14.

Following is a case history sent me by a doctor. She says that whereas the greater part of it is undoubt- edly true that parts of it may have been wishful thinking, but essentially it outlines the development of transvest- ism in a male aged 16 who had previously had no awareness of it. It tends to bear out the contention that the sat- isfactions in feminine dress may be awakened in a large number of men at adolescence and later if their first ex- perience comes about in a proper way. The story itself was first sent to the doctor in 1952, the author was 22.

THE AWAKENING OF A TRANSVESTITE

My experiences with girl's clothes began in a most casual way. Father, himself always neat, insisted that we appear at the dinner table clean and neatly dressed-- an invariable rule. One afternoon I got home from school a bit earlier than usual and so took my usual bath early in order to get out of my sister's way. (I was 16 at the time). Afterwards, clad only in a bathrobe, I wander- ed into mother's room. She too had bathed and was start- ing to dress, but when I came in she took the time to give he her usual hug and kiss. We have both always been ter- ribly fond of each other with an unusual amount of things in common for mother and son. And rarely, if ever, have there been any secrets between us. Anyhow, mother kissed me as we were standing, both barefooted, before her full- length mirror, and she, exclaimed with surprise at our apparent equal height. Because, I suppose, her heels had always made her seem taller than I, but when she turned with her back to mine we were exactly the same height.

She talked about my growth for a few minutes, then resuming dressing while I sat on the edge of her bed. I sat there chatting with her for some time, and as I did so I idly worked one foot in and out of one of her pumps lying beside the bed. It was a wholly unconscious motion, but when she stepped out of the room for a moment I real- ized what I was doing and was surprised to find that it fitted me. So I slipped my other foot into it's mate,