discovered, are an unusual case.

When Tim first met Carol he was "dressed"and called him- self Lisa. Carol was the director of a modeling school which had been asked by Chic to offer seminars on fashion and beauty for transvestite members. Tim was one of these men.

"I don't know how to ex- plain it except that I fell in love with the person," says Carol. "I've never had any doubts about the fact that I am a heterosexual woman."

Because there was never any secrecy about her husband's transvestism, Carol says that she is "perfectly comfortable" with their lifestyle; The couple have two sets of friends those who know about Tim and those who don't. Very few of their family members are aware of Tim's transvestism.

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Tim spends one or two evenings a week dressed as a woman. On occasion he and his wife go to a nightclub together.

Sometimes he prefers to step out alone.

"There are cases where a crossdresser meets a nuturing woman with whom he can feel comfortable," says Dr. Thomas Brod, a psychiatrist with a general practice in West- wood and a former member of the now-defunct Gender Iden- tity Center at UCLA.

But more often, says Brod, the wife becomes jealous of the time a man spends dressed. And sometimes women begin to compete for attention.

On the average, Brod coun- sels two or three transvestites a week When he counsels married transvestites he prefers to see both Husband and wife.

"I don't think that there is a case that I have dealt with where a husband's desire to crossdress doesn't threaten his wife in some way," he says. "It comes as a shock and often shatters a relationship."

Although the literal mean-

ing of transvestism is "crossdress- ing," Brod doesn't use the term. The word transvestism tends to get confused with transsexualism and homosexuality, he says, and the result is often misleading.

Crossdressers who are not exhibitionist homosexuals but heterosexuals including two sorts: those who wear women's clothing for emotional comfort and those who dress as women in order to achieve sexual po- tency. In both cases, says Brod, it is an individual solution to a psychological problem.

Why is crossdressing only a male phenomenon?

"In our society women are much freer than men in what they are allowed to wear," says Brod. "A woman can wear ties or a suit and not draw at- tention. It is my belief that part of the reason crossdressing manifests itself more in men is simply because we notice it more."

In Memoriam

Many of the long time rea- ders of Transvestia will remem- ber Mary, a crossdressing friend of mine who worked for me in Chevalier around 1969 - 72. She looked after things for me when I was gone on my long trips. She was a very special friend. Unfortunately, she passed away on April 8th. She had been on a trip to San Francisco and had flown back to LA with friends. She went to the park- ing lot and got her car and as she drove up to the gate to pay the parking fee, she collapsed. Whether she died in the ambu- lance or after she reached the hospital is not known to me.

By Virginia Prince

But she has had a heart attack in the past and although she had given up her smoking, she had recently started smoking. Per- haps this is the cause of her death.

Mary was a very conscious and dedicated worker in the crossdressing field. She certainly was a good friend to all cross- dressers. She was an electrolo- gist and had her own business. She will be missed by the many friends that she had throughout the years.

Mary filled a very unique nitch in my experience. She handled the mailing aspects of Chevalier in 1969 while I was 15

on a long 60 day trip to Europe. In the months before that, however, (and after she started working for me to help pay her way through electrolysis school), she was on the surgery kick as so many others were and still are. I used to argue with her at length and it always ended with her saying, "Virginia, you don't understand it wouldn't be real" - when I told her she could live as a woman without having to undergo surgery. She just would not buy my arguments against it. While I was away and when she had to write a

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