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A History of

Female Mimics

Magazine

Part 4:
End of An Era

By Ms Bob and Carol Kleinmaier Subscribers can read Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

This presentation is a preliminary history of Female Mimics magazine, which was published from 1963 to 1979. It is worth our notice for several reasons: its ground-breaking format, large distribution, long publishing history and, most importantly, because of its portrayal of the gender community.


HOME GIRL

During the Jenifer Jordan years the staff included an openly transgendered writer, Kim Christy. Unlike the editorial appointment of Pudgy Roberts in Female Impersonators, Kim occasionally had a real voice. At this time she was out, about, proud and quite the ball queen.

Kim Christy In her first column in 1974 she debunked one of the prime public relations tenets of professional female impersonators and earlier editors of Female Mimics. She questioned the heterosexuality of the performers. "I recall when ONE Institute, on a tour of gay bars, stopped at the Queen Mary show bar in Los Angeles, and several female impersonators there made a special point to the group that, just because they are female impersonators, they are not necessarily homosexuals, and, indeed, they claimed 60% of professional female impersonators are heterosexual. I've worked in the business before and, believe me, (Kim says) that isn't necessarily true. I have no idea where that figure came from." The Queen Mary performers Kim mentions were promoting the same "party line" as the Finocchio's cast in their 1965 letter: do everything possible to distance yourselves from "freaks, perverts, deviates, transvestites, lesbians, etc.." Kim's attitude is decidedly more contemporary and post-Stonewall.

However important to the community a transgendered staff member was, Kim Christy wasn't at Female Mimics long. At first she was very present, appearing in photos, writing and covering the balls. But a year later, by 1975, she vanished and was absent for the remainder of the Jenifer Jordan years.

In Fall, 1976, after three years of regular publication Female Mimics went into suspended animation for over a year. Female Mimics Special appeared in Winter, 1977-78. This was the last issue published by Jenifer Jordan. Special was the only all-color, all-photo issue of Female Mimics. All the photos were reprinted from previous issues. The models' names were available. Yet, the editors printed no captions and identified no one. The lone paragraph of text welcomes the reader to "a rare treat…men who dress as women, who act as women and who pass as women. Some, in fact, call themselves women…they are not afraid to show this…what they believe is their rightful role in life." It is disappointing that even with accurate information at hand, the publisher opted for this vague titillation and an insultingly simplistic definition of transexuality.

THE LAST YEAR, Volume 5 (sic), 1979

There were no more issues for over a year. The next issue, volume 5, #1, dated Spring, 1979, published by Satellite Enterprises, an alias of Eros. These last three issues of Female Mimics were precursors to Female Mimics International, which would publish its first issue the next year, Winter, 1980. Graphically the connection is very strong. Many visual elements of these last three Female Mimics, such as the new typeface, borders, cover logo and layout, became signature design elements of the early Female Mimics International.

The first column by Linda Lee, Female Mimics most articulate and thoughtful writer, appears in volume 5 #2. Earlier she had been West Coast Correspondent for Lee G. Brewster's magazine Drag. Her column would continue in Female Mimics International and run for over eight years, until 1987. Also, some of the models featured in these last three issues of Female Mimics, such as Shalei Lutrelle and Sulka became familiar faces in Female Mimics International.

Bubbles But the strongest connection between these two publications is the return of Kim Christy. This time Kim returned for good. She was editor of these last issues of Female Mimics. She was editor of Female Mimics International when the first issue was published. And she is editor of Female Mimics International today with the 100th issue due out later this year.

With Kim's return came a brief era of excellent ball coverage. Never before, or since, were photo credits as detailed and inclusive. Volume 5, #2 listed not only all the contestants, even if their photos did not appear, but their sponsors, too.

This does not mean, however, that accurate representation of the gay or transgendered lifestyle has won out over the readers' desire for fantasy. As with the Jenifer Jordan issues, performer profiles have some ring of truth to them, but facts about the unknown queens remain vague. These profiles feel fictionalized with fetishistic interests in mind. "Jennifer prefers to dress a little kinky for her dates. She feels more sensual in a garter belt, stockings and an alluring dress."

CONCLUSION

Did Female Mimics make a positive contribution to the transgendered community? Yes, at times, though that was never its principal goal. Its principal goal was selling magazines. Its history of an evolving editorial position reflects the times. Female Mimics began with an emphasis on professional female impersonators in venues and with content that would be considered non-threatening to mainstream heterosexual audiences. The image presented to the community was of glamorous, passing queens. The early 1970's was a period of blatant exploitation, portraying the models as anonymous objects of fantasy and introducing erotic fiction with homophobic and transphobic implications. Finally, a post-Stonewall consciousness did emerge and, while it did not fully satisfy our desire for positive self-identification, it provided the transgendered community with some degree of affirmation and education.

In its final years Female Mimics maintained an uneasy combination of ball coverage, community information and fantasy. This formula was continued by Female Mimics International . It was only abandoned when community based publications, such as Tapestry, Crossdresser's Quarterly and Lady Like, gained national distribution. These magazines championed an editorial policy centered on providing information and inclusive positive images to the entire gender community. With the emergence of these publications Female Mimics International could now justifiably abandon its half-hearted efforts at community representation.

Nonetheless Female Mimics has served members of the transgendered community in a variety of ways. It was the first magazine to utilize a format which is now the standard among nationally distributed gender publications. Because of its accessibility and wide distribution it was often the first gender publication men exploring their feminine side encountered. Thus, its images shaped parts of our early identity as crossdressers and transexuals. Female Mimics has also provided publicity to clubs and entertainers, pride to homosexuals, fantasy, flattery to the vanity of its models, reassurance to heterosexual crossdressers and has sold hundreds of thousands of copies in its 16 year publishing history.

Is an avid collector of TG material
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