The polar ends

Some people are extremely happy with temporary gender expression often because they simply want sporadic release from the social pressures for their natal sex This is particularly true for those who felt constrained by the cultural rules of their era.

Rather than incorporate feminine traits into everyday life, a woman is fashioned who represents the embodiment of this wish for expression. Once the euphoria is satisfied they go back to their normal life until the next time.

Of course this schema does not work well for everyone and many settle for it as compromise for previous life choices made which misalign with this desire. It is difficult for them to know what their baseline might be if they were to explore further because they cannot.

We used to try and draw firm lines between transvestism and transsexualism when in truth people exist on a continuum (which Harry Benjamin discovered) and it is why residing anywhere in a murky middle ground can be so distressing until we come to understand and accept ourselves.

The people I have met over my life who were the most settled on how to proceed seemed to be those who resided closer to the opposite polar ends of that continuum.