Hi, my name is Lucy and I like dressing up like a man.

It was back in November that my friends I were sitting in Starbucks, discussing our outfits for an upcoming fancy dress bar crawl. The theme, it had been decided was to be Film and Television characters and we were all pretty excited, swapping ideas with one another for what to go as. And it was there, upstairs in the comfy seats over a Frappuccino with extra cream, that one of my friends turned to me and laughingly said, 'well so long as you come as a girl this time Luce.'

This comment made us all burst out laughing. Why? Because as long as I have done fancy dress, I have nearly ALWAYS dressed up as a man.

I don't even know where to start. Should I begin with my thirteen year old obsession with dressing up as a male pirate, so accurately, that a German checkout woman once referred to me as my mother's son? I mean the bandanna, the pirate belt and boys shoes at first glance could be forgiven for giving that impression I suppose. Although my mum telling me what had been said because she 'thought that was what I wanted to look like' wasn't exactly reassuring.

Or does it begin in my later teens, at fifteen, whereby I was invited to a Circus themed party and decided to go as a Ring Man, complete with facial, chest and arm hair. Upon hearing just hours before the party that the theme had changed to 'anything', I lost the props and decided to just go as 'a man' instead. Not quite what my dad had in mind when he asked the next day if there had been 'any nice boys' in attendance.

Or maybe, just maybe, its because at the age of twenty two, a few of my last fancy dresses have included Frankenstein, Edward Scissorhands, Axl Rose, and Kurt Cobain. In our latest group Halloween photo one of my friends reported that her mum had pointed at me and asked, 'who's that man?'

Either way, I suppose my friends might have had a point.

So what is it? What is the attraction in being male for a night? Can you cross dress without really thinking about it? Am I an accidental cross dresser?

In many ways, its not a big deal. Androgyny is nothing new. It has featured in high fashion now for years. its creative. Its exciting. With regard to fancy dress, its the exact thing you should be doing- be who you are not normally. Explore what your day job prevents you from doing. Girls have been dressing up as boys since Bowie ruled the charts, boys becoming girls since Geri Halliwell thought a Union Jack tea towel might look nice in 1997.

I had never previously questioned who I chose to be and why, but now the thought intrigued me. I asked myself what it was about those characters that made me want to be them.

With Edward Scissorhands, I was obsessed with the film and put it down to that. But there was more to it; I wanted to specifically wear that outfit of the tailored trousers and the white shirt, the braces, the wild unkempt black hair. Similarly with Frankenstein, it was the allure of that suit jacket, the lines of his face that I knew would be so enjoyable for me to master with make up. There were female versions of both out there, but they weren't nearly as fun. They were too sexy, too simple, too different from the real character I wanted to emulate.

And then I realized. Sometimes I have just wanted to be a boy.

I wanted to be a boy because at the end of the day, sometimes gender roles suck. Expectations suck. Labels suck. Although we are slowly becoming an ever more accepting society, there are still pressures on men and women to meet an ideal representation of their sex. Girls just how tired are you of make up adverts telling you what mascara will make your eyelashes the longest? How often do you read an article about a woman who's outfit is not up to par? Guys how hot IS that suit you wear to work all summer? Have you ever considered campaigning for the right to wear a dress?

There is nothing wrong with meeting those gender stereotypes at all. What perhaps could be classed as wrong is changing who you are to fit the mould or following blindly against your own wants and desires. I can name several times over just the past year when I longed to wear a suit to an event but instead chose a dress due to worries about what might be thought of me- as well as thinking that my boyfriend and I might look stupid in photos together. Times when I wore make up because otherwise I would be 'ugly'. Times when I fretted over whether or not I could be considered attractive in anything other than typical going-out-girl get up.

I guess, if men and women are to ever be equal, there needs to be a change in the way we see gender. No more pink is for girls, blue for a boy; the colours are both for everyone to enjoy to the degree that they want to. Fashion, football, strength, beauty, science, history, art? All up for grabs and it should be the same for the way you look.

Sex is factual, scientific, and defines who we each are. Gender is fluid and can be chosen by us according to what we identify ourselves with and why. So be who you want to be and don't look back. Sometimes I want to be Sweeney Todd. Sometimes I want to be Madonna. One time I even had a fish themed party, and THAT night, I wanted to be a fish. It should be that easy.

Sometimes, I want to go out and wear whatever the hell I want on my body. Sometimes I want to not have to look my best in the highly competitive world of girl grooming. Sometimes, I want to express my personality, my interests and be creative through dressing in a way that isn't necessarily classed as 'female'.

And sometimes, Edward Scissorhands is just about the only thing I want to be when eating fried chicken on a Friday night.