71.

What is the solution to this problem? It lies in the individual's inner attitude. Not all TVs can or do go out in public (though all of us would like to) as our feminine selves, but what I have to say may be a help to those who do from the point of view of their effect on others. It can also be a help to those who do not go out in assisting them to attain a more tolerant view of them- selves.

Let me start off with a little personal history since my experiences proved helpful to me and they may vicarious- ly prove helpful to some of you who read these lines. I have been a TV since I was about 15 and for many years in complete secrecy. At the time I became engaged to my first wife I decided that I'd better get psychiatric help to get rid of this problem. I went to a regular psychiatrist that I knew of and found that he knew next to nothing about TVism. He sent me to a psychoanalyst.

This doctor did not get me involved in the full course of analysis but he listened to my story and came up with the conclusion that I was suffering from a strong Oedipus Complex. This implied that I had a strong attachment for my mother and resented my father and was trying subcon- xiously to be like my mother. Now, this interpretation was entirely unacceptable to my mind because my mother has many masculine qualities while my father has a number of feminine characteristics and if anything I admired him more than I did my mother. (Curiously, it occurred to me some years later that perhaps my admiration for my father subconsciously led me as a child to put myself in my mother's place, but this idea was never expressed by any of the 5 psychiatrists I saw.) Seeing that I was getting nowhere with this analyst I dropped further visits.

Later after I'd been married a couple of years dur- ing which I had kept my TV under control but had not kil- led it (whoever does), I felt the need of help again so I went to another psychiatrist. He came up with the bril- liant conclusion that because I was fond of high heels that they were a phallic symbol and an implication of