Although Butler would most likely still contest the conciliation of this act, I believe Lorde would pose it more as a bridge between this current language and the new linguistic possibility that the erotic can offer. Butler's essay draws its question and ethics from the singular intricacies of the John/Joan case study in which a baby born with XY chromosomes underwent an act of accidental genital mutilation such that he was professionally counseled to “complete” the sex change and raise the baby as a girl, but much later, the same child wanted to be reassigned to “man” status. This case study is already rich in complexity and nuance regarding the effectiveness of labels and the formation of personal gender identity. In his analysis, Butler starts “from a question of power” and defines this notion of power as something that derives from “a certain regulatory regime” and that both “informs” and “exceeds” the law (Butler 621 ). She positions this argument from this orientation to signal that the development of such identities does not occur in isolation and is in confrontation and direct relationship with systems of power. Furthermore, it recognizes that being identified by someone outside oneself is inherent to