Transvestia

more like the woman I wanted to be. I mention this episode, in its entirety, to try and illustrate that we femme-males are not homosexual but that we would enjoy masculine company as much as any woman.

What causes persons such as me? What quirk of nature starts us on this road to femininity? The answer, in most cases that I have studied and in discussing this condition with others like me, stems from early childhood. Broken homes, a domineering mother, a wandering father, an only boy among many sisters, a boy baby instead of a girl baby as the mother wanted. All or any of these things could be responsible.

A parent or parents, who name their male child Marion or Francis or Shirley or some other feminine type name, could be the reason for his becoming a femme-male in later life. So many factors enter into the question of what makes a Transvestite that psychologists and psychiatrists just do not know the

answer.

My earliest recollection of wishing I were a girl, or of wishing I could wear girl's clothing, came sometime between my seventh and twelveth birthdays. When I was seven my Mother, who had endured my Father's neurotic ravings for many years, finally made up her mind to leave him and return to her Mother. I had always been afraid of my Dad from my earliest memory of him. He had an uncontrolable temper and would whip me for the slightest error I made in my behavior. I can still remember my Mother protecting me, petting me while I cried after my Fathers whippings. I did not see him again for over six years. We returned to my Grandmother's home and there I was overwhelmed by women. My grandmother, mother, a female cousin, and aunt and a girl friend of my cousins who lived in the same house with us. Femininity was my destiny!!!

I was always a lonely child and spent much of my

40