Dangers of trans pump parties

Decided to drop this here given the social mix with gay men and transgender persons as the latter is sometimes subsumed in MSM culture as drag queens mistakenly. As the holidays are on in earnest and some bad news has come to hand of a transgender individual who attended an unofficial pump party in central Jamaica only to have fallen seriously ill. This was after shooting up with some sort of estrogenic laced concoctions with allegedly cooking oil and other chemicals by way of a syringe; such parties and actions on an individual level have been becoming the rage in recent years locally as more welcomed transgender visibility via social media is here with us not thankfully but it seems we have also adapted the awful side and dangerous practices of the lifestyle associated with the expressions of such. Persons have been shooting up to get impromptu butt lifts, face lifts, lip enlargement with illegally obtained Botox mixtures for thick lips and raised cheeks and all important ‘boobie’ or ‘taas taas’ or cleavage enhancement temporarily for some hours as the pump party progresses. Gone are the days when a body suit under ones dress would suffice to highlight curvature and feminine aesthetics.

Problem is there are implications afterwards when one decides to shoot up for acceptance or a desire to conform with and by other peers and sometimes with disastrous consequences. Frankly I and other senior transgender folks and activists have also realised that there seems to be a fad stage at work similar to the late eighties in parts of Europe, Canada and the United States during the ‘Paris is Burning’ vogue years and gay ballroom culture, and sex change surgery which was on the rise, the rage then was predicated on a “She-male” construct that even the porn industry caught onto the fad when although vaginoplasty was not perfected yet by the surgeons breast implants (male to female transsexual) were the craze alongside face lifts, breast implants that would sometimes rupture from poor materials and silicone leaking into the bloodstream would cause all other kinds of health risks and even death. It subsequently was discovered that many persons who did go under the knife were not even transgender in the true sense of the word i.e. feeling they were born in the wrong body but saw the whole thing as a fashionable craze or hip at the time. Some persons eventually reverted to their true look as before and easily did so as they never did work on their penises.

Those on the other hand who could not afford the surgeries or never qualified for state assistance that was available simply ‘shot up’ on their own at home or with friends or at underground shops that would offer such services or attend pump parties to exchange concoctions, we seem to be taking on all the evils that can come with transsexualism of transgenderism. Then there is the business of sharing needles and syringes with no professional training or supervision from the requisite experts. It is common knowledge of HIV transmission via sharing needles is or ought to be well known let alone the concoctions mixed with things like olive oil, cooking oil or margarine as the protein fat agents with all kinds of weird substances to enhance real life outcomes especially in the butt cheeks department. 

The body is not equipped to handle some of these things when directly introduced into the bloodstream, rejection can occur with sometimes the body removing the materials in a form of abscess as the things literally drained out through the pores of the skin or sores may result long after that take long to heal, ones immune systems can also go haywire as it deciphers unrecognised chemicals in the blood, then there are possible stomach, liver and kidney problems in later years as they try to also assist in flushing the blood and body they get compromised as well with impaired function. The transperson did see a doctor eventually and was warned not to go there again but many are dismissing that advice as it is alleged and unconfirmed that this is not the first time she has gotten sick due to unregulated shooting up. One layman suggest she may be addicted to something in the concoction she used or maybe she combined other traditional drugs in the mix which is also a problem for drug abuse prevention activists worldwide. 

With the newer mixtures of Opium and other addictive substances some strange results have been coming forth and which include combining and cooking ecstasy pills (the blue ones as they are more powerful) with other substances to get a longer high and that feeling of no responsibility and abandonment from life transgender users in the States and Canada have been combing these with estrogenic laced materials to get the look and the feel at the same time. It is a trend that was covered on BBC only earlier this year as persons openly shoot up with the mixture. One hopes our local drug abuse agencies are on top of things and with social media also playing a part as pump party pages and underground groups give public instructions how to get hormones and or make alternate and dangerous versions of same. The old practices of using traditional birth control pills are also still on especially by some of the poorer or homeless transgender folks who cannot afford sustained self administered hormone therapy as prescribed by the relevant person, birth control pills have high amounts of estrogens and can have some visible change not so immediate as pumping up or shooting up; so the latter options are pursued as they tend to show more immediate and dramatic results, dancehall culture is well into this kind of thing with public faces such as Miss Kitty of Nationwide radio and Magnum Kings & Queens fame has openly admitted she has done some butt work and other female stars as well.

At least two outlets in Kingston openly advertise and offer such services but they say they have on staff the experts to guide would be clients where they are assessed as to their ability to handle the changes and medications that may be required. TVJ’s Entertainment Report weekend show had carried the outlets and the very owners/managers were quite proud to show their work they had done from breast lifts to buttocks enhancements. 

So here comes another addition of challenges exploding on us and to the work out there especially for transgenderism; let us see if the advocates and programs managers for groups and coalitions who aren’t locked just to the comforts of social media by hastagging and twitterversing in superficial advocacy passed off or framed as legitimate but lack depth pay attention, put down the phones and do some real work with real people in REAL time in PERSON. I hope someone can talk some sense into the young transperson and get to stopping altogether the hormonal misuse and abuse.

Peace & tolerance

H