A New Start==

HISTORY

Another Marilyn

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by Marilyn (15-N-1 FPE)

As some religious zealots say, I have been "born again" in the past few months. However, my "rebirth" has been of a different sort, although perhaps not too different at that.

All of my life, I have had two major motivations in life religion and femininity. Until fairly recently, the two seemed incompatible. Now I am convinced they can live together under the common roof of masculinity.

The earliest known overt expression of my femme- self came when I was 3 or 4 years old. I cannot remem- ber it, but my mother tells of discovering me 1/4 of a mile from home, stumbling along in her high heeled shoes. Of course, they were too big for me.

I lived on a farm and was the oldest of three child- ren. My parents didn't have much money during those depression years of the 1930s, but we always had enough to eat and were very healthy.

My brother, one year younger than I, was the vig- orous, energetic sort who always wanted to help dad. Since my father probably didn't want two youngesters underfoot, I was assigned to help mother with household chores and gardening. Mother never made any attempt to feminize me, but she did brag to her friends that I was a good helper.

There was a period of several years when I was in grade school that my parents had frequent quarrels. I tried to remain neutral, but eventually I realized that Father was often being unfair, so I sided with Mother.

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