the debts — this is considered a fair exchange in California. One of my friends facetiously asked me what I was so unhappy about wasn't I 30% ahead?

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Having been dragged thru the papers during my first divorce I was better able to stand it but was nevertheless staggered to open the paper one night and find a nice headline on page 2 - "He Gives Lec- tures As She!"—with my picture, my business occupation, the names of TVia and the other stories the whole bit. But adversity builds character they say and I think I can safely say that I wouldn't be the girl I am today if I hadn't been tempered in these various ways. I surely wouldn't have chosen the events which have befallen me dur- ing these years, but since they did I tried to turn them to what ad- vantage I could.

Late in 1966 I sold my corporation, of which I had been president and chief Chemist for 18 years, to my partner and retired. My more recent history has been recorded in various relatively recent issues of TVia so it need not be repeated here. But as most of you know start- ing with my return from an appearance trip east in April of 1968 I decided that no longer having either domestic or business respon- sibilities I might as well live my own life my own way. I therefore went to a former customer of mine (I had been in the beauty supply manufacturing business) and told him that it wasn't often that he got a chance to give one of his former salesmen a permanent but now was the time. I got my hair done and have been Virginia in fact and in life ever since. My experience of the complete day in day out gender role of a woman has brought it home to me even clearer than it was before that gender change and not sex change is what the TV really wants even tho he may be misguided into thinking that the latter will lead to the former.

Interestingly enough, Mary, whom you all know as my assistant and friend in Chevalier, and who has about 4 months seniority as a woman over me, feels exactly the same way. This is of interest be- cause at the time she assumed her feminine role permanently she was intent on the operation in due course but she wanted first to prove to herself that she could make it on a full time basis and that she could support herself as a woman. To her it was the only ultimate guaran- tee of her own reality. We had many discussions about it and while my comments and arguments undoubtedly gave her food for thought, her own observations, her own life experience and her own percep- tion of other people and their problems, thru her work in Chevalier,

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