Failing at Gender

One of the main themes of the book is the theme of failing at gender, as the book’s title suggests, which the authors reinforce in order to prove that they have tried to fit into the world’s expectations of the gender binary, but have failed at it. The authors use this theme and title to also advocate for the dissolution of the gender binary. As both Rae and Ivan’s story includes more than simply failing at being female - the gender they were both assigned at birth by their parents - the title is broad to include all genders. One of the final points of the book is that the gender binary and expectations hinder the authors’ expressions of life and art, and despite their best attempts, they fail at gender and instead now live their lives trying to accept themselves...