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Virginia Charles Prince (November 23, 1912 – May 2, 2009)[1] was an American transgender woman and transgender activist. She published Transvestia magazine, and started Full Personality Expression,[2][3][4][5][6][7][8][excessive citations] which later became Tri-Ess, for male heterosexual cross-dressers.

Key Information

Early life

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Prince was born on November 23, 1912, in Los Angeles, California, to a Protestant family.[9][10][11] She was assigned male at birth.[12] At around the age of twelve Prince began cross-dressing, first using her mother's clothes.[10] During her time in high school Prince began cross-dressing more frequently and found herself passing as a girl in public.[13] This came to a crux when Virginia, at the age of 18, went to a church Halloween party—not only in a woman's outfit but indeed passing as a woman—and won first prize. This marked "the first occasion in which [Prince] willingly appeared before others as a girl". The daughter of a surgeon father and a mother who worked in real estate investment, Prince's early life was one of privilege, with a family that was in her words "socially prominent".[14]

Education and transition period

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Prince enrolled at Pomona College in Claremont, California, in 1931. She joined a fraternity and graduated in 1935 with a degree in chemistry.[15]

Prince was not as open with her transvestism as she became in later life. However it was thanks to a psychiatrist she consulted at age 30 that she began to live a more comfortable, open lifestyle. Despite having been previously diagnosed with an unresolved Oedipus complex, Prince confided to her doctor, Karl Bowman, about her inclination of crossdressing, who in return advised her to "learn to accept [her]self... and enjoy it." Prince credits this psychiatrist, who reminded her that there are many others that live a similar lifestyle, with Transvestia's overarching, recurring theme of self-acceptance.[14]

Prince gained her PhD in pharmacology in 1939 from the University of California, San Francisco. This was also around the time that she met Dorothy Shepherd (March 30, 1909 - May 13, 1985) whom she would marry and with whom she would have a son, Brent Lowman (July 1, 1946 - October 1976).[16][17] The two were married on August 16, 1941, in Los Angeles,[18] yet their marriage, according to Prince, "failed because of [her] transvestism".[19] In July 1951, the two divorced.[17][10] The news that Prince was served with divorce papers due to her transvestism came as a shock to her family who threatened to disown her both "financially and socially" if she could not keep the news from leaking to the media, which it ultimately did.[14]

After her marriage ended, Prince returned to the University of California, San Francisco and began working as a research assistant and lecturer in pharmacology. During this time, Prince took advantage of the university's small collection of medical literature on transvestism. This was also around the time that Prince began using the name Charles Prince, a name used in order to hide her civil identity. The name stems from her father's first name, Charles, and her address on Prince Street.[10] The exact time at which Prince took on the name Virginia is unclear, however one of her earliest known writings, the article "Homosexuality, Transvestism and Transsexualism: Reflections on Their Etiology and Difference" published in 1957, is credited to "C.V. Prince".[10][20]

Transvestia magazine

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For the sake of concealability, the first two issues of Transvestia were printed on pamphlets that could be hidden within the palm of one's hand, or one's pocket.
Front cover of Transvestia, issue 16, from 1962.

In 1960, the first issue of Prince's magazine Transvestia[21] was published. Prince acquired the means to fund the publication after assembling a list of 25 acquaintances, each of whom were willing to donate four dollars to her start-up. Working with one hundred dollars,[13] Prince then launched her first issue, published by her own Chevalier Publications, and sold it by subscription and through adult bookstores.[10]

Transvestia was published bi-monthly by Prince between the years of 1960 and 1980, with a total of 100 issues being created. The subsequent 11 issues were edited and published by Carol Beecroft (the co-founder of Chevalier publications) until 1986. In 1963, the inside jacket of the magazine stated the publication as "dedicated to the needs of the sexually normal individual who has discovered the existance [sic] of his or her 'other side' and seeks to express it."[10] Rather than relying on a team of professional authors, this magazine was to be "written by... the readers" with the editor's job to be organizing and categorizing these submissions as appropriate.[22]

With a readership of mostly white, middle-to-professional-class crossdressers, the magazine offered, among other things, dozens of published life stories and letters contributed by other crossdressers.[23] Over the years, the publication also gained several international subscribers, notably from England, Scandinavia and Australia.[10] Prince herself, wrote an autobiographical article for the magazine's one-hundredth issue in 1979.[14] This final issue edited by Virginia Prince, was unusual among Transvestia issues as it was solely an autobiographical account of Virginia's life, in which she recounted her early experiences with crossdressing, her divorce, and her work creating and maintaining Transvestia.

The magazine operated on three core objectives:

  1. To provide expression for those interested in the subjects of unusual dress and fashion.
  2. To provide information to those who, through ignorance, condemn that which they don't understand.
  3. To provide education for those who see evil when none exists.

These three objectives—education, entertainment, and expression—were promoted in order to "help... readers achieve understanding, self-acceptance, [and] peace of mind".[24] Transvestia was primarily a story driven magazine, however every issue contained a "person to person" section, in which ads for meeting others and businesses advertising transgender friendly services would be printed. This section also included a goods and services for sale section, as well as a trade and rent section.[24]

The magazine's others sections included:

  • Stories (true and fictional).
  • Articles (medical, psychological, or personal opinion about any phase of transvestism).
  • A question box (questions from readers that warrant a reply or further discussion).
  • A wives section (in which spouses were encouraged to contribute opinions on transvestism for the general enlightenment of all).
  • Letters to the editor (questions, comments, criticisms and compliments).
  • General (poems, humor, news. They were typically short notes to fill sections of pages or break up longer articles).

Tranvestia was, in essence, an early example of a crowd-sourced publication.[24]

Although Transvestia was published for 20 years, it was not originally a successful venture. Virginia Prince recounts in her autobiographical issue that originally the cost of production was too high to be sustainable, due to its having been printed on mimeograph paper. Ultimately it was not until Prince "found an offset printer" and gathered more subscribers that Transvestia became a success.[14]

Transvestia's audience consisted largely of men who were interested in feminine apparel, because their desires to express themselves were frowned upon by the rest of society. While Transvestia was a magazine for crossdressers in general, it was mainly directed at men (as women who cross-dressed were not as marginalized by society during the 1960s).[24] A complete run of Transvestia, both physical and digital copies, is in the Transgender Archives at the University of Victoria in British Columbia, Canada.[25][26]

Trans terminology, crossdresser identity and controversy

[edit]

Through many of her writings, Prince has been considered a major pioneer of the transgender community.[10] Her long history of literature surrounding issues of crossdressing and transvestism was rooted in her desire to fight against those who disagreed with liberal sexual ideology.[10][27] Notably, in her 1967 "The Expression of Femininity in the Male" (under the pen name "Virginia Bruce"), Prince discusses the supposed psychiatric links between cross-dressing and sexual deviation that were commonly believed in at the time. Prince firmly rejected these associations, and was also strongly opposed to the notion that true transvestites are psychiatrically disturbed.[28]

In other works, Prince also helped popularize the term 'transgender', and erroneously[citation needed] asserted that she coined "transgenderist" and "transgenderism", words which she meant to be understood as describing people who live as full-time women, but have no intention of having genital surgery.[27] Prince also consistently argued that transvestism is very firmly related to gender, as opposed to sex or sexuality.[27] Her use of the term "femmiphile" related to the belief that the term "transvestite" had been corrupted, intending to underline the distinction between heterosexual crossdressers, who act because of their love of the feminine, and the homosexuals or transsexuals who may cross-dress.[10][29][30] Although Prince identified with the concept of androgyny (stating in her autobiographical 100th issue that she could "do [her] own thing whichever it is"), she preferred to identify as Gynandrous. This, she explained, is because although 'Charles' still resides within her, "the feminine is more important than the masculine."[14] Prince's idea of a "true transvestite"[20] was clearly distinguished from both the homosexual and the transsexual, claiming that true transvestites are "exclusively heterosexual... The transvestite values his male organs, enjoys using them and does not desire them removed."[20]

By the early 1970s, Prince and her approaches to crossdressing and transvestism were starting to gain criticism from transvestites and transsexuals, as well as sections of the gay and women's movements of the time. Controversy and criticism has arisen based on Prince's support for conventional societal norms, such as marriage and the traditional family model, as well as the portrayal of traditional gender stereotypes. Her attempts to exclude transsexuals, homosexuals, or fetishists from her normalization efforts of the practice of transvestism have also drawn much criticism.[10]

Prince died in her hometown of Los Angeles on May 2, 2009.[23][31]

Archival collections

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The personal and professional papers of Virginia Prince are preserved at the University of Victoria[32] and at California State University, Northridge.[33]

References

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Further reading

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[edit]
Revisions and contributorsEdit on WikipediaRead on Wikipedia

Virginia Prince

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from Grokipedia

Virginia Charles Prince (born Arnold Lowman; November 23, 1912 – May 2, 2009) was an American , publisher, and organizer who advanced the acceptance of heterosexual male as a non-pathological feminine expression distinct from or transsexualism. Raised in an upper-middle-class family in , she began cross-dressing privately around age twelve and later earned a degree in chemistry from , working in pharmaceuticals while pursuing her interests covertly. Prince founded Transvestia magazine in 1960 through her Chevalier Publications, editing it until 1980 as a bimonthly forum for cross-dressers to share experiences, advice, and arguments framing transvestism as a wholesome outlet for innate femininity in otherwise masculine, heterosexual men who rejected surgical or hormonal alteration. The publication emphasized education for wives and families, aiming to reduce stigma and promote tolerance without conflating cross-dressing with sexual deviance. She also initiated private clubs like Hose and Heels in the 1950s and, in 1975, helped establish the Society for the Second Self (Tri-Ess), a sorority-style network restricted to married or partnering heterosexual cross-dressers and their spouses, fostering social events and support to integrate the "second self" into stable family life. From the late , Prince lived publicly as a while maintaining her identity as a man enacting , authoring books like The Transvestite and His Wife (1967) to guide couples through the practice. Her efforts faced legal hurdles, including a obscenity conviction for mailing explicit content to a monitored recipient, which she contested as consensual adult expression. Within emerging gender-variant circles, she drew criticism for excluding homosexuals, transsexuals, and those seeking medical transition from her groups, prioritizing a conservative, assimilationist model over broader —a stance rooted in her empirical observations of cross-dressers' predominant and aversion to genital modification.

Early Life and Education

Birth and Family Background

Virginia Prince was born Arnold Lowman on November 23, 1912, in , California. Her father, Charles Leroy Lowman (1879–1977), was an orthopedic surgeon born in , whose own parents were physicians. Her mother, Elizabeth Hudson Arnold (1882–1968), managed successful investments. The Lowmans belonged to an upper-middle-class Protestant family of social prominence in , with Charles owning property in a building that generated rental income. Arnold had one , a younger named Elizabeth, born in 1916. The family's affluence provided a stable, privileged environment during Arnold's early years.

Academic Achievements and Early Influences

Born Arnold Lowman in Los Angeles on November 23, 1912, to a family of medical professionals, Virginia Prince pursued higher education amid early personal explorations of crossdressing that began around age 12 with a fascination for high-heeled shoes and her mother's wardrobe. Her father, Charles Leroy Lowman, an orthopedic surgeon and hospital administrator, provided a formative influence through his emphasis on scientific rigor and public service, steering her toward chemistry and pharmacology as fields amenable to practical applications in health and beauty. This parental encouragement, combined with exposure to Los Angeles's underground drag scenes and restrictive anti-masquerading ordinances enacted in 1922, shaped a dual trajectory of academic discipline and private gender experimentation that later informed her advocacy. Lowman enrolled at in , in 1931, joining a fraternity while maintaining discretion about emerging transvestic interests, and graduated in 1935 with a bachelor's degree in chemistry. She then advanced to the , for postgraduate work in , completing a in 1937 with a thesis entitled The Preparation, Standardization, and Properties of Lactic Dehydrogenase, followed by a PhD in 1939 at age 27 with a dissertation on Carbohydrate Metabolism and Its Relation to the Cancer Problem. These achievements reflected a focus on biochemical mechanisms, building on familial medical influences and equipping her for subsequent roles as a research assistant and lecturer, including applications in cosmetics evident in her 1955 publication Chemistry in Your Beauty Shop under the name Arnold Lowman.

Initial Crossdressing Experiences

Discovery and Private Exploration

Arnold Lowman, who later adopted the name Virginia Prince, was born on November 23, 1912, in , . Around the age of twelve, in approximately 1924, Lowman first began privately at home, initially using his mother's clothing. This initial discovery marked the onset of a secretive compulsion that persisted through adolescence, with Lowman dressing whenever opportunities arose without risk of detection. Lowman's private explorations remained confined to solitary activities, driven by an internal urge rather than external influences, and were characterized by efforts to conceal the behavior from family and peers. During high school years, these episodes continued sporadically, often accompanied by and worries about the implications for his developing identity, though no professional intervention was sought at the time. Prince later reflected that the practice provided a sense of relief and fulfillment absent in male attire, yet it was pursued in isolation to avoid societal stigma or familial disruption. This period of hidden experimentation laid the foundation for Lowman's lifelong engagement with , remaining undetected until adulthood.

Impact of Marriage and Divorce

Prince married Patricia Lowman on August 16, 1941, in , and the couple had a son, , born in 1946. During the , Prince attempted to suppress her tendencies, resolving upon marriage to abandon her feminine persona entirely, but she continued the practice periodically in secret. This suppression proved untenable, as Prince later confessed her to her , leading to marital strain that Prince herself attributed directly to her transvestism. The marriage ended in divorce finalized in July 1951, with Patricia Lowman filing on grounds primarily citing her husband's "admitted propensity for feminine apparel." Court proceedings required Prince to pay $50 per month in for their son, and the case drew media attention in newspapers, publicly outing Prince's despite her professional career in pharmaceuticals. This exposure carried professional risks, as was pathologized under mid-20th-century psychiatric norms, yet it inadvertently catalyzed Prince's by prompting letters and contacts from other isolated heterosexual cross-dressers seeking support. The divorce represented a rupture in Prince's efforts to conform to conventional heterosexual , freeing her to pursue more openly while highlighting the tensions between marital expectations and innate feminine inclinations. Soon after, in 1952, Prince remarried Elaine McKillop, whose greater acceptance of allowed Prince to integrate her feminine identity into domestic life without immediate conflict, contrasting sharply with the first marriage's suppression and fallout. This second union provided stability, enabling Prince to channel post-divorce momentum into organizing early crossdresser networks, though lingering custody concerns from the 1951 proceedings persisted into subsequent years.

Organizational Activism

Formation of Early Support Groups

In the late 1940s, Virginia Prince began facilitating informal gatherings for crossdressers through connections made via intermediary Louise Lawrence, with meetings occurring in and to provide discreet social interaction among like-minded heterosexual men. These early encounters emphasized privacy and mutual support, drawing from Prince's own experiences and correspondence networks developed through contributions to niche publications. By 1952, Prince participated in a small group at Joan Thornton's home in , which produced two issues of an early newsletter titled Transvestia: Journal of the American Society for Equality in Dress, aimed at fostering discussion and normalization of among heterosexual males; the effort ceased due to financial constraints. This initiative highlighted Prince's push for organized expression but lacked sustainability without broader membership or funding. The pivotal development came in 1960 with the founding of the Hose and Heels Club in Los Angeles, the first formal peer support and social organization for heterosexual male crossdressers in the United States, starting with an initial 12 members who attended meetings dressed as men (en homme). The inaugural meeting occurred at a house attached to church property for added discretion, followed by a second at a dress designer's home attended by historians Vern and Bonnie Bullough; activities included synchronized dressing in hosiery and heels, formal lectures on crossdressing philosophy, and dress-up parties held twice monthly, with a strict no-alcohol policy to maintain decorum and appeal to professional, married participants. Membership was explicitly limited to heterosexual men, excluding homosexuals, transsexuals, and fetishists, as Prince sought to distance the group from perceived deviance and promote respectability within society. These groups served as precursors to larger networks, providing safe spaces for sharing experiences, reinforcing Prince's view of crossdressing as a non-sexual feminine personality expression compatible with male heterosexuality, though internal tensions over leadership and inclusivity began emerging by 1962.

Establishment of FPE and Broader Networks

In 1961, Virginia Prince founded the Hose and Heels Club in Los Angeles, marking the first organized support group specifically for male crossdressers seeking non-sexual feminine expression. This local sorority-style group facilitated private meetings and correspondence among members, emphasizing discretion amid prevailing legal and social risks associated with crossdressing. The following year, in 1962, Prince restructured the Hose and Heels Club as the Alpha Chapter of the Foundation for Full Expression (FPE), expanding it into a national organization restricted to heterosexual males who identified as crossdressers rather than or homosexuals. FPE's stated purpose was to promote the integration of masculine and feminine traits for greater personal fulfillment, offering guidelines for safe, private expression while rejecting sexual motivations or identity transition. Membership required vetting to ensure alignment with these heteronormative, non-pathologizing principles, distinguishing FPE from broader homophile or emerging networks. FPE quickly developed broader networks through additional chapters, including Beta Chapter in , Delta Chapter in , and Theta Chapter in , shortly after its founding. These chapters enabled localized meetings, while a central correspondence system connected members nationwide, often drawing from subscribers to Prince's Transvestia magazine for recruitment and ideological alignment. By fostering structured, chapter-based support, FPE created an early infrastructure for crossdresser socialization, which later evolved into the international Society for the Second Self (Tri-Ess) following a 1976 merger with the Mamselle Sorority. This expansion underscored Prince's vision of a self-sustaining insulated from associations with or medicalized .

Transvestia Magazine and Publications

Launch, Content, and Editorial Philosophy

Transvestia magazine was launched in 1960 by Virginia Prince through her publishing imprint, Chevalier Publications, in , , marking the first widely distributed periodical dedicated to the community. This bimonthly publication succeeded a brief 1952 of the same name, which Prince and associates produced in only two low-budget issues before it ceased. Issued six times annually, Transvestia continued under Prince's editorship until approximately 1980, with a total run extending to 1986, and was distributed primarily via subscription and select adult bookstores. The content featured contributions from readers, including personal narratives of experiences, advice on selecting and maintaining feminine attire, makeup techniques, and comportment to achieve a convincing feminine appearance. It also included fictional stories, letters to the editor, and discussions on marital dynamics, family acceptance, and psychological motivations behind heterosexual male , often emphasizing its non-sexual, recreational nature. Early issues avoided photographs or employed miniature formats to circumvent laws, gradually incorporating visual elements as legal climates shifted. Prince contributed editorials and articles promoting as compatible with conventional and , while critiquing psychoanalytic interpretations that labeled it deviant or pathological. Prince's editorial philosophy positioned transvestism—defined as the periodic feminine self-expression of heterosexual, non-transsexual males—as a benign urge requiring neither medical intervention nor abandonment of male identity or familial responsibilities. The magazine's cover of the first issue outlined three core objectives: to offer expression for those enduring silent distress from desires; education for wives, relatives, and others misunderstanding the practice; and encouragement for responsible pursuit of feminine presentation. Prince explicitly rejected associations with , erotic , or leading to surgical transition, instead framing it as "full personality expression" achievable part-time within marriage, and urged readers to prioritize spousal and societal discretion to avoid stigma. This stance, while fostering community support, drew boundaries excluding or perspectives, reflecting Prince's commitment to normalizing as a heteronormative rather than a broader identity shift. Transvestia was initially distributed to 25 subscribers upon its launch in , with issues mailed bimonthly through Chevalier Publications in . Circulation grew modestly over its run, which spanned 100 issues from to 1980 and continued sporadically until 1986, reaching a peak of approximately 1,000 subscribers primarily in the United States. Subscriptions were obtained via direct mail or adult bookstores, with limited availability on a few newsstands, reflecting the magazine's niche focus on heterosexual male crossdressers and its avoidance of explicit content to evade broader scrutiny. In 1961, Prince faced federal prosecution for distributing obscene materials through the U.S. mail, stemming from authorities' seizure of Transvestia issues under prevailing Comstock-era laws that targeted non-sexual depictions of as potentially prurient. The case highlighted tensions between emerging First Amendment protections for speech and conservative judicial standards on , as defined in cases like (1957), though Prince continued publishing afterward, suggesting the legal challenge did not result in permanent suppression. The magazine exerted influence by fostering a discreet national network for crossdressers, enabling subscribers to exchange letters, share personal narratives, and organize private events, which laid groundwork for later support groups. As the first periodical dedicated to non-sexual transvestism, Transvestia normalized the practice among its audience and influenced subsequent publications, though its reach remained confined to a small, insular due to stigma and distribution barriers.

Theoretical Framework on Crossdressing

Virginia Prince characterized transvestism as a non-pathological trait in biologically individuals, wherein heterosexual men periodically adopt feminine and mannerisms to express an integrated feminine aspect of their psyche, while retaining full identification as men and without seeking genital modification or surgical transition. This emphasized psychological equilibrium through "personality expression" rather than or identity rejection, positioning transvestism as distinct from medicalized conditions. Prince explicitly limited the term to those exclusively attracted to women, excluding any overlap with same-sex orientation. In contrast to transsexualism, which Prince described as involving a profound conviction of belonging to the opposite biological sex—often leading to , , and full renunciation of male anatomy—transvestism entailed no such body or desire for permanence. He argued against a spectrum linking the two, viewing transsexuals as attempting radical congruence between mind and body via alteration, whereas transvestites achieved harmony by overlaying feminine onto an unchanged male foundation. This demarcation aligned with Prince's advisory role to , influencing early typologies in The Transsexual Phenomenon (1966), though Benjamin incorporated a broader range of motivations. Prince further differentiated transvestism from transvestic fetishism, a sexually driven compulsion where arousal derives directly from the act of or the garments themselves, often culminating in autoerotic release rather than sustained persona adoption. In his publications, such as Transvestia, he critiqued fetishistic elements as immature or deviating from "true" transvestic maturity, advocating instead for as a means of elevating feminine appreciation (femmiphilia) toward relational and aesthetic ends, free from compulsive genital focus. Homosexual cross-dressing, Prince contended, stemmed from erotic attraction to men rather than innate femininity, rendering it incompatible with authentic transvestism; he categorized homosexuals as a separate group sharing only superficial attire overlap but lacking the heterosexual transvestite's commitment to male identity preservation. This typology, articulated across decades in Transvestia editorials and group literature, aimed to destigmatize transvestism by framing it as a benign variant of heteronormative masculinity, though critics in later transsexual and queer scholarship have noted its exclusionary rigidity as reflective of mid-20th-century cultural conservatism.

Emphasis on Heterosexual Male Identity

Prince maintained that genuine transvestism was confined to heterosexual males who identified primarily as men, deriving aesthetic and emotional fulfillment from feminine attire without compromising their or . She differentiated this from , which she viewed as involving erotic attraction to men regardless of dress, and transsexuality, characterized by a profound desire to live permanently as , often seeking surgical intervention. In her 1966 contribution to Harry Benjamin's The Transsexual Phenomenon, Prince described transvestites as "exclusively heterosexual" individuals who "value their male organs, enjoy using them and do not desire them removed," positioning as a supplementary rather than a core redefinition of self. This framework underpinned the bylaws of organizations she founded, including the Foundation for Full Personality Expression (FPE, established in ) and its successor Tri-Ess (Society for the Second Self, formalized in ), which explicitly limited membership to "heterosexual male crossdressers" who affirmed their maleness and heterosexuality, often requiring spousal consent or verification of to ensure alignment with normative family structures. Prince's rationale, articulated in early FPE literature, held that such restrictions preserved the group's focus on therapeutic self-expression for men unburdened by homosexual or motivations, thereby facilitating social acceptance by framing transvestism as a benign variant within heterosexual . Through Transvestia magazine, launched in 1960, Prince reinforced this identity by curating content that celebrated among professional, married men—such as essays on reconciling feminine pursuits with paternal duties and heterosexual relations—while editorializing against conflation with subcultures or . Circulation guidelines and subscriber surveys in the publication's inaugural issues (e.g., volume 1, 1960) predominantly featured self-reports from subscribers affirming heterosexual marriages and aversion to same-sex encounters, with Prince citing these as evidence of transvestism's inherent heteronormativity. This emphasis aimed to destigmatize the practice by aligning it with empirical patterns observed in her networks, though it drew boundaries that excluded an estimated 20-30% of potential participants based on orientation self-assessments documented in FPE records from the .

Controversies and Criticisms

Disputes with Transsexual and Gay Communities

Prince's advocacy emphasized heterosexual transvestism as distinct from , leading to explicit exclusion of and bisexual men from her organizations, including the Foundation for Full Personality Expression (FPE, founded 1962) and its successor Tri-Ess (Society of the Second Self, established 1986). She argued that true transvestites valued their male anatomy and heterosexual orientation, viewing homosexual —often associated with drag or camp—as performative and unrelated to the innate she attributed to heterosexual . This separation was intended to foster societal by distancing the practice from perceived homosexual deviance, but it provoked accusations of homophobia from activists, who criticized her for reinforcing stigma and denying the fluidity of sexual and expressions in cross-dressing subcultures. In Transvestia editorials and related writings, Prince discouraged terms like "TV" (transvestite), "drag," and "camp" due to their ties to homosexual contexts, promoting instead "femmiphilia" or "transgender" to denote non-sexual, heterosexual cross-gender living without genital alteration. Gay community critics, including later historians, faulted this as an elitist purge that prioritized conservative respectability over solidarity, effectively sidelining queer cross-dressers and contributing to fragmented early transgender organizing in the 1960s and 1970s. Prince similarly demarcated transvestism from transsexualism, positing the former as a psycho-social accommodation—cross-dressing to express inner while retaining male identity and organs—and the latter as a drive for anatomical sex change, which she deemed rare and risky. She estimated that only 10% of seekers were authentic , warning that the procedure could spread like a "communicable " among suggestible transvestites, and advised against it in favor of full-time feminine presentation without . advocates, such as those aligned with Harry Benjamin's clinic (where Prince consulted but diverged), contested her as dismissive of dysphoria's severity and surgically oriented paths, fostering disputes over legitimacy and terminology in clinics and publications like Transvestia (issues from onward). Her 1969 coinage of "transgenderist" for non-operative cross-livers further highlighted this rift, seen by some as an attempt to supplant narratives.

Internal Inconsistencies and Modern Reassessments

Prince's public assertions that transvestism was devoid of motivation conflicted with private admissions and the content of her publications. In Transvestia, she repeatedly emphasized that served a non-sexual psychological need for feminine expression among heterosexual males, yet in interviews with , she acknowledged the sexually rewarding aspects, including enjoyment of flirting with men. Similarly, while defining transvestism strictly as an asexual pursuit distinct from , Transvestia featured pictorials and narratives that subscribers interpreted as , leading to criticisms that her editorial philosophy masked underlying fetishistic elements. Her stance on transsexualism revealed further tensions between ideology and personal practice. Prince denounced gender reassignment surgery as unnecessary and indicative of personal failure, coining "transgenderist" in 1969–1970 to describe full-time feminine living without genital modification, and she excluded those pursuing surgery from her organizations like Tri-Ess. However, from 1968 onward, she lived full-time as a woman, underwent in the late 1960s, and maintained friendships with at least three post-operative individuals, including one named whom she hosted in 1965. This personal embodiment of extended cross-gender living blurred the boundaries she theoretically enforced, as some FPE members eventually pursued transitions despite her opposition. Prince's insistence on exclusive heterosexuality for "true" transvestites also showed inconsistencies. She barred gay and bisexual men from FPE and Tri-Ess, labeling homosexuals as "sexual deviates" in early Transvestia issues from the 1960s, to distance transvestism from perceived deviance and reassure spouses. Yet she admitted to deriving pleasure from male attention while presenting as female, complicating her claims of unwavering heterosexuality. Modern reassessments portray Prince as a foundational yet restrictive figure in , whose efforts to legitimize heterosexual through respectability politics marginalized broader expressions of gender variance. Scholars like Vern Bullough have critiqued her narrow definitions of transvestism, which influenced the DSM-III-R's exclusionary framing in 1980 and overlooked socioeconomic power imbalances in gender roles. Feminist and theorists, including those analyzing her alongside , highlight elements of in her spousal advice and transmisogyny in distancing from women, viewing her work as reinforcing heteronormative and conservative boundaries amid 1970s and feminist critiques. By the 1980s and 1990s, younger activists rejected her opposition to surgical interventions and requirements, seeing them as gatekeeping that fragmented community solidarity, though her creation of safe spaces for non-transitioning crossdressers is acknowledged as enduringly influential. These evaluations often stem from archival analyses of Transvestia and FPE records, tempering praise for her pioneering networks with recognition of era-specific biases toward assimilation over radical inclusion.

Later Years and Legacy

Full-Time Feminine Presentation and Personal Life

In 1968, at the age of 55, Virginia Prince transitioned to full-time feminine presentation, adopting women's attire and social roles exclusively without undergoing genital surgery, which she explicitly opposed. This shift marked a departure from her prior part-time , influenced by prior experiences such as solo travels en femme that built her confidence in navigating public life as a . Prince described this as "crossing the line completely," committing to a lifestyle she viewed as an extension of heterosexual transvestism rather than transsexualism, emphasizing psychological and social over surgical alteration. Born Arnold Lowman on November 23, 1912, in to a physician father and realtor mother from an upper-middle-class family, Prince's early involved two marriages to women conducted under her . Her first ended in a contentious 1950 , publicly exposing her when her wife cited transvestism as grounds, leading to significant social repercussions including family shock. A second followed, encouraged by familial support, but details on its duration and outcome remain limited in primary accounts, with no verified records of children from either union. These heterosexual unions underscored Prince's self-identification as a man adopting feminine expression, distinct from homosexual or orientations she critiqued in her writings. Post-transition, Prince resided primarily in , maintaining independence without documented long-term romantic partnerships as Virginia, focusing instead on activism, publications, and . She continued this full-time presentation until her death on May 2, 2009, at age 96, following a short illness, having exemplified non-surgical living for over four decades. This period reinforced her theoretical stance that could constitute a stable, full-spectrum feminine identity for biologically male heterosexuals, challenging surgical norms prevalent in contemporaneous discourse.

Enduring Influence and Posthumous Evaluations

Prince's publications, particularly Transvestia magazine which ran from 1960 to 1979 and influenced subsequent crossdressing networks, fostered a supportive framework for heterosexual male crossdressers by emphasizing education, marital harmony, and non-surgical , elements that persisted in later groups and online forums. Her establishment of the Hose and Heels Club in 1962 and the Society for Self (Tri-Ess) in 1963 provided organizational models that outlasted her active involvement, promoting discretion and respectability to counter societal stigma. Prince's advisory role to psychiatrist in classifying transvestism distinct from transsexualism in his 1966 book The Transsexual Phenomenon contributed to early clinical differentiations that informed diagnostic criteria until the DSM revisions in the 1980s. In the years following her death on May 2, 2009, scholars have reevaluated Prince's legacy as a foundational yet restrictive figure in transgender history, crediting her with popularizing "transgender" as a term for non-operative, full-time feminine presentation in the 1960s and refining it to "transgenderist" by 1991 to denote behavioral identity without genital surgery. Her insistence on heterosexual, non-homosexual crossdressing—evident in works like How to Be a Woman Though Male (1971)—is seen as advancing the sex/gender distinction but also as enforcing respectability politics that marginalized gay and transsexual voices, leading to posthumous critiques of her activism as overly conservative and exclusionary. Historians note a "conflicted" profile, where achievements in community-building coexisted with personal anxieties over public perception, resulting in legal defenses that prioritized assimilation over broader liberation, as analyzed in post-2009 biographical assessments. Contemporary evaluations in highlight Prince's enduring conceptual impact, such as distinguishing as a stable identity rather than , which influenced second-wave feminist debates on gender performativity, though her rejection of surgical transition is now often viewed as prescient by some non-binary advocates yet limiting by those prioritizing medical affirmation. Archival collections, including her papers at the University of Victoria's Archives, sustain scholarly interest, underscoring her role in early legal challenges like the 1961 obscenity trial that tested First Amendment protections for gender-variant materials. Despite these contributions, modern reassessments critique her for reinforcing binary norms and heteronormativity, with some activists arguing her frameworks delayed inclusive coalitions until the transgender rights expansions.

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