Too colloquial

My primary issue with the term "crossdressing" is that it isn't universally applied to both sexes. It also loses its meaning because the reference point continues to change over time in that what may have been considered "crossdressing" 40 years ago isn't the case today. In other words, it is a moving target. A young man wearing a skirt on the subway today does not even solicit a reaction.

Additionally it simplifies the behaviour of some gender variant people to focus solely on vestments whereas many have a multi-faceted approach to their variance and don't consider clothing to be necessarily a primary focus. This does not mean that there aren't people who think exclusively and draw their primary pleasure from wearing the clothing traditionally associated with the opposite sex.

I view the term gender variance as being interchangeable with Harry Benjamin's scale which contained within it a wide range of expression and identity. Irrespective of the fact that some individuals are largely about pure expression, terms like "crossdressing" are too reductive and steeped in cultural colloquialism to be helpful which is why I prefer using cross gender expression as a general term for both sexes.