RANSVESTIA

stopped to formulate the problems let alone examine them in depth. Since all FPs have their masculine life to lead as well as the feminine one, it would be in your interest to read this book and give yourself a clearer picture of where you really are as a man.

A few of the chapter titles will give you an inkling of the contents: "In Harness: The Male Condition"; "The Wisdom of the Penis"; "Feel- ings: The Real Male Terror"; "The Destruction of the Male Body"; "The Success Trip: A Fantasy Portrait." There are many other chapters but that should give you an idea. Perhaps the most interest- ing chapter is titled, "Impossible Binds." In this one he describes nineteen different double binds that a man finds himself in. These are conditions in which he loses if he does and he loses if he doesn't. The double bind we are most interested in is what he calls "The Gender Bind" and he summarizes it this way:

"Either way he loses; if he is in touch with and expressive of his feminine component he may be subject to great feelings of anxiety and humiliation. If he successfully manages to repress, disown, and deny this critical part of himself he will have to live as an incomplete person, alienated from an important part of himself and consequently susceptible to emotional and interpersonal rigidity and numerous psychological and psychopathological problems that result from this repression." Sound familiar? Sound like the man knew what he was talking about and where he was coming from? Right, so get the book and learn things about your masculine side you never knew before.

(2) Sexual Variance in Society and History by Verne Bullough, Ph.D. John Wiley and Sons, New York, 1976.

Dr. Bullough is an old and very admired friend of mine. I lecture for his classes every year. He is professor of history at California State University, Northridge. This is a very scholarly book with about 100 references at the end of each chapter. It is not light Sunday afternoon reading for just anybody but for those with any interest in human atti- tudes, beliefs and behaviours in the areas of sex throughout recorded history it is a gold mine. The author examines all forms of sexual variance but with particular reference to homosexuality and trans- vestism throughout history and in all of the major cultures - Greece, Rome, China, Persia, India, Egypt, Islam and Bysantium.

Mythology and religion impact on all these cultures and up through

59