Learning to Pass - Walking

I've been asked to start a conversation on passing. I was already thinking of something when I received that request. Please feel free to join in this discussion. If you'd like to see me write tips on other subjects, please PM me.

I watched a documentary on Discovery last night called switching sexes. Among a few topics they chronicled one fellow before he started his transition and ended with her living her new life as a woman but still not yet having SRS. One of the problems I noticed she carried yet unto the end of the production was her walk. She walked like a guy. She had a lovely face and was tall, but the biggest tell was that she lumbered down the sidewalk like a gorilla.

While I was still in my CD days, I met with my buddy Matty, in the bay area when I was traveling on business. I had been passing successfully for some time. I had the walk down. We doubled with another couple for lunch at some swank restaurant. I was dressed nicely in my punk dark doo and a form fitting knit dress with 3" heels. As we finished up a fine meal, we walked out to the car. The other fellow and his wife followed Matty and me out to the car as I held on to his elbow.

When we got in the car, she asked me: "Cindi, will you please show me how you walk like that?" "Huh?" I asked. She followed: "You walk very sexy. I want you to show me how." When we arrived at my apartment we had a walking lesson.

With all the tells to work on, walking was one that I had studied with a strong eye all my life. It is the easiest tell to fix (no surgery or money) and it is one of the most important. It came easily although I had never walked that way as a guy. So, what does a guy look like?

A manly man has a long stride. His arms swing back and forth palms pointed slightly backward. Each step is bluntly taken as if anything in the path will bend to his will. With every step, his heel firmly hits the pavement. The bulk of his weight is instantly transfered to the new step. His shoulders will move forward with each stride. He often will look down. He looks straight ahead with a singular purpose of reaching his destination. Here are some tips for walking in feminine fashion while wearing normal shoes if you are an MTF.

1 - Turn your elbows in toward you some. This will turn your palms more towards the front. Ask a woman to stretch her arm out. It will bend slightly backwards at the elbow. Guys can't do this. Turning your elbows in a bit will compensate for this inability.
2 - Lift your chin a bit and look forward. If you are walking with someone, look at them more often.
3 - Take smaller steps.
4 - Glide. See the movie Miss Congeniality to see how..
5 - Smile. Men don't smile.
6 - Take in the sights. Men ignore the sights.
7 - Swish your hips a bit... .from left to right in rythm. Women's hips are set out farther from the center of gravity. This action comes naturally for them. We have to practice.
8 - Think "keep my knees together". Keeping them close together will allow you to more slowly transfer your weight from foot to foot.
9 - If your feet point forward or slightly out when you walk, put each step down and think pivot ankle in a bit as you take the step.
10 - If you carry a shoulder bag, rest your forarm on it with a limp wrist. ...
11 - Don't hold your hands straight, rather, bend them out a bit.
12 - Don't let your shoulders follow your feet. Your shoulders will follow where you look, and your feet follow. When you get distracted, every thing follows in that order.

Now, my new friend didn't need to know all that to walk like a woman. She wanted to walk sexy while wearing high heels. And I think that it is good practice for an MTF to practice wearing walking in modest heels. So this is what I showed her:

1 - Take smaller steps than when wearing flats.
2 - When you take smaller steps, you set your feet down more level. The heel is not set down to the pavement squarely. Rather, the ball of the foot comes close behind.
3 - Set your foot down facing forward. Note that this is different than when wearing flats.
4 - Let your ankle wobble. This is a natural tendancy, let it happen. If your ankle wobbles, it shows weakness; a truly feminine charactersitic. Keeping your ankle stiff will be a dead tell for you as an MTF. For a GG, it just doesn't look very feminine.
5 - Swivel your heel in (your toes out) as you lift each foot. Note that this is just opposite as when wearing flats.
6 - Glide and swish

So you can't get all this down? Don't worry. Practice. Watch women you think are feminine. See what they do and practice in front of a mirror. Have a friend help you experiment. Get this down so it is something you do without thinking. The walk is your most important tell to change.

Cindi

Copyright 2006 by Cindi Jones RSS feeds are allowed