ransvestia

is one of the real challenges faced by the movement." In this article I attempt to accept that challenge.

Because feminists have done much to change the societal role of women, and because of the lack of a similar male movement, men have not enjoyed the same relaxation of sex-role expectations as women. Feminists themselves seem to find a female president much more palatable than a househusband, complete with his frilly apron, mixing spoon and cake batter, and their little girl playing with chemistry set much more acceptable than their son rocking his Tiny Tears to sleep. So for centuries men who could not cope with such sex-role oppressions have developed their own methods of escape- one of them, transvestism.

Perhaps it might be felt that today such extremities are unneces- sary and that "unisex" now offers a more suitable vehicle for shunning the world of sex roles and their symbols. But, in fact, the present day attempt to do away with symbols is in itself a symbol. "Unisex" clothing has become a cover-up and a dead-end toward the goal of bringing the sexes together onto the common ground of "human beings." The blue-jeans-and-shirt styles have left young people in a sort of non-committal limbo where no one knows exactly where their "common ground" is. Today's youth are still facing clashes of stereotyped male/female attributes. Masculine-designed jewelry and feminine-designed blue jeans have become symbols of the confusion of youth-"I'll wear earrings, but only one hoop earring," "I want to have freedom of movement by wearing pants, but I'm not going to sit like a clod!” ....... Already the attempt at unisex has been separated into what is masculine unisex and what is feminine unisex. And our unisexed men are still afraid to cry, our unisexed women still seem obsessed in the search for their one and only knight.

The crux of the argument between the transvestite and the feminist seems to lie in this complex knot of symbols. The feminist would assert that the cosmetics, chiffon and jewelry, the delicate and flirtatious gestures of the transvestite, further and enforce the stereo- types of what women are supposed to be. Certainly no one would argue that lipstick and lace are in themselves bad... but only when they trap a woman into believing these symbols are her personality, i.e., when she relies on them to shelter her from forming qualities not traditionally connected with these symbols, or when she become so dependent upon them as to fear their loss-and, thus, her identity.

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