Transvestia

properly apply myself to my studies. I then re-enrolled in my eastern university and vowed silently that I would solve this TV thing one way or the other. As evidence that I succeeded in this vow, 3-1/2 years later (1957) I graduated with a BS in economics degree and stood in the top 10% of my class on the Dean's list. It was during these 3-1/2 years that I came to accept myself, understand myself, and form my own conclusions about TVism, which I have found by reading back issues of TVia and talking to Virginia, are startlingly similar to those arrived at independently by Virginia Prince herself. And surprisingly enough, I didn't come across TVia and Chevalier Publi- cations until just last September, and up until October 1964, one month later, had never met another TV in my entire life!

This period began soon after returning to school when I discovered Sexology magazine. I had taken a private apartment to facilitate my studying, and as it turned out the peace and quiet also aided me in my research into TVism. Through Sexology, Cauldwells's historic book "Transvestism" came into my hands. After learning Have- lock Ellis' and Magnus Hirschfeld's studies in the field, I availed myself of the superb library facilities of the university and avidly read these authors' works in my room (Hirschfeld's case histories were in German but an English translation accompanied several ot them). I had known prior to this research that I wasn't a homosexual. because thinking then that I must be one I had experi- mented during my ill-fated freshman year with this type of sexual expressions.. I soon learned that this wasn't the answer and that I was obviously heterosexual in nature- which at the time caused me to become more confused than ever. After all, everyone knows about homosexuality (and in a sense it can be easier to explain and understand than TVism), but what was I? My research supplied the answers although the causative factors are still a matter of opinion and conjecture even today. Therefore, I went to a psychiatrist at the start of my senior year in order to learn more. Unfortunately it cost me a considerable sum to find out that there was no known "cure" through pschoanalysis (by this time I didn't want to be "cured" anyway) and that I probably knew more about TVism by then than the psychiatrist did. So I guess I actually helped his sexological education along by our discussions.

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