Bert and Lori

From the Cover

"I know I'm male and I intend to stay that way; I simply enjoy putting on female clothes."

The term "transvestite," or "cross-dresser," may bring to most people's minds the image of a limp-wristed "drag-queen," a "pervert," or even the homicidal character Norman Bates of Hitchcock's macabre film Psycho. But many male crossdressers are, in fact, married and fathers, who dress up in private with the active cooperation, or at least the tolerance, of their wives.

Here is the intimate autobiography of a heterosexual male crossdresser - a man who wears women's clothes occasionally for sexual pleasure. Though author Robert J. ("Bert") Rowe has disguised his identity, Bert and Lori is the true story of a successful and happily married college professor who leads an alternative life at home. This unapologetic, self-styled fetishist and his femme alter ego, "Lori," reveal how his interest in female clothing began in childhood and how it developed as he grew older. He recounts his attempt to conceal his behavior from friends and family, and the guilt and shame he was made to suffer who what he felt to be an irresistible desire. Rowe describes how his love for female clothing affected his relations with others and partly led to the collapse of his first marriage. Now, however, with a loving and understanding second wife, he can explore a personal interest that has turned into a private lifestyle.

Bert and Lori is more than a straight forward autobiography. It is a well-researched study of the phenomenon of crossdressing. Meticulously endnoted and fully documented, it describes the origins and purposes of transvestism in religious ritual and discusses crossdressing in novels, films, and the sociological and psychological literature. It also includes an appendix devoted to transvestite fantasy fiction. One of the unique features of this book is the author's contention, based on his own awareness, that crossdressing can be a therapeutic, cathartic, and even self-transcending experience. Another is the postscript by the author's wife, Jill, whose candid reflections are the only systematic discussion of the life and experiences of a crossdresser's wife.

Bert and Lori is highly personal and frank regarding sexual issues, a story that others have dared not write. Written clearly and convincingly, Bert and Lori allows readers to look at transvestism with open eyes and understanding.
Table of Contents

Foreward by Vern L. Bullough
Preface

Beginnings: 1946-1953
The Clothing of Delight: 1953-1962
Gloria: 1962-1967
For Better, For Worse: 1967-1973
Alarums and Excursions:1973-1984
Strange Temples: 1984-1997
"All Made of Fantasy": 1995
Appendix One: Transvestite Fantasy Fiction
Appendix Two: A Postscript by Jill Rowe