The problem here is the strong need to express. When any need becomes intense and is thwarted it causes misery. The FP finds himself neglecting or threatening all the other areas that make his life meaningful. At the very least he finds it hard to enjoy his life while this need hangs over his head.

Usually he has an additional burden of guilt over the actions he is forced into. In any case no one in the grip of a strong need can be free. At worst he runs the risk that this drive will come to so completely dominate his life, that he will, so to speak, be pulled completely into a closet of his own creation.

The role that Transvestia and FPE have played in the lives of many FPs now becomes very significant. They have advocated, on the whole, bringing out the "girl within." To this end they have produced a rather large body of FP literature and have created opportunities for human in- teraction for the "girl within." The effect of this on many FPs is quite apparent. This, it would seem, is the solution to the compartmentali- zation the FP personality has undergone. Bring the girl out of the closet and take her to a party.

It is at this point that a hitherto unsuspected problem creeps in. All too many FP gatherings tend to resemble the solitary motel experience. The only difference is the number of people dressing. It is here that it becomes clear what an FP has put in his private closet. In it are a few, often a very few, characteristics which he has labeled as feminine and set aside to be expressed only when dressed. When they are compared with all that goes into making a woman they seem woefully incomplete. In addition there are often many characteristics that really have nothing to do with femininity. The concept of women expressed is terribly narrow and often overshadowed by out of date and idealized images. The “girl within" too often has no inner resources. This is the origin of the “all dressed up and no place to go" syndrome.

The conversation at such parties, not to mention some of the rules for such, clearly illustrate this. Appearance and FP theories are often the only topics during an entire evening. Does anyone seriously think that women devote themselves exclusively to "feminine" topics? Not in this day and age, thank heaven. Nevertheless, I have heard it seriously advo- cated that at parties the FP should speak of nothing but girl stuff. This insures not femininity, but boredom. An FP, like any other girl needs to make herself an interesting person if she is to enjoy herself. Then she will find that she doesn't have to have a place to go in order to be herself. After

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