"VIRGIN VIEWS"

by VIRGINIA

A discussion of the relationship between homosexuality and femme- personation has been in the works for a long time. It has been needed, but other things seemed to be more important and it has been put off. However it is a matter that troubles many of our readers so let us think about it a bit.

To begin with let me make it clear that what appears below is my own view. I put it forth knowing full well that many will not agree with me for one reason or another. But I also know that the discussion of the problem openly will relieve the minds of many who have ponder- ed it. My mission is not to persuade everyone to agree with me but to present information or points of view that will help others to arrive at the best understanding of themselves, of the phenomenon (I refuse to call it a problem) of TVism and of its place in the scheme of things. I should also like to say that I am going to use the term Femme person- ation here since transvesting or cross dressing goes on in both groups and the term makes no distinction.

In the first place let us be aware of a psychological phenomenon that psychologists term 'homosexual protest". This refers to persons who take every opportunity to deny that they are homosexual and in fact enter that denial when no accusation has been made and no denial is necessary. Such persons are usually suspected of latent homosexual- ity simply because they take such pains to deny it. Because this patt- ern is common enough to acquire a name in psychological terminology does not by any means imply that everyone who denies homosexuality is therefore guilty of it. We must also remember that up until recent- ly (and still only in the thinking of a few of the more advanced psy- chologists and psychiatrists), femmepersonation of any type was con- sidered a manifestation of homosexuality. Now that we are drawing together married, heterosexual men who are frequently fathers and yet who have discovered and yearn for femmepersonation we are arriving at the point where greater awareness of the true nature of femmeper- sonation is being forced on psychology.

Because femmepersonators have for years been thought of as being homosexual we often tend to take too antagonistic an attitude toward it. This does two things; it makes us suspect as protesting too much,

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