Transvestia

of transvestism. clear that what we ultimately need is not under- standing, because in the majority of cases rarely does the TV himself ever completely understand tran- svestism. Indeed he may go through life not knowing what or why he is what he is. So how can we even hope for this from one "unafflicted". However, the thing that we do have some right to expect from our wives is acceptance, the same thing that we often find difficult to achieve in ourselves.

And at this point it must be made

The love factor becomes important too, when you consider the very human characteristic of pre-judging. Everyone will recall that the U.S. Supreme Court recently held that Dr. Sam Shepherd some years ago received a pretty strong case of pre-judging. Very often things are not as they appear to be, and with a TV revealed as such, many people who are not com. pletely knowledgable about such matters (and few women are) will assume you have some relation to the "Flaming Queen" Homosexual. It takes a great deal of love and trust for a woman not to come to an instant and erroneous conclusion that her husband is a homosexual.

One cannot explain transvestism completely in an hour, a day or in a hundred days. One can never completely explain it. Virginia once said, "Five years ago I could have told you all about trans- vestism, but now I only know that I know nothing about it." So the only way a wife can obtain a modicum of comprehension is by conversation with her husband, by discussions with other TV's and other wives, by reading the medical literature avail- able, and all of this with that all important open. mindedness. Also she must realize that there are many authorities; but doctor or not. TV or not, TV wife or not, there is actually no authority. Thus with what ever else she may receive from any of these sources, the one on whom she must rely most heavily is her husband and what he says and does, both as boy and girl. And she must not prejudge, she must