would have brought it back for all to read.
You can find quite a few good videos on Youtube on how to feminize your voice.
All women are different for one thing. Some women walk like men. Some women have low voices and some talk loud.
Seeing myself walk on video is upsetting! Photos are just about as bad. I guess I'm just a crossdresser, not a female emulator.
Find a public place for people watching, and observe. Observe women you see who might exhibit the physical qualities and movement you like or hope to achieve. It's quite like rehearsing and training for any other physical activity. Watch the experts (so to speak).
THEN... practice. Various video tapes (training) are probably out there to give you suggestions, but I strongly suggest that any use of video be of YOU. Video tape yourself.
Walking, particularly walking in heels and perfecting the movement is a perfect example. Don your 'stuff', and do the walk. Video yourself. It is very revealing about the most subtle movements. It will be a great guide for learning. Video yourself. Study. Make changes. Learn.
Good luck. BTW, I have been complemented by a handful of women on my mastery of heels, and my walk.... and I'm 6'3".
Post #2 from Micki really hits the nail on the head!
I personally do not use a fem voice whilst out in public dolled up, I've only spoken to people once when out in public, and that was to do stand-up comedy; most nervous thing was to just approach the I.D. checkers at the door.
Back to the subject.
Walking in high heels requires grace, that helps me with a fem walk.
Wearing a skirt or dress helps in sitting fem like.
I keep a good arm swing while holding my purse strap with my other hand.
Observe women in public, without looking creepy of course. Note all the good mannerisms.
YouTube is almost always a great source, especially for working on your voice.
:)
VOICE/SPEAKING
https://www.reddit.com/r/transvoice
MANNERISMS/WALKING
https://www.biomotionlab.ca/Demos/BMLwalker.html
http://www.crossdressers.com/forums/...els&highlight=
1. Observe
2. Practice, practice, practice
3. Evaluate yourself
4. Go to point 1.
As said, gg's are best teachers. And soon you find out that not every woman have typical woman's walk, posture or mannerism and some are kind of like a guys in said terms, especialy younger generation. Dont learn from tv, movies or something like that. Most of time they oversexualize gg's in every way possible. Talking about those female charcters that are suppose to be like special military commandos running around in thight latex catsuits or ultra revealing outfits, wearing 6" platforms doing kung-fu... Get good binoculars, that is how i do it (yeah maybe creep little bit :D ).
Leonal,
As others have said be yourself, to most of us CDing isn't an act, we are satisfying an inner need.
Cding does happen in stages , it's always good to be dressed but things change the more you do it, I've also found when you get out the door CDing changes a great deal.
As Micky Finn says you learn from wearing the clothes, how they move and how you have to deal with that movement, you are more careful with holding things when your nails are done you do have to develop a walk once you wear heels.
I'm sure you're not stiff in male mode but feel you are in female mode because you're thinking it through too much, just dress and enjoy it and try and do normal things. I do all the domestic chores when dressed, cooking cleaning and laundry after a while you do forget you're dressed if the clothes and shoes are comfortable .
Micki is spot on sex in the city is not real so not a true representation of life.
Watch what women do in your everyday encounters with them. All are very different so pic the type you like the best and go from there.
All kinds of voice training videos on You Tube for trans women so search that for tips.
Television is fantasy so forget that.
Its going to take lots of effort on your part to get to the point you are comfy conversing in girl mode.
Taking a video of your self is a huge help in your training because the camera doesn't lie and shows exactly what you need to work on to improve your presentation.
The stiffness is one of the hardest things to overcome and you need to learn how to let things like walking and other mannerisms flow.
Look at it this way men stomp everywhere they go women glide and flow.
The reason for this is that men have more muscle mass (due to testosterone). The increased muscle mass (even in lightweight men) just makes all the movements naturally more stiff. So the best you can do is try to just relax as much as possible. Your muscles will relax and hopefully this will make your movements more fluid.Quote:
Originally Posted by Tracii G
Practicing yoga will make one more flexible. My sister used to stomp when she walked throught the house which was annoying!
Maybe the best thing to do is to supress your male mannerisms, walk, stance, voice etc. That way you won't have fake, exaggerated female mannerisms. I find it funny when men walk with their arms away from their sides for example. Looks the the ready position to kick some ass!