RANSVESTIA

A son is a son until he's wed,

A daughter's a daughter until she's dead.

"This is not altogether true, for even daughters must marry and go their way. This leaves the mother, when widowed, alone and dependent upon her children not only for support but for companionship. Support the children can give; companionship they generally cannot.

"Some women, realizing the probability of this situation, take one of their sons, usually the youngest, and from birth very subtly show more interest in him and bind him closer to her, than she does with any of the other children. This must be done with care, so as not to infuse the youth with homosexual tendencies, which is not desired, but which occurs many times in this area and in Greece. The 'boy-girl' must remain a male, retaining some of the male characteristics. He must lose at the same time he rea- lizes it, a great part of his normal male sex drive. The change will then become the norm, with the male sex drive, while still present, sublimated to the feminine physical and mental characteristics which will become predominant. As the selected son nears puberty the exercise and manipulations commence. They are done with- out fanfare, so that the other sons will not be tempted, through curiosity, to try them.

"These compacts are entered into willingly enough by the son not only because of the closeness of son and moher, but also because he does not quite understand exactly what he will become. This is cruel, certainly, but it is not as bad as it sounds, as the 'boy-girl' in this society is accepted by the women, and generally not too contemptuously held or harshly treated by the men. There is always a place in our society for the 'boy-girl' during his lifetime.

"At the time the youth is able to perform the kissing act, a major disruption of his life occurs. He begins, under the urging of his mother (but at more and more his own desire) to wear

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