The transsexual is focused on gender, internal identity, and not only on appearance. The need to be what is the seeming opposite sex is actually a need to correct a mistake of nature, and a misery, and has little or nothing to do with sexuality per se. Transsexuals may be heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, or even asexual, since the issue is one of identity and body construction, not sex. This is done purely for sexual pleasure, and the transvestite has no interest in actually changing their physical sex. Indeed, most of the sexual fascination is focused on the knowledge that underneath the feminine clothing, the transvestite is still male.
Transvestism is a sexual kink.
Transgender' is by itself a null term, since gender is an innate quality of neurology, set before birth, during gestation. Gender cannot be altered once it has been set in the brain. Many individuals claim credit for inventing the word, so it is unknown who is actually the originator. Currently, transgenderism, transgender, and transgendered are all used loosely to describe any person who dose not fit ordinary definitions of gender, though the term is seldom used by knowledgeable professionals. It is often applied to, or taken by, individuals who do not entirely define as being transsexual, but who feel unresolved issues with their gender that affect their lives and identity.