SEMANTICS-

IDENTITY

OR

CONFUSION

OBSERVATIONS

BY VIRGINIA

Several years ago when I made the point that the word Transvestite was not such a good word for us as it was originally due to its misuse and misapplication. I got considerable feedback from readers who were satisfied with it and didn't want to change. At that time I coined the words FEMMIPHILIA and FEMMIPHILE. The former trans- lating as "love of the feminine" and the latter as "one who loves the feminine." The abbreviation for both is FP. (It is also the abbreviation for Femme Personator - one who personates or gives life to his feminine side and is part of FPE-Full Personality Expression. These terms were all chosen to relate to each other).

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In deference to the objectors I have continued to use transvestite and “TV” in my writings. From this time forward, however, I am going to try to break myself of the habit of using them and I commend the effort to you too. The reason for this decision is illustrated on the two pages following this article. It was bad enough when misguided and ignorant reporters used it in the press when referring to drag queens. But when the queens themselves appropriate it and use it in reference to themselves because they are, after all, cross dressers and because we have managed to give the word some respectability and dignity, then I for one have had it. I have spent 10 years trying to educate both my readers and the public to the fact that heterosexual cross-dressers are a separate breed of cat. It is the only way to establish our identity, to gain a modicum of understanding and to escape the opprobrium (albeit unfairly) that society lavishes on the homosexual.

The items are reprinted from the L.A. Free Press and in both ads and articles it is clear that the terms are being used both in conjunction with and referring to homosexual cross dressers. If you, as a hetero-

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