RANSVESTIA

Who could sustain that emotional investment for an activity that takes place daily? Perhaps this is one reason GGs do not understand our feeling. The less often we dress, the more the event becomes a pageant.

I plan the day or night as the case may be, very, very, very meticulously. I plan the preparations for that day. I almost write a computer program and conduct a systems analysis. First of all, I look to my requirements. There must be no unnecessary body hair exposed. My options are to remove it or to conceal it. Removal calls for perfect timing. Usually I am concerned about my eyebrows, my hands, and my legs. Unlike the hero in FP novels, my brother is hirsute and has brown instead of in- visible blond body hair. The hands can be shaved using an electric razor on the day if the hair isn't too thick and long. This means that about a week before, some attention must be paid to the hands. There is much more body surface on the legs. Less has to be removed if boots are worn. Still it is a job for the night before. Otherwise it takes up too much time. More touchy are the eyebrows. They call for plucking. It is not good to do too much at one time. Plucking from underneath only, I usually start about a week beforehand and pull about fifteen to twenty hairs from each upper lid and lower brow a night. My eyeglasses tend to hide any change that might be noticeable otherwise. These things all take time and planning. They could become a chore.

It almost goes without saying that the last bit of hair removal, the shaving of the face, should be postponed just up to the moment of dres- sing. I find it helpful to shave with a longer beard than usual. For me, the new Gilette twin track blade works quite well. Ordinarily for day to day living I use an electric razor. Since the twin blade shaves me so much closer and seems to hold up for eighteen hours I do not worry about my beard growing through.

These preparations are the mechanical part. They must be done, but they offer little joy. It is the price men pay for trying to look like women. It is the rest of the planning that is pure pleasure. Systems analysts say that you start with the end to be achieved and work toward that. My end is the schedule of activities in which I will engage. To date, my activities have been limited and designed to minimize unnecessary contact with the general public, particularly children. I try to schedule safe places. Places where people if they recognize that I am not a woman will shrug their shoulders and pass it off. I am convinced that I am a poor judge of how well I look. I do know that on some nights I feel positively radiant and on others I feel like a dog. Underneath it all, I probably

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