by Darlene (30-H-1 FPE)

A Way of Life

As a subscriber to TRANSVESTIA, and an aspiring FP. I would like to express my own opinion on certain points and at the same time, relate to you the experie- nces and challenges I have encountered thus far. In the hope that they will prove to be of interest to other readers, but more importantly of some assistance to an- ather "girl" less fortunate than myself.

At this writing, I am thirty years of age, married and the father of three children, two boys five years old and one year old, and a daughter six years. In ad- dition to this, I'm prematurely grey, a "Miss Clairol" rinse addict and my daily form of exercise is the con- stant struggle to retain some semblance of a size 20 build.

For many years and until recently, femiphillia man- ifested itself into an insurmountable problem that could have tragic results for our entire family, were it not for the unswerving love, compassion and understanding of my wife, plus psychiatric guidance and orientation from a qualified doctor. What once had been a complex problem has been transformed into a "way of life" for me which my wife shares as an equal partner. I shall attempt to clarify this statement further on in this art- icle.

It is the opinion of psychiatrists that transvestism with it's varied characteristics is sewn into a child at a very early age and further cultivated by well-meaning mis-guided parents. In retrospect, I find this to be true in my case.

My mother has always been very possessive of me, possibly because I am the youngest of four children and, being unable, or as I suspect, not caring to bear more children, she wanted to smother me with protection. All hurts and disappointments were minimized by her

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