ARTICLE

Theory Of Transvestism

Msgr. Dwyer

The following reflections were inspired by the book of Maxwell Maltz, M. D., PSYCHO-CYBERNETICS. Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood, New Jersey

1960.

We seem to inherit traits of character and tempera- ment which predispose us constitutionally to favorable response to some persons and things in our environment, and indifferent or unfavorable response to other persons and things. It seems possible that we form our first im- age of ourselves during the first few years of our lives,. primarily through the experience of our response to the people around us. A very strong favorable response to a given person or to a group of people tells us instinct- ively that we are in contact with someone like ourselves. An unfavorable response or no response at all tells us that we are in the presence of something foreign to our- selves.

If we have a baby in exceptionally strong report with some woman or some women in his environment especially if these people have strong vibrant person- alities, it would not be strange if the child identified himself with them; especially if there is no strong counteracting influence from a masculine source.

There seems to be a tendency to look to the mother as the source of the TV syndrome, and she is the natural and obvious choice, but, strictly speaking, it seems possible that the influence may come from another source or even from a group.

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