71.

The following letter comes from a Catholic Priest who has been interested in the work TRANSVESTIA is trying to do since he has known of several cases of divorce on account of TVism,

Dear Editor:

Perhaps WO can look for the origin of TV inclinations during early infancy, when the baby is developing aware- ness of self, in a combination of circumstances which cause the child to identify himself with the feminine component of the human race; to decide; "That is the kind of per- son I am.

H

While the mother is the most obvious source of the factors which cause this identification, and her influence on the personality of the child may be the most frequent cause of the development of TV inclinations, it would hard- ly seem necessary to insist that identification with the feminine must be traced exclusively to the mother, or even to some particular person. It might even arise from cir- cumstances in which the influence of a group was an impor- tant factor, or from peculiar circumstances connected with environment in which masculine and feminine elements were mixed.

There does not seem to be any reason for insisting on elements of antipathy, antagonism or hostility in regard to male members of the infants worlds, which inspire feel- ings of rejection--"I am NOT that kind of person."--or flight from masculinity. Such circumstances may certain- ly be very important, but it seems quite possible that TV inclinations may develop without them, or even in the presence of their opposites.

As a practical application of the above theory we can give a hypothetical case. (The mother is used, not through inconsistancy, but because it makes demonstration easier.) Baby John comes into the world with his father's general physical equipment, but with those factors transmissible by inheritance, which form the basis of one's emotional life, so closely resembling those of the mother in this case, that for all practical purposes we have in Baby John