An old joke

The old joke went something  like this: 

Q: What is the difference between a "crossdresser" and a transsexual? 

A: About 3 years. 

The subtext here was of course that some people were underplaying their situation to avoid upending their lives and succumbing to transition. This was particularly true for gynephilic transsexuals from my generation and older. 

But this certainly wasn't true for everyone and today's society bears it out with its expansive ways to openly express and identify under the full banner of gender variance. 

It's an old joke representative of a different time that we aren't returning to.