RANSVESTIA

problems and difficulties that the other half has to face. Perhaps if those contemplating surgery would do just that they might recon- sider. In short, it is better to be one whole person than either half alone.

To most of the world I would be a freak—a person with both breasts and a penis-because to them I, so to speak, can't go either way. I don't have the hole to go with the breasts to attract an opposite person, and I do have breasts which conflict with the penis and would tend to drive away those female persons who might be able to appreciate the penis but not in the same body with the breasts- items that they would use as aphrodisiacs for a male themselves. But what they and most people don't see is that while sexual activity is great fun and generally satisfying, it is after all a very small part of one's whole life experience and giving up some of that (especially if one has already experienced it as a male with a female) in exchange for achieving wholeness in all the rest of your life's experiences is by no means a hard bargain.

I have two small qualms about this essay. One is that to some of you it may sound like a brag which is not at all what is intended. I talk about myself because I have to have an example for what I want to express and because what I want to express is precisely what I have learned from being the kind of a person that I am. Secondly, I don't want my words to be taken as some sort of a lure or an induce- ment to anyone to "come and do likewise." I don't urge anyone to follow my path who is relatively stable where they are. But if one is not satisfied with where one is at and is thinking about that ultimate tobaggan slide down into surgery, then I hope what I've been talking about will set up some new thought paths that may induce such a person to consider changing their gender, learning to be a whole person rather than depending on becoming a "hole" person to solve all of their life's problems. Over and above that, however, is the simple fact which has gone on since the very first "Virgin View" article and that is that when I come up with a concept or a point of view in this whole fascinating field, I write it up here to share it with my readers so that they can do with it what they wish. For me this column serves as a library of my own insights and understandings as they have come to me over the years. It remains a fascinating thing for me to go back 10 or 12 years and read an editorial that I wrote then. It shows me the mountain up which I've climbed and all I'm doing in sharing the view from the ridge where I stand with

you.

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