CROSS-DRESSING behavior presents in a variety of ways: transvestites, transsexuals, compulsive sexual behaviors of cross dressers, homophobic homosexuals, non-sexual cross-dressers, and sometimes with dissociative disorders. The desire to wear the clothing of the other sex is independent of one's sexual preference. Many gays, bisexuals and heterosexual men like to wear women's clothing in private or in public, and may even fantasize on occasion about becoming a woman. Most, however, have no desire to actually change their sex. Women also crossdress, and in larger numbers than has previously been acknowledged.
TRANSSEXUALISM is a desire to change one's sex. This condition, gender identity disorder (formerly gender dysphoria) is characterized by feelings of inappropriateness in the gender one is assigned at birth. Men and women who experience a compelling desire to rid themselves of their primary and sexual characteristics and live as members of the other sex are called transsexuals. This clash of sex and gender cause them much emotional pain, and they must ultimately deal with the issue in some way. Many transsexuals undergo the process of sex reassignment, in which they come to live as members of the opposite biologically "other" sex. Hormonal and surgical techniques make this possible, but sex reassignment is a difficult, disruptive and costly process, and must not be undertaken without psychological counseling and careful planning and a realistic understanding that medical technology has its limits.
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