Riki's incest survivor support group goes into turmoil when a pre-op is revealed. This leads her to consider the many other trans-people she knows who are pushed to the margins, suffer, and die. While often the subject of study by outsiders, none of the research products have made trans-persons lives better. Trans-identity is a political category whose tyranny must end. To deal with the pain, and to make sense of her life, Riki Anne starts thinking and doing.
Gender is also a social construction, a product of the judgments of others.
For a transexual, life is a gauntlet and being read is a hatchet-blow. Bodies, like clothing, are the subject of fashion. The varieties of intersexuality illustrate that the two standard categories of male and female leave much out. The perception of these categories is a product of gender seeking an explanation in our bodies. An example of its deployment is the modern invention of the category of Homosexuality.