RANSVESTIA

tinted cloud, constantly confusing sex with gender and fretting over the apparent incongruity of male organs on a woman. It's not incon- gruous, just rather unusual. If you can accept you the world will too since self acceptance involves self confidence and keeping your cool. I don't say this as any kind of a brag but simply as an obvious example. I would not have been able to do the traveling and other things I have done if I had not completely accepted myself for what I am and achieved the self confidence that goes with it. Now if I can do it others can too. I know several who have and they don't even have the somewhat aggressive sort of personality that I have, so that is not a requirement.

Thus all the pleasure of womanhood are open to the self accepting person who can present an acceptable appearnce to the outside. world without the expense, pain, danger and inconvienice that accompanies surgery. If any future circumstances such as an incapacitating accident, old age or whatever should dictate the necessary return to masculinity it could still be accomplished as no irreversible action has been taken. One of the facets of womanhood in this society that you hear about all the time is that women are paid less than men for the same job. Since the operatee now has to compete for a living like everyone else, "she" is likely to have to suffer a drastic drop in income. It is rare that someone who has achieved some sort of position technically or professionally can return to it as a woman. If she does, unless by some miracle it is in exactly the same job at the same place, she is going to be paid less. On the other hand it is often impossible to bring along the references and connections from a formerly masculine life into the new feminine one so that for most it ends up that they have to make a living at some considerably more menial and less paying task than they used to have as a man. Under these circumstances the $5,000 to $10,000 that has to be paid for surgery seems like a pretty high price to pay not just in itself but in not having that money as a cushion for the new life.

Of course, there is one final thing to be said and that is that if one really longs for the opportunity to be a female to a male sexually before the surgery he is basically homosexual to begin with and should learn to accept his gayness as he is and not cop out thru the surgery to justify through bodily changes a thing which is a mental thing to being with. Homosexuality is obviously a head trip, your head decides that this is what you want to do, your genitals are only

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