Celebrated radio talk show hostess Kim Iverson (http://www.yourtimewithkim.com/) told the story (18 December 2009) that she once made home visits as a company representative.  One day she knocked on a client's door and was SHOCKED when the door was opened by a man in a dress.

It was all there:  carefully coiffed hair, full make-up, pantyhose, and 4-inch pumps....

Kim Iverson was face-to-face with a so-called "Cross-dresser". 
                          ...What possibly could compel a man to think he was a woman?!!!

During the show experts and listeners weighed in on the bizarre phenomenon....


NOT JUST MEN...
A week later Kim was in the bachelor-pad of an icon from the 1970's sexual revolution:  crew-cut, no make-up, flat bra-less chest, sweats, Nike's.  No shock at all when THAT client answered the doorbell holding a socket-wrench and grunge-smeared motorcycle carburetor. 

                               ...What could compel a woman to become a man?  

Silly question.  Would you like the reasons in alphabetical order or ranked by popularity?

A competitive, problem-solving, analytical woman is called a "butch" (or "tomboy", the youthful version.)  They're so common, some argue that a frilly dress-wearing, pink-loving, romantic female is a relic of obsolete misogyny.

Hence, POINT #1:  Female "cross-dressers" are just as common as the male version.  Just not quite so shocking.

Some people still remember the 1950's when women-in-pants were escorted out of a chapel.  Pants-clad girls were expelled from schools after a severe reprimand for defiance.  The strict 1950's god knew exactly how females were supposed to behave--and any doubter could read about it in the Holy Scriptures.


TELL ME WHY?
Except the super-hot singer/actress Jessica Simpson doesn't become butch whenever she puts on jeans.  Macho-men back away from Sigoruney Weaver, even when she's in an evening gown.  It's the carburetor that defines butch, not the sweats or (lack-of) bra.  The term "Cross-dresser" is so deceptive--the key issue is personality, values and interests, not clothes.

An "effeminate" boy is called "sissy" no matter what he wears.  Miss Congeniality is a movie about the impossibility of transforming a totally-butch FBI agent (played by don't-cross-me Sandra Bullock) into a Pageant Beauty.

The personality traits that make a butch butch and a femme femme are called "Gender".  In sociology circles it's common to say that a femme has "female gender", while a butch has a "male gender".   ...Although doing so may earn someone a broken nose.  
                                                     Maybe males have a "butch gender".  Or maybe it should be "Gender X" or "Gender Y".

So...

A butch is a biologic-female with a male-gender
A femme is a biologic-female with a female-gender
Brad Pitt is a biologic-male with a male-gender
And Boy George is a biologic-male with a female-gender

 "Androgyne" is a neutral term that shouldn't make an innocent bystander think of department stores:  butches and "cross-dressers" are androgynes.  The word is a combination of male (andro-) and female (-gyne), just like the people it describes.

HALF-FULL OR HALF-EMPTY?
Is an androgyne male or female?   

Yes.  An androgyne is...  whoever they are.   Even though a butch has many gifts in common with many biologic-males, a butch is still a woman (gender-female).  They know they're a woman (gender identity).  For example many butches have children and nurture them as warmly as any other woman (gender-female traits). 

Being butch means having a personality (gender) that's androgyne-a mixture of female and male traits.   At times that personality is expressed (gender expression) by activities that would win the envy of the most macho of men.   ...Say, sky-diving, hunting grizzly bear, or outfoxing Halliburton.  But Friday night will see them in a cocktail lounge in a crimson slinky low-cut mini-dress.  Androgyne:  a mixture.

Which is the REAL persona for the Androgyne?   Both.   The "macho" activities (gender expression) fulfill "male" gender traits & interests;  the minidress fulfills "female" gender traits & interests.

Being a mixture makes an androgyne very different from a transsexual, who is either predominantly female or predominantly male.  Transsexuals are NOT a mixture.   ... Even though surgery DOES resolve the biology mix-up in a transsexual, scalpels don't change an androgyne, because they'd still be a mixture when they woke up.

Ask a male androgyne ("cross-dresser") what their Gender Identity is, they answer:  "I'm glad to be a man;  I want to remain a man.   I just like to go out in a female persona from time to time."

Just like  a female androgyne (butch) answers when asked the same question:  "Just because I hate dressing up and playing with dolls doesn't mean I'm not a girl.  I'm a girl who sometimes likes to race motorcycles.  And I can kick YOUR butt!"

KEY POINT #2:  Gender and Gender Identity are independent of each other;  just as both are independent of biology.

There are biologic-males who seem to be very effeminate (Gender) but snap back quickly, "I'm totally a man" when asked about Gender Identity.

There are biologic-males who score totally masculine when given personality tests (Gender) but have a deep need to wear a dress for three hours on one Saturday afternoon a month.

...Just as there are Butches (biologic-females) who are totally feminine but happen to be avid football fans (gender-male trait).

ARE ANDROGYNES INSANE?

The American Psychiatric Association says so, but I don't suggest telling Hillary Clinton.

RUN AND HIDE
Female androgynes are so open and ubiquitous they're invisible;  male androgynes are so deeply closeted they're invisible.  Can you imagine Margaret Thatcher sneaking into a double-locked basement closet to try on jeans for 30 minutes while no one's watching?  

...And then being fired from her work the next day because somebody DID catch her in those jeans?  

Unlike females, male androgynes ("cross-dressers") risk losing everything if they're discovered:  marriage, family, job, religious affiliation....  An androgyne lives every moment of his life terrified that the next moment may find him penniless, friendless and on the streets.

"I'll Love you forever!"  his wife murmurs at an intimate moment.

"Not if you find out,"  he thinks to himself.

And if she does, the deepest love evaporates faster than you can say "lawyer".

"Jesus can wash away even the most scarlet of sins!"  his priest proclaims on Sunday.

"Not if you find out,"  he thinks to himself.

And if the priest does, the church door slams faster than you can say "excommunicate".

So male androgynes keep their femme side carefully hidden.  They tell NO ONE.  Definitely not those most dear to them:  their wife & family. 

Who me?  A cross-dresser?  Never!  I HATE cross-dressers!  I even introduced legislation stripping cross-dressers of all protections under the law!

Your husband.  Your son.  Your neighbor.  Your minister.  Your doctor.  Your lawyer.  The people you depend on every day.

WHO CARES?
Butches, tomboys, androgynes, female-gender traits, male-gender traits....   Why make up all of these categories and give them weird Greek names?  People are people.  Biologic-females have a wide spectrum of personality traits;  why categorize some traits as "male" and others as "female"?

ANSWER #1:  Because biologic-males are just like biologic-females:  they have a wide spectrum of personality traits.  Unlike biologic-females, males risk losing EVERYTHING if they show "too much femininity".  ...And that would be about one-third of them.

There will have to be androgynes and male-gender traits as long as people are shocked by biologic-males in a dress at the door about as much they are by butches in jeans at the door.

ANSWER #2:  To distinguish between transsexuals and androgynes.  Transsexual survival depends on transitioning-surgery, hormones and everything that comes with them.  Transsexuals are refused medical access because outsiders can't tell the difference between them.

There will have to be androgynes and male-gender traits as long as universal health care can't get through Congress if it includes transsexuals.

FEMALE REDEMPTION
In the 1960's & 1970's female androgynes won the right to wear pants.  They did it by declaring war on the patriarchy.  A war waged with a barrage of offensive books;  a battle-zone pocked with the rubble of countless smoldering bras.

I can't wear pants, you say?  Then arrest me!

A war that was waged until legislative halls trembled in response.   Until people were outraged by bigotry and social injustice.

And remember: one-third of those representatives in Congress are themselves androgynes.  The moment they realize their numbers;  that they don't have to hide any more.  They moment they recognize their strength, watch out. 

Burning jock-straps smell way worse than burning bras.