McGuckian and the philosopher Jaques Derrida share certain understandings about threshold imagery. Threshold ideology is often associated with the postmodern tradition "that seeks to unsettle bipolar oppositions such as male/female, domestic/political, centre/margin" (Porter, 93).

Though both McGuckian and Derrida attempt to collapse binary oppositions, they both also insist "that differences like male/female or central/marginal must not or cannot be collapsed" (Porter, 95). Although McGuckian attempts to de-gender the psyche, the person, etc., and includes much androgynous imagery in her work, she refuses to relinquish the rhythm, imagery and style of her poetry that makes it distinctly female. McGuckian attempts to blur boundaries while simultaneously exuding her feminine consciousness. Just like her style and content, which holds the reader in-between (or on the threshold), McGuckian holds the "middle ground" in terms of gender.