This paper suggest a particular framework for investigating contemporary women performance artists who write and perform written texts. It argues that these texts are an important force in contemporary feminist writing, and that they are largely ignored as such. Two texts are analysed in detail, these are; Rose English's Walks on Water and Holly Hughes' World Without End. This is guided by the play between the physical presence of the performer, and the concern within their texts to de-stabilise a complete sense of self / refuse the simplicity of binaries. The paper argues that these texts, and these women's performance of them, crack open the possibilities of the performative.