14.
Arriving in New York I had to have a place to stay-- where? Then it occurred to me that there are organiza- tions in most large cities which provide lodging, restaur- ant and entertainment facilities exclusively for women. Why not go there, where else would be more appropriate for a woman traveling alone? I gave the address to the taxi driver and in a few minutes was deposited on the front steps. I registered, was given a nice room and found the bath and restroom facilities no problem or embarrassment. After visiting for an hour or so in the lounge with other women there, I retired to my room and enjoyed a sound night's sleep. In the morning I found breakfast in the cafeteria tasty and the company pleasant. I then left to accomplish my business of the day. My second evening, night and break- fast were as pleasant as the first and then on Friday I was on my way again. My stay was simple and uneventful.
But when my wife, to whom I write daily while on tour, reported to several of my friends who are in on the "woman- experiment" where I had stayed and showed them the letters with the letterhead they nearly exploded with laughter. kidded them about this afterwards, for some of them still have difficulty in disassociating sex from this whole matter. I think that shows up something about their own minds, for the judgement we pass upon another person or an event usually judges us more than the other, showing up the ideas and bases of judgement we hold within ourselves. When one is a woman or in a state of beingness as a woman, staying at a woman's residence hotel is the natural womanly thing to do--an achievement not in male sexual excitement, but in feminine beingness.
My Boston visit and lectures were interesting--I may report on them some other time,--but the final item of this trip which may be of interest, and perhaps sometime of help- fulness to others born men but more or less interested in exploring the world of women, is of the method I used to change back to my masculine identity for the balance of the trip. One could of course, use the Diner's Club card to rent a car in one town with provision for turning it in at another destination, and change enroute. But there is a