The discussion about gender identity has a larger context; ego, sense of self, schemas of self. Crossdressing makes me realize more about how ego works. I like that part of it. Maybe I don't know how to search for it but I haven't seen any posts about the larger question of sense of self, and what that is, and how many you have.. LOL
Eric Berne (Transactional Analysis) theorized that we have three ego states:
Parent - the nurturing, encouraging, admonishing, judging state, concerned with what should be
Adult - the rational state, facts, reason, observation, description
Child - play, curiosity, feeling, experimenting, laughing, crying, being cute (so people like you enough to let you survive.. lol)
People move between those ego states. You probably recognize them. For most of my "adult" life at work, and at home, I have been in the Parent and Adult states waaaaay more than my Child state. I've done my fair share of playing, but in general I've been in the P, A states. My female persona (Allison or Stephanie.. I haven't decided, it was Stephanie but I feel more like Allison. My former SO middle name was Allison so I thought that might sound weird to her, but that's over now, for now) is almost entirely in the Child state. I think that is why I love to be her. She is a guaranteed trip to the Child state.
The other fun part of crossdressing for me, is how it relates to what eastern philosophy says about the ego, especially as interpreted for the west by Alan Watts. The ego, your sense of self, IS a fictional character. So why not have two? Why not have fun with it? Why not explore the boundaries of it? Are there any? Ultimately, in many spiritual traditions, you are simply released from the sense of a self that smells smells, feels feelings, thinks thoughts, does deeds.