Feminine walk

[Shelby]

I struggle with walking like a woman; even when dressed en femme my wife tells me I walk like a man (and I am trying to walk like woman). Just another thing I need to work on I guess.

For those of you who have figured out how to walk like a woman do you find that it occasionally carries over into your life when dressed as a man or can you easily turn it on and off?

[Mikaela]

I found that being in heels forces a lot of changes in how you walk. While you're concentrating on just keeping balance, you can concentrate on a whole new stride. Being in flats is too much like drab shoes imho. If your wife is critiquing you, see if she'll give you some pointers to fix your wall as well.

[Davita]

The easiest way I know how to figure out how a woman walks is to put a fairly heavy suitcase at arms length in each hand and walk with no hurry, and don't lean over. Feel the sway of your butt and legs trying to keep balanced. I think I read it versus was told it, that the swish comes from putting one foot in front of the other. You don't have to walk like a model on the catwalk to achieve the "normal" effect. Also, looking like an ice skater with toes pointing outward and your gait following where your toes point is just wrong.

As for walking in heels, they teach you to walk with good posture, but not always like a woman. Too high a heel and you are walking like you walking down a steep hill. Oh I take it back, I see women frequently looking like that. In a bit lower heel you might be walking like Frankenstein all stiff legged trying to "walk normal" like you are in flats.

BTW, which woman are you trying to walk like? I've seen my number of "football players," "floozies," "old ladies," etc. Women walk a lot like men -- all types of walks. I think mostly for me the feel in the difference of the two walks is "determination to get there" versus "enjoying the scenery." If you wear heels, that walk of determination has a whole batch of it's own concerns.

Now do I change walks? oh no. Are you kidding? I can't put on sun glasses and remember to take them off when I come in let alone keep track of walking. My walk is fairly neutral to start with and that, for me, is ideal.

[Shelby]

"determination to get there" versus "enjoying the scenery."

Thank you for that analogy; it really made perfect sense to me and helps me understand what I need to be aware of while en femme.

Thank you

[Emily]

For those of you who have figured out how to walk like a woman do you find that it occasionally carries over into your life when dressed as a man or can you easily turn it on and off?

I don't know if I've actually figured out how to walk "like a woman". I suppose I do have a walk which I believe to be more indicative of a woman rather than a man... yes its different and yes, it feels feminine. How does it actually represent? Not sure... no one to actually tell me, LOL!

I do find that I can easily turn it off and on though, but it does carry over when I am feeling extra fem. At work is when this usually happens, and I sometimes get asked if I'm gay.

If there is any correlation between a "gay man's" walk and a "woman's" walk, then suppose I can consider my attempt of walking fem a success!

[April Rose]

If you have ever walked behind a couple on wet sand you would might have noticed that the man's footprints footprint are more or less side by side , ' , ' , ' , ' , ' , ' , '
while the woman's footprints are more in a straight line -------------

I have tried this and it seems to work; go for a walk at night or somewhere there are not a lot of people. Imagine you are walking on a rope, keeping your feet in a straight line. It is awkward at first, and you will keep falling off the rope; this why it is best to do this in relative seclusion. To start out, do not try to sway or be swish, just concentrate on staying on the rope until you you can comfortably do it for a hundred yards or more. (yes this will take some time, but hey, doctors are saying everyone should walk for 30 minutes a day; you are just doing it with an agenda.) It might actually hurt a little at first, but it's like any sport, as you get better at it your body will relax and the pain will go away.

Once you can stay on the rope for some distance comfortably you might notice that your hips have a bit of a sway. If you do, so much the better, if not, now is the time to add it. Only add as much sway as makes walking the rope more comfortable. Experiment with it. The object is to have a nice, natural, feminine sway; not to look like a drag queen.

Finally, your arms. Men walking swing their arms from the shoulders. Women swing their arms as much from the elbows and a little more freely at the wrists. Again, don't over do it. Watch a number of men and women walking and you will eventually see the subtle difference.

Try that until you can stay on the rope for the entire 30 minutes, and I will bet that the next time you add heels, hips and tight skirt, you will walk like the elegant ladies we so much admire and wish to emulate.

[Anne Bonny]

Hum...I did pick up a tip for feminine voice, download a guitar tuner app and if I slightly raise the pitch of my voice so that the vibrations are just above my vocal cords I can easily talk naturally in the C3 octave range...ok pretty easy for a beginning female voice...over time you would add some fluctuation and flourish....My son told me "the voice thing is weird." If I were trans sexual I would of course do as suggested just keep reading things aloud in this octave watching the tuner on the smart phone as I read just to make sure.... Sometimes I wonder am I in that range? The guitar tuner tells me I am at the correct octave... Ok so I have confidence and could make this habitual but I am just gender fluid.

The walk? I don't know...might try it some for fun..we will see. Ok...I can do that easily but to me it seems like a model on the runway...I am going to observe our subjects in the wild and see if the female of the species walks an invisible tightrope...I bet my observations will tell me in the everyday world their walking is not this extreme. Now if they are in heels and are acting "sexy" or like a bimbo...probably but it will be fun to observe now that you have my attention.

Anatomy is difficult to over come their hips are slightly wider than ours. The arm thing? Hum.... The adam's apple thing....hum....you know these things are difficult to overcome. What's wrong with...well I can see some alterations in my walk and movement but...hard to do this naturally.

[KimberlyS]

I have been told that I walk like a guy also. I find that wearing heels helps me to walk more feminine. It also helps to slow down and take smaller steps.

[April Rose]

Anne, the idea of the tightrope is to overcome the hip difference. It is awkward at first, for sure, but after doing it for awhile, a certain sway to the hips is what becomes the most comfortable, efficient way to walk while maintaining that one foot in front of the other gait.

[Anne Bonny]

Ok....I stepped into the blind so hidden away I was able to observe the female of the species in the wild in their natural habitat....

What did I observe? Women do not do the "runway walk" They do not go around in 4-6" stilettos dressed like tarts, not in the real world and they do not walk heel to toe. their walk is unique to them. Some walked rather like men...their toes outward...some side by side...I did observe one who's feet were very close side by side but I was not able to observe any that walk heel to toe heel toe...not a single one. They may take a shorter stride but then they are on average shorter then men I will grant that their feet on average may be parallel (straight side by side) and somewhat closer together perhaps but that's about it.

Why even worry so much with all of this!? Play acting is just that and if you are doing that it is not natural and you are going to look just goofy and not relaxed and yourself.

Do this...of course at times women's shoes cause you to be a little more careful and cause you to put the ball of your foot down first and to slow down and be a little more patient so that you are not slipping and falling over.

I think the best thing to keep in mind is men lumber along shoulders first, women are more upright shoulders back (breasts...shoes probably account for this otherwise their backs are going to start aching)...their center of gravity differs and is lower...in their hips. I believe this is probably the primary difference in their gait...so when we have our heavy forms in and are wearing a bit of a heel or a shoe with a sole that can slip...it will slow us down and change our gait. That would not be play acting but a necessary and natural adjustment we would find ourselves making.

Men do swing their arms from the shoulder...we are knuckle draggers go figure we make long lumbering strides and move with our shoulders forward...as per above forms and shoes will correct our shoulders and slow us down.

I did observe a women or two swinging their arms from their shoulders... but they do tend to bend their arms from the elbow more...carrying a purse may be the reason...it becomes habitual...floppy wrists!? well their arms are not as muscular as ours and they have weak little wrists...so that probably accounts for that difference. I suppose I am a little more limp wrist-ed in a dress perhaps.

When you consider how we naturally adjust with heels, Forms in, carrying a purse wearing a dress how we move is naturally going to appear more feminine without our even thinking much about it. Our shoulders will be more back, our gait slowed and more ball of foot out first, arm swinging, will all change our walk

I am in the camp which believes I do not have to worry about all of this it will just come naturally when we relax into it all. If you are natural you are more ralaxed and confident and that is really how we should be you cannot play a roll you have to be yourself!

[Martina Hall]

I usually simply walk slowly, with shorter than my normal steps. Graceful, and slowly. No phony backside-wiggle added. I'm told it looks OK.

[Kelly]

I second, generally at least, the walking on a rope approach.

I saw a youtube entry that gave some hints and tips, if I can ever find it again I'll post a link. The theme there was walking a line. Say along the seam in a big box store, or grout lines in your home, the curb of a sidewalk, even doing laps on the perimeter of a basketball court. What the heck, let the rest of the world think you are just little bit OCD .

Here is what I found. It does facilitate a hip role. (Bonus if you are a bit older an joints don't work as they use to it helps in the flexibility of the joints involved.) I found that - just for the sake of counterbalance the motion of the arms became more feminine (something I had problems emulating). What I found was that if the inner parts of the knee lightly bumping against each other things are going right, so I use that as a key.

Just get to the point where you don't have to think about it. Then you don't have to exactly 'toe the line'; i.e. you don't have to be walking a runway. But keep in mind there ARE anatomical differences in the pelvis and hip between men and women. Being much more grounded in the one-foot-in-front-of-other discipline does mean that your skeletal will yield to a more feminine gate.

Kelly

[Anne Bonny]

Well...to each her own...we are all unique and different. So there is no right or wrong. There are indeed reasons for forming new habits, a walk, a natural voice a couple octaves higher especially for trans girls. For the rest of us...for some it is a hobby, others it is indeed a side of who we are that flows back and forth...Anyone see Netgeo last night the gender revolution, if not you missed a really good one...

[Eileen (SO)]

Not many women can walk like their hips are mounted on roller bearings. In heels or not, walk with confidence. Shoulders back and hips forward, imagine a rope around your waist pulling you. Turning your palms outward brings your elbows in.

Try this link, it's lots of fun. http://www.biomotionlab.ca/Demos/BMLwalker.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
You can rotate the figure all around, even an above view.

Eileen

[Katrina]

Walking. How hard can it be.
Well for me, with hips out of whack, one leg a bit shorter than the other, one foot half a shoe size different than the other, and arthritis in both feet, its not at all hard to walk like a caveman.
I actually find that wearing women's clothes, and especially heels, makes me think about how I look and walk, and I have to make a conscious effort to walk correctly.
The same goes for wearing new clothes (male or female). You feel good wearing them, so you make an effort to walk tall and with elegance.