ARTICLE

ALCOHOL & TV

By "Ex-Brenda"

A funny thing happened in my fourth month of total abstinence from alcohol: I lost my interest in transvestitism, after about 50 years of devotion ot it. I'm 57 years old now.

The loss occurred about a year ago. The interest has not returned.

I am still dry, or sober rather. Alcoholics make a difference between "dry" and "sober": being dry means simply abstaining from consump- tion of alcohol; being sober, changing or undergoing a change of perspective and attitude, essentially in one's way of thinking.

One TV acquaintance reacted to my statement of loss of interest by saying I had surrendered to a guilt feeling.

An alcoholism counselor (a woman who has recovered from alco- holism) told me I had matured.

I can speak only for myself in accepting this explanation.

My TV acquaintance, as many other TVs, has accepted her feelings toward TVism as normal expressions of her feminine self whose existence is normal for a balanced personality.

My acquaintance, as others, has found peace of mind in this ac- ceptance of her TVism.

My view of my TVism, however, based on extensive reading and self-examination, is that it has been a symptom of an emotional dis- turbance.

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