Foreword

The title of this book neatly encapsulates its essence, 'From Toads to Queens' draws both its magic and its challenging findings from the depth of intimacy and insight provided in the world of Latin transvestites. The tangible sense of this closeness is testimony to the willingness of those whose spirits are captured in this book to be so represented. In this sense, 'From Toads to Queens' carries on the traditions of earlier feminist methodology that challenged the existing orthodoxy of objective dispassionate observation of one's research field, and insisted on the inclusion and acknowledgment of an empathetic relationship between researcher and researched. This is not only an intimate book, but one in which the vividness of language and description communicates the extent to which the author personally relates to his respondents. The delight of this book is, as well, that it offers center stage to those who in many research projects are left with bit parts - the respondents themselves. Jacobo Schifter's contribution to the scholarship of sexuality goes further than his adventurous intellect, which illuminates corners of the existing landscape of sexual culture, while at the same time providing new lands for exploration.