myself seeking understanding of myself without getting any help until I met Dr. Karl Bowman the first director of the Langley Porter State Mental Hospital in San Francisco . . . a man with sufficient knowledge, understanding and compassion to tell me that (1) I was not alone, that there were thousands more like me, (2) that I was not a homosexual and should not worry myself further about it, (3) that I was not psychopathic nor headed that way, and (4) that the best thing I could do was to learn to accept myself as I was and learn to live with it.

With thanks to him that is what I began to do and it worked.

Dr. Alfred Eyers writing on this subject in 1960 said, "effective therapy, formidable and difficult in any of the personality disorders, is, in this particular entity practically impossible. Any therapeutic approach relieving symptoms, tensions and discomfort and promoting better adjustment certainly is in order." Bowman and Engle in 1957 wrote, "It is generally agreed that all types of psychotherapy are failures (as a cure for transvestism), so far there are no reported successfully treated cases." Drs. Walker and Fletcher in "Sex and Society," stated, "When doctors are able to do as little for patients as we doctors are able to do for these cases of transvestism, it would be better for us perhaps to make efforts in another direction. Instead of treating the patients themselves, we might treat with more profit the society which makes it so difficult for these unfortunate people to live in.”

Taking Dr. Bowman's advice to me and the words of these authors to heart I began to publish the magazine Transvestia, 9 years ago with the hope of making the transvestite realize that he was not alone but only one of many, that a male with feminine interests is not necessarily a homosexual in spite of locker room assertions, and that he can learn to understand himself and thus achieve a measure of peace of mind. That this means of promoting the "better adjustment" that Dr. Eyres suggested has been reasonably successful, is indicated by the replies to the question as to whether Transvestia had helped the individuals understanding. 64% replied "greatly" and 34% said "some".

That this was not merely flattery of the magazine is

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