HISTORY

YOU'VE COME A LONG WAY, BABY

Joy Lynne 6-C-3 FPE

At this writing, my freshly shaven legs are sheathed in 38 inches of Tall Girl Nylons gartered by an expensive high rise zipper panty girdle. My red, white and blue three inch pumps are complemented by a dark blue double knit dress which carefully follows the contour of my sister s body. Beneath the auburn wig and make up is a new individual who had waited nearly 25 years to come out, and then only after facing reality the frank confession of being a transvestite, a femme personator or any other cross-dressing term you choose.

The radio is softly playing only to be interrupted by a blurting com- mercial, "You've come a long way, baby!" How true I quietly thought. Transvestism has been a long lonesome road to walk, wrought with self- doubt, secrecy, frustration, tension and the lack of understanding. The polarized emotional experience of dressing ranged from sheer ecstacy and pleasure of acquiring well fitting lingerie, to a deep guilt-ridden feeling within an unidentifiable creature who burned hidden caches of "girl stuff" several times.

Many times I looked in the mirror and asked, “What am I? A man? A woman? A homosexual? A latent Christine Jorgenson? There were no answers at least satisfactory answers in the library references for psychology, sociology, sexology and mental health. The subject of cross dressing was treated like dirt on a floor and swept under the rug hoping it would go away. Only after my wife read a newspaper column by Dr. Walter Alvarez, did some of the answers to these agonizing ques- tions come subsequent to reading D. G. Raynor's A Year Among the Girls and six Transvestias. The draftboard would have rejected me for high blood pressure as I eagerly consumed the contents of these publica-

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