ARTICLE

COMMUNICATION IS THE KEY

Wendy GA-9-C-FPE

Reading the letter in TVia No. 78 from the wife that felt her marriage was coming apart because of her husband's lack of sensitivity to her feel- ings brought to mind a similar situation in my life. My marriage was kept from going down the drain because when my wife said that she thought our marriage might be headed for trouble, it scared the hell out of me. Only when I tried to see the situation from my wife's viewpoint did I see the trouble.

I am 23 years old, six feet tall, weigh about 175, have considerable body hair, and when not dressed otherwise appear quite masculine. This is the image my wife married five years ago. When we married she knew that I liked to wear panty-hose and accepted it as a slight oddity. At that time I refused to admit to myself, as well as her, that I had desires to be dressed completely feminine. I didn't start completely cross-dressing until we had been married several years. When I did begin to fulfill my dressing desires it was with my wife's help and cooperation. But I began to abuse my priv- ileged position without realizing it, and as a result almost destroyed a great relationship.

Throughout the length of our marriage I have been a student at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Although I work at a part-time job and we have some money coming from our parents, my wife has to work a full time job to earn the bulk of the income. She goes to school at night pursu- ing a field totally unrelated to her job (which she plans to quit as soon as I graduate and begin working full time). When at home she does the cook- ing and (used to do) most of the cleaning up of the apartment. In spite of all she has to do she very rarely complains and is always telling me that she just wants me to be happy.

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