“While in convalescence, I had to use one of those donut cushions in order not to sit directly on my new labia and the vulvic area, which were still way too sensitive for any pressure. All of the women who had had the same surgery done on them walked around with their donut cushions. I fancied we could call ourselves the ladies of the cushions and maybe we could do a musical chair thing and see who got to sit with their cushions tucked under the fannies.” Joelle Circé LaraméeBreaking… Read more Excerpt from Breaking Free: 45 Years in the wrong body →
From my publishers.The BIG DAY is HERE, we’re thrilled to share with you the release of the paperback of the brand new memoir from Joelle Circé Laramée and Brainspired Publishing.… Read more At a Bookstore Near You! →
Here’s an update on what’s happening with my memoirs; the ebook and the paperback are being distributed worldwide as I post this.For the moment, the ebook is easily available through… Read more Being Distributed! →
The first time I dressed in the gender I knew myself to be I felt an overwhelming sense of being right, I could finally allow myself to open up as a woman. Imagine hiding from yourself for about forty-five years only to finally find the wherewithal to come out at long last, and this only because your life depended on it. I would, whenever I could draw and paint female models, feel as though this brought me closer to who I was, it was like a secret way in which… Read more The First Time. →
Yesterday, on not one but at least two different Facebook book groups that I’m on, I was told how brave and courageous I was simply because I transitioned. I know that these people are well meaning and all, that they were likely being supportive and wanting to share their encouragement with me. But here’s the truth of the matter, and I do think this happens to people all the time and for many reasons, it took little to no courage, it wasn’t particularly brave of me to go through with… Read more On Being Brave →
How do I know I am a woman since there are those who would push back on who I know myself to be, who would tear me down, lay waste to my very sense of self, all in the name of purity. But they are wrong. I am a woman and like most women, I am unique in many ways and do not fit neatly into a preconceived mold of femininity or femaleness, of hormone levels, menstrual history, not even of how one is raised. I am a woman full… Read more Am I a Woman. →
My story and why I decided to finally write it. I can say right off that this is not the story of a heroine, because I am decidedly not such a person. There have been many memoirs written by women like myself, women of trans origin. I originally started putting words to my Pages app a few years ago, mostly because I needed to read my own words and work through my feelings and try and get a better understand of who I am. When I began to transition, I… Read more Why I wrote my story. →
I must have seen the Monologues at least a dozen times, if not more, and heard how my sisters spoke of their vaginas, what they had been through, what they had experienced. It gave me the courage to speak of vaginas from my perspective, to show vulvas through paintings, in my art. I embarked on a series of pieces that I shared with all. I believe in the beauty, strength, love, warmth, passion, birth, power, and heart of vaginas. I believe that they can speak to all things and that… Read more Book Excerpt ( Why I created My Vagina Paintings ) →
Joelle Circé 