Lara Crespo wrote her book Despida: Reflexões de uma Mulher Transexual as an act of honesty and self-exposure that few people are brave enough to attempt. She gathered her thoughts, memories, emotions, and the quiet and turbulent moments that shaped her transition, and she placed them in front of the reader without filters. This book does not attempt to construct a traditional autobiography. Instead, it invites readers into a space of contemplation where both transgender and cisgender individuals can reflect on the inner reality of a woman discovering and asserting her identity in a world that often refuses to understand her.
The reflections in this book cover several years of Lara's life and capture the evolution of her self-awareness during her clinical transition. Her intention was not simply to tell her story but to dismantle the myths and misconceptions that surround transgender identities. She believed deeply in confrontation through truth. For this reason she wrote words that were as direct as they were painful. She often repeated a phrase that is common in Portuguese and Brazilian LGBTQ activism, transfobia mata. This means transphobia kills. It is not a metaphor. It is a reminder of the harsh reality faced by transgender people who endure violence, discrimination, exclusion, and hostility simply for existing. When Lara used that phrase, she did so to warn society of the stakes. She wanted to show that prejudice is not an abstract idea but a force that destroys lives.
