I’m thinking about the borderlands of the binary gender system and wondering what you think about the idea that it’s not just folks who identify as trans and intersex that exist on those borderlands. There are lots of signals of gender non-conformity, no? For example, would “effeminate” cismen, “butch” ciswomen, also exist on the borderlands? Or given the ways in which race, class, and skin color shape the way one’s gender is read, and if one can even conform to gender norm expectations given the those expectations are colored, raced, and classed, can other ciswomen also be considered to exist on those borderlands? For example, would we consider Saartjie “Sarah” Baartman as negotiating those gender borderlands as well? (To be honest, it seems incoherent to think of Saartjie as “cis,” although she’s also not defined as “trans.”)

I guess I’m trying to imagine expansively what demilitarization would entail in many different spaces…