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Quote by Anne A. Lawrence

“Interestingly, forced feminization fantasies are also symbolic representations of our actual life experiences. Because we fi nd the prospect of becoming women so shameful and humiliating, we really do have to be forced into it. We are forced by our unremitting gender dysphoria, by our powerful erotic desires, by our love and admiration for women’s bodies and our wishes to turn our bodies into facsimiles of them, and by our need to honor our strongly held cross-gender identities in order to give meaning and vitality to our lives. If we are prudent, we autogynephilic transsexuals undergo sex reassignment only if we feel we have no other viable alternative: We transition because we feel forced to do so. Forced feminization is, in a very real sense, the story of our lives.”

Quote by Anne A. Lawrence

Book:Men Trapped in Men's Bodies
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Men Trapped in Men's Bodies

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Anne A. Lawrence

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“In 2010, I published a study of the relative prevalence of nonhomosexual and homosexual MtF transsexualism across national cultures (Lawrence, 2010c ) that had implications for understanding the phenomenon of autogynephilic transsexualism. In this article, I attempted to explain the observation that nearly all MtF transsexuals in Asian cultures are homosexual, whereas most MtF transsexuals in the USA, Canada, and the UK are nonhomosexual. I demonstrated that differences in a measure of societal individualism —the degree to which a culture condones its members pursuing personal happiness and self-expression, regardless of the opinions of others—accounted for most of the differences in the relative prevalence of nonhomosexual MtF transsexualism. If one assumes that nonhomosexual MtF transsexualism is equivalent to autogynephilic transsexualism—a justi fi able assumption, in my opinion—these results suggest the hypothesis that the permissible expression of autogynephilia , rather than the prevalence or severity of autogynephilia, primarily accounts for these cross-cultural differences. Undergoing MtF sex reassignment probably feels far more permissible to autogynephilic men living in individualistic Western cultures than to their counterparts in cultures in which individual self-expression is discouraged.”

Human RightsTranssexualTranssexualismAutogynephilia
Book:Men Trapped in Men's Bodies
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“Autogynephilia has long been conceptualized as a sexual orientation...but its advocates, myself among them, have not sufficiently emphasized this point. We should arguably use every opportunity to do so. Autogynephilia, we should explain, is another variety of sexual orientation: It is an unusual variant form of heterosexuality. Like other sexual orientations, it is something we autogynephilic transsexuals did not choose and something we cannot change. It certainly determines what we lust after, but it also determines what we love and want to unite with. And we autogynephilic transsexuals understandably feel strong pressure to express and act on our autogynephilic sexual orientations.”

SexualityOrientationTranssexualTranssexualismAutogynephilia
Book:Men Trapped in Men's Bodies
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“Working with chocolate always helps me find the calm centre of my life. It has been with me for so long; nothing here can surprise me. This afternoon I am making pralines, and the little pan of chocolate is almost ready on the burner. I like to make these pralines by hand. I use a ceramic container over a shallow copper pan: an unwieldy, old-fashioned method, perhaps, but the beans demand special treatment. They have traveled far, and deserve the whole of my attention. Today I am using couverture made from the Criollo bean: its taste is subtle, deceptive; more complex than the stronger flavors of the Forastero; less unpredictable than the hybrid Trinitario. Most of my customers will not know that I am using this rarest of cacao beans; but I prefer it, even though it may be more expensive. The tree is susceptible to disease: the yield is disappointingly low; but the species dates back to the time of the Aztecs, the Olmecs, the Maya. The hybrid Trinitario has all but wiped it out, and yet there are still some suppliers who deal in the ancient currency. Nowadays I can usually tell where a bean was grown, as well as its species. These come from South America, from a small, organic farm. But for all my skill, I have never seen a flower from the Theobroma cacao tree, which only blooms for a single day, like something in a fairytale. I have seen photographs, of course. In them, the cacao blossom looks something like a passionflower: five-petaled and waxy, but small, like a tomato plant, and without that green and urgent scent. Cacao blossoms are scentless; keeping their spirit inside a pod roughly the shape of a human heart. Today I can feel that heart beating: a quickening inside the copper pan that will soon release a secret. Half a degree more of heat, and the chocolate will be ready. A filter of steam rises palely from the glossy surface. Half a degree, and the chocolate will be at its most tender and pliant.”

ChocolateBeansGenus SpeciesCacaoVianne RocherPralines
Book:The Strawberry Thief
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