The 4CH Style hermaphroditic connector is designed to enable “genderless” matability, without regard for male or female configuration of the mating end. This capability is achieved by incorporating “male/female” interface features into the same connector body. Additionally, the coupling nut instantly converts to expose or conceal its male threaded end, to mate with another in-line plug or panel mounted receptacle. This allows the cable assemblies to be deployed without concern for having a male or female connector at the end of the cable. Another benefit of the hermaphroditic connector design is that it allows identical cable assemblies to be concatenated as many times as needed (to be limited only by the system's optical loss budget). This provides flexibility in the placement of the end terminals.