VIRGIN

IRGINIA

THE GIRL WITHIN AGAIN

In TVia No. 73 my editorial concerned the masculine and feminine side of each of us male and female. In No. 74 I discussed the "Girl Within" and how she comes into being in all males. This time I would like to discuss'self concept, self identity, self respect and self acceptance, in your ordinary life and as your femme self.

In a society such as we live in which not only identifies genitals at birth but which uses that identification as a functional, rather than just a factual classification, we are all channeled into one of the two roles as discussed in TVia No. 74. We become the unknowing and therefore uncomplaining victims of the "pink blanket — blue blanket" syndrome. We are thus conditioned from childhood not only to an acceptance of the fact of our anatomical sex but the expectations of the assigned and appropriate genders. Incompleteness is inherant in such a divisional pro- cess. Thus all of our lives we are aware of this division and the need to conform to the appropriate pattern. Since this is a man made and not a natural division, we are constantly running into motivations, tempta- tions or circumstances which tend to activate the inappropriate part of ourselves. In order to conform to the social expectations of our gender we must control and suppress these unacceptable manifestations. Thus we all at an early age form a sort of filter-censor system which at a sub conscious level decides what is good and acceptable (i.e. masculine if we are males by anatomy) and what is not. This begins of necessity at an early age and by the time we are adolescents we all have a very clear theoretical set of values to go by. We have learned them both by clear, direct and intentional instruction by parents, teachers, and relatives and also by peer pressure and punishment, by simple observation and rea- son and by indirect, subtle and unknown learning. This collection of guides to our behavior becomes incorporated into what the psychiatrists