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Notes -
Yeah, but crossdressing/transvestism was not considered the same as transsexuality until we got the idea that it was all transgenderism and that was an entire separate identity of its own. The modern notion of "identities" and especially what I'm seeing online with trans issues that if you are not 100% X then of course you must be Y is what is unique, and what is driving all this.
Before, if someone was crossdressing for whatever reasons (and they're not always erotic/fetish ones), you are correct - it was something to be hidden, something considered shameful. Now, it's a protected identity that you can be proud of, now you can crossdress 100% of the time! And all you have to do is say that really you are a woman. Maybe you go on hormones, maybe you don't. You can still be sexually attracted to women, just say you're a lesbian.
Indeed, again from what I'm picking up at second- and third-hand, the push is on to shove people into adopting it as an identity: you don't just feel better psychologically when dressed and behaving as your feminine anima, it's an identity and you are trans.
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