that the kind of life they lead, the kind of person they are known to be is basically more important than what sex they are. Gender is the half way house between a completely sex-identified life as animals and the full person-life of humans of the future. Recognition of gender as one of two possible life styles which, while usually directly related to sex, need not be so, is the first step beyond a self concept that basically says, I am a male, I have a penis, I make babies I don't carry them (or the opposite for females). Such a person would want him/herself to be judged by others on the basis of what he/she stood for and what he/she had accomplished rather than to build his/her primary identity on anatomy.

The importance of this concept is an outgrowth of my own de- velopment, and my awareness of it came as a result of my off-the- cuff answer to a question about what would I do in case I was in- jured in an accident and taken to the hospital? I said facetiously, "Well, if they looked at me from the waist up they'd put me in the womens' ward, if they looked from the waist down they'd put me in the mens. ward, and if they took in the whole scene they'd probably leave me out in the hall, but it really would make little difference to me which of the three places they put me." Having said that I rea- lized that I had come to a point in my life where I no longer basically identified myself anatomically. Me, myself and I reside and origi- nate in my head not in my genitals. Oh, I'm not under any self de- lusion but that I am still a male and possess all the original equip- ment. It's true I've acquired a couple of "extras" which were in- stalled later but I still know which model I am in the eyes of the anatomically minded observer. But my identity for myself is based on what I am and I reside in my head, my body just carries me around and does things I want it to do.

It took me many years, many heartaches and many experiences to get here but I came the hard way, breaking ground. You do not have to go thru everything that I did. Those who are of my generation probably would, at least to some extent, but you of the younger gen- eration can bypass a lot of that and that is the reason for this editorial

to make you aware that there is another form of self identiy than the genital, that being a person, a whole person rather than just an- other male is where it's at. I dig that, and it's cool. You can too if you think about it enough. Strangely, it was all embodied in "FPE" long before I really became aware that it had happened to me FULL Personality Expression. I guess I wrote larger than I knew

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