VIRGIN VIEWS

by VIRGINIA

53

This will be a regular column in TRANSVESTIA in which ideas will be put forth in the hope of stimulating thought and comment from readers. To reply, address your envelope to Chevalier Publications, but the letter to the column.

It has long irritated me that it is deemed necessary by psychologists, psychiatrists and others to use a qualify- ing word or phrase when discussing Transvestism to indicate the sexual orientation of the individual. Thus we read, "Heterosexual Transvestite", or we find the phrase, "most Transvestites are heterosexual". It seems to me if a per- son's sole or principle deviation from the norm is that of liking the clothing of the opposite sex, that he, and only he (or she), should be designated a Transvestite - period. The fact that others may practice the same thing, on var- ious occasions, for different purposes, to a different de- gree and in connection with other forms of behavior, should not justify using one word to cover all. The word "Trans- vestite" should describe what a person IS, not what he DOES. It is like using the word "musician" for anyone who can pick out a melody on the piano or "poet" for anyone who com- poses a 4 line jingle. After all, melodies are part of being a musician and poets do make up rhymes.

However, most people would recognize that the words "musician" and "poet" refer to persons whose main activity is along these lines, not to people who partake of these arts infre- quently, incompletely and for trivial reasons. Again it is a matter of what one IS, not what one DOES. Furthermore, just because the clothing which is worn belongs to those of