Gender, Gender Expression, and the Dilemma of the Body

In recent years, avowal has become increasingly central to the trans practice of gender. In this article, I argue that such practices represent an attempt to escape the limitations and vulnerabilities of our bodies, in the hopes that this will grant us a freer and more fulfilling life with gender. But I also argue that this strategy is costly. For in draining the body of any relation to gender, we risk depriving ourselves of what is most valuable about our lives with gender in the first place.