The fig sign can also be made to deny a request, as a mode of saying no—it’s a silent gesture of freedom, or modest rebellion. But there is something in it that connects the Greek and the Italian versions of the object and its name, for indeed it resembles the female genitalia (make the gesture while reading these words if you want a female body to appear in your hand).

Dora Budor talked to Francois Roche, a cofounder of the Bangkok-based, French-originated collective New-Territories, a polymorphous architectural organization that was established in 1993 and is fronted by the transgender avatar s/he, on whose behalf Roche speaks here.