Permanent vs temporary

Temporary and permanent gender variance can be quite different. Some people enjoy escaping the pressures of their life, the social obligations of their gender and feast in occasional cross gender expression. This contrasts against forms where the expression is permanent. 

The young man I saw on public transit with the pink hair and earrings was expressing himself outside what used to be conventional gender norms. His expression is permanent and he is not playing a temporary role and he is being authentic. He is also, from what I gathered, completely comfortable with his male identity. 

It took me a while to make that switch in my head as I had been raised to drown out authenticity from a young age. Therefore as a result of life decisions I made plus my pervasive societal programming I was forced into temporary not knowing how well a more permanent situation would suit me. 

The interesting thing is that people living with temporary expression are split between those who are obliged and constrained via life circumstances and those who choose and prefer the episodic despite the potential to go further.

Once again, a mosaic.