RANSVESTIA

you "real." So Phi Pi Epsilon was organized to provide a means whereby the individual could be dressed and live out her feminine role among people who were either FPs themselves or who were accepting of it. In this microcosm even the individual who would never be able to pass in public is able to interact with other human beings on the terms of his own selection... and to do it without fear of exposure, blackmail or whatever. In this sense FPE is a therapy group. That the therapy works in helping people to accept themselves and make the most of what they have learned about themselves is proven by the fact that we of the L.A. chapter of FPE are giving this open house tonight and showing ourselves to you, acknowledging what we are and sharing our insights and expe- riences with you. Ten years ago a meeting like this could and would never happen here or anywhere else. You are participating, therefore, in a very unusual event. It may not be very important to you... though we hope it is proving educational... but it is important to us that we are able to do it.

GENERAL POINTS: There are a few other items I'd like to speak about before we throw the floor open for questions. The first of these is that in a survey of 504 FPs, 74% of them were found to be or have been married, and an equal percentage of those were fathers. This means that most of us here have or had wives-I've had two marriages, myself. We further found that one third of the wives did not know of their husbands' interest in feminine things, a second third knew but did not approve and would not permit the dressing in their presence. A final one third knew and accepted in various degrees from merely permitting dressing at home to buying clothes for the husband and even going out in public with him while he was in his feminine role.

When a couple reaches the third stage they have something going for them in their marriage that 95% of ordinary couples do not and can not have... a greater communication and sharing with each other and the ability to see each other as complete humans instead of being limited to the stereotypical polarized husband and wife positions. On the other hand, those wives who don't understand... and frequently don't want to understand due to their own insecurities... and can't accept their hus- bands' departure from the stereotype of masculinity and husbandness, make life miserable for that husband and often for themselves. He can't simply deny the existence of a part of himself that he has discovered and developed to some extent over previous years, so he is driven under- ground into lying and deceit to arrange moments of release, or, con- versely, into tremendous efforts to deny and suppress his feminine side. This often results in psychosomatic disturbances such as ulcers, heart

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