Sex reassignment surgery may protect metabolic health of transgender women

Transgender women who undergo sex reassignment surgery and hormone therapy may be less likely to develop metabolic disease than those who receive hormone therapy alone. This is according to new research recently presented at Cardiovascular, Renal and Metabolic Diseases: Physiology and Gender - a conference of the American Physiological Society, held in Annapolis, MD.

Sex reassignment surgery combined with female hormone therapy may protect the metabolic health of transgender women, researchers suggest.

Previous research has suggested that transgender women are at greater risk for cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes, compared with men and women among the general population.

Some studies have put this increased risk down to female hormone therapy; therapy with the female hormoneestrogen, for example, has been linked to high blood pressure and increased risk of stroke and heart attack.

For this latest study, lead author Michael Nelson, PhD, of the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, CA, and colleagues set out to determine whether this metabolic risk varied depending on the type of therapy used make the male-to-female transition.

The team enrolled 12 transgender women to their study, four of whom were receiving female hormone therapy and eight of whom received a combination of female hormone therapy and bilateral orchiectomy - in which both testicles are surgically removed.

The researchers measured the insulin resistance and the accumulation of fat in the liver of each participant. They explain that insulin resistance is a key sign of poor metabolic health, and build-up of fat in the liver can cause nonalcoholic fatty liver disease - which studies have suggested can increase heart disease risk.

Bilateral orchiectomy may benefit metabolic health

Compared with transgender women who received female hormone therapy alone, those who received both female hormone therapy and bilateral orchiectomy were found to have better metabolic health.

Specifically, the team found that transgender women only receiving hormone therapy had greater insulin resistance and greater accumulation of fat in the liver than those who received both surgery and female hormone therapy.

Transgender women who had the highest levels of testosterone were found to have the poorest metabolic health, according to the researchers.

In addition, the team found that the amount of fat build-up in the liver was linked to the level of insulin resistance; whether the two are associated is an ongoing subject of debate in the medical world.

Overall, the researchers say their findings indicate transgender women who undergo bilateral orchiectomy may be protected against insulin resistance and fat build-up in the liver, while the two conditions are more likely to develop among those who receive hormone therapy alone.

Earlier this year, Medical News Today reported on a study that found transgender children do not have a hormone imbalance. - udy published in the Journal of Adolescent Health has revealed that the hormone levels of transgender youth are consistent with the gender they were assigned at birth.


A transgender symbol.

The term transgender is typically used to describe individuals whose gender self-identification does not match their birth-assigned gender.

"We've now put to rest the residual belief that transgender experience is a result of a hormone imbalance," says study author Dr. Johanna Olson of Children's Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA). "It's not."

The study conducted by Dr. Olson and colleagues is concerned with assessing the safety and effectiveness of treatments to help transgender patients bring their bodies closer in alignment to their gender identity.

Children who have reached puberty can be treated with gonadotrophin-releasing hormone (GnRH) analogs - synthetic hormones that suppress those produced by the body during puberty in order to delay physical changes to the body.

Such treatment is sought following the development of gender dysphoria - a sense of distress and anxiety that can occur when an individual feels dissonance between their gender identity and the sex they were assigned at birth. More and more young people are seeking treatment for this condition every year.

"Although transgender youth are known to be at high risk for depression, anxiety, and suicidality, there are no data available describing the physical and psychosocial characteristics of transgender adolescents seeking sex reassignment in the United States," the authors of the study write.

To amend this, the researchers have enrolled 101 transgender participants aged 12-24 years old for their prospective study. Of these, 51.5% were assigned "male" at birth and identify as transfeminine and 48.5% were assigned "female" at birth and identify as transmasculine.

After measuring a number of physiological parameters, the researchers discovered that the participants' hormone levels were in line with the normal ranges of the same assigned sex nontransgender youth population. Transmasculine participants had the same average hormone ranges as cisgender females and transfeminine participants had the same as cisgender males.

The researchers noted that many of the participants were overweight or obese, leading them to hypothesize that transgender individuals might use increased body fat to hide undesirable physical features.

Transgender youth aware of gender identity at early age

On average, the participants identified a discrepancy with their assigned gender at the age of 8. They did not tell their families until reaching, on average, the age of 17 years.

Alongside this, the researchers found that 35% of the participants reported symptoms of depression and that more than half had thoughts about suicide - significantly higher than the prevalence among general youth.

"Considering that transgender youth in this sample did not disclose their authentic gender to their families until 10 years after discovery on average, it might not be surprising that many are using maladaptive coping mechanisms to manage such a profound undisclosed element of their core selves," the authors write.

The prevalence of these mental health problems among transgender youth indicates that timely and appropriate intervention could be hugely beneficial to this group.

Having now established the baseline characteristics of the transgender participants, the researchers will continue to assess them over time, tracking the safety and efficacy of any medical interventions they receive as well as their impact on quality of life.

"My goal is to move kids who are having a gender-atypical experience from survive to thrive," Dr. Olson states. "With this study we hope to identify the best way to accomplish that."

The researchers will continue to publish follow-up data as they collect it, and they recommend that other medical centers providing care to transgender should consider collecting information and publishing their experiences as well.

A study published earlier this year demonstrated that the gender identity of transgender children is deeply held and consistent rather than the result of confusion as many people have previously maintained.

Finally Published in the Journal of Adolescent Health, the study of more than 100 transgender youths found that their hormone levels between the ages of 12-24 were consistent with the gender they were assigned at birth.

Arson attack @ lesbian’s home in East Kingston

photo provided by impacted lesbian

As November is Homeless Awareness Month and also the 16 day count down for International Elimination of Violence Against Women which commenced yesterday and to end on Human Rights Day December 10; here is further evidence (above photo) of some of the challenges faced by LGBT persons in Jamaica; especially our same gender loving sisters who in recent times have seen a spike in threats and indeed attacks directed at them with disastrous outcomes. I am presently housing a young man who was outed via a smart phone and social media prying by family members. July 15, 2015 will never be the same for a 35 year old woman and her two children in the Rockfort area when her rented flat for some ten years was firebombed by thugs after a tirade by another woman who effectively outed her. She lost nearly all her personal possessions to include: a 2 door fridge, deep freeze, 4 burner gas stove; microwave oven; 2 blenders; sandwich maker; clothes; bedroom furniture; living room furniture; 4 televisions; component set; sound system; desk top computer; lap top computer; 4 cellular phones.

She made her living by operating a small business for herself to support her children and she also lost a certain amount of cash in the blaze. Profiling is the trigger factor in this matter as her more masculine features/aesthetics fed the perception and hate eventually. In her own words in her report she said among other things:

“I was at home asleep with my two children at about 10:30pm, and I smelled smoke and heard a lot of noise and excitement outside my home. My daughter got up and started to cry and so I grabbed her up an then I woke up my son I told him to run outside. I went outside and started to ask people to help me to save items and no one helped. I heard them sayin’ a long time di sodomite fi gweh!

A long time shi fi liff up and lef’! I tried calling the fire brigade but I wasn’t getting through. I don’t know who called them eventually. By the time they arrived I had lost everything. I started asking around to get somewhere for my children to sleep but no one wanted to help the ‘sodomite’. Even my mother was unwilling to help. She said to me if I didn’t think it was a sign for me to leave the lesbian life.”

Thanks to the assistance of kind persons who offered shelter assistance intermittently but the disappointing part of it is that such help cannot be forever and the reality is she has to move on. Some engagement has come via Aphrodite’s PRIDE Ja but some other challenges have since come to the fore as she temporarily stayed with a family member in rural Jamaica where she was physically assaulted as the news got to their ears as to her challenges. She is also concerned for her children as any mother would be as they are elsewhere in not so comforting circumstances. One LGBT agency she approached told her they could help her to asylum if she can find $100K but how would that be possible when most of her possessions were destroyed in the fire including cash she had that was not lodged to a bank account?

The belief that Jamaica is more tolerant and that the images or aura coming from some quarters to suggest all is well is NOT so and is in fact a farce. The pre-occupation with LGBT advocate/NGO image on the eyes of international agencies and funders via social media and tweets of the privileged is a piece of effantry towards impacted persons such as this woman and bearing in mind this is the third such arson report that has come to hand in recent times. 

former sleeping area now laid bare as the other old building space was attacked in July of this year so the guys are on the move again with very little help

I conducted a site visit to a previous secret spot for some 5 homeless MSM in downtown Kingston on November 21 despite clashes with other sub groups including cruisers who used to use the space where it was invaded in the men’s absence and destroyed by thugs as the men’s existence was exposed. See: Homeless Awareness Month: Possibilities & Challenges

The murder of longtimer ‘Franky’ at the once popular “Boil up” behind a West Kingston community earlier this year has also had a deleterious effect on safety by not only cruisers but homeless MSM/trans who pass through. Thugs now actively patrol certain areas and old buildings hence the exposure in July and barring the cover that was once offered by some of the gangsters any unusual face seen in some parts of town may land one in serious problems. Franky was warned by not only me but others not to traverse certain parts of town as those spaces are no longer in vogue for that kind of activity but he never listened and has effectively paid for such with his life.

Privileged folks especially those in advocacy all have visas and can leave at a moment’s notice, what happens to those who do not have those privileged gifts to leave indeed some have left under dubious circumstances under the guise of asylum but somehow have managed to travel in and out of Jamaica; while some are concerned about stories going out simply delivering the truth instead of a manufactured tolerance image; even as we see the full exploitation of homophobia by politicians in the election silly season and the ongoing Sexual Offences Bill review seems dead in the water. So many other unconfirmed cases are out there as well plus those who do not make reports at all and prefer to suffer in silence and keep it quiet and move on.

All who have eyes to see do see but sweeping things under the rug won’t help anyone.

See more homeless issues on Gay Jamaica Watch HERE (newer entries will appear first, scroll down to view)

Stem the culture of intolerance (Gleaner letter) ... but what about intolerance from within? 2011

Photos from August 10th firebombing incident in Clarendon 2008

Photos from August 10th firebombing incident in Clarendon part 2

Man flees business after firebomb threat 2011

More MSM Homelessness Issues while agencies shift responsibilities 2013

Case Update - The August 10th Clarendon Firebombing Incident 2008

newer podcast:

Homeless Awareness Month 2015 ..... Recap & Concerns 07.11.15 

MSM Trans homeless - From gully to graveyard 04.10.15. 

Peace & tolerance

H

Backlash for J-FLAG Faceebook advert

It never rains but it pours, I tell you there is never a dull day in Jamaica and advocacy or the mess thereof that it has become in recent years classism, ageism, elitism and all; now this headline in the Star News, one would have thought that a careful analysis of an ad feature for Facebook should have been done prior to launch but I guess I am over-thinking here. JFLAG and indeed its newer blood have so much to learn and they refuse to take heed from older folks like me having volunteering with them from inception to working via contract up to 2010. The rudeness of some of the staff to former staff as well is most disturbing and a recent exchange with a former Programs Manager who now resides abroad displays it most clearly that something is amiss. 

Not to mention the tweet/Facebook tirade by two of the newer female advocates of the WE-Change (they both have BScs) group was even more grating to read as what appeared to be a lover's quarrel at a workshop in Trinidad was publicly displayed for all to see and embarrassingly so; then we were treated to a blog some days after to literally justify the behaviour while the author declaring that she is not a leader; then my question is why are you in the position still? I am not even going to get into too much of the frosty customer/client agency experience complaints of which are on the rise yet again from persons who try to access the office. 

Sigh

Anyway the Star News carried:

Prominent gay rights activist group, Jamaica Forum for Lesbians, All-sexuals and Gays (J-FLAG), has been receiving heavy backlash in cyberspace for advertising job opportunities on people's social media pages without their consent.

THE STAR understands that the organisation used a paid Facebook service called sponsored advertising, which allows people to promote goods or services on Facebook users' timelines regardless of whether they like or follow the promoter's page.

J-FLAG first advertised a job opening for a communication and social media coordinator on November 7. However, numerous disgruntled social media users took to the group's Facebook page to complain about the advertisements which have been surfacing on their timelines.

Among the comments from some social media users who expressed their dissatisfaction was one user who posted; "Big man thing don't post no J-FLAG thing on my page. If u think u need to share them delete mi right now. Idk (I don't know) where our morals have gone ... smh."
confused

Another commented on the post saying, "Don't share J-FLAG on my page. Thank you."

"Not hating on anyone but why is this on my page?" questioned one confused Facebook user.

Such comments did not go unnoticed by supporters of the organisation as they retorted with much fire.

"The job advertised is promoting something that can help persons, and ppl are commenting that J-FLAG need God. The ignorance baffles me," said one J-FLAG supporter.

Another added, "These ppl r so silly, dunce, dark and fool like. Don't u ppl have anything to do with y'all time. We living nice an comfortable, nah worry bout y'all an y'all make it a duty to come ere to bash."

THE STAR sought to clarify whether the organisation would discontinue using sponsored advertising at the request of those who did not want to see J-FLAG content on their page, however, the correspondence has gone unanswered.

ENDS

Now when the J should seek to clear the air it goes silent yet has no problem reeling press releases from the conveyor belt on less important matters, typical! I am so used to it I have become immune; the disappointment my JFLAG has turned out to be; don't even get me started on their poor record for addressing homelessness or indeed abandonment of certain lower socio economic classes saved and except for seeing them as victims. 

Then comes the pre-occupation with having a pristine image for the international community especially: See: Jaevion Nelson: PM Must Find Alternate Ways To Support LGBT Community (Gleaner Nov 2015)

Oh boi, what's next?

Peace & tolerance needed indeed

H

Signs he may not be the one

We are always talking about what they want in relationships 

— the type of men they want and how they want to be treated — yet many find themselves in relationships with men who don’t measure up to what they want and who don't make them happy.

Many times they sit for years waiting for these men to change into what they want, when they are the ones who chose badly in the first place.

How do you know he just isn’t right for you?

1. There’s disrespect

The number one rule in any relationship is mutual respect. A lack of respect means he won’t be willing to compromise, honour you, appreciate you, and basically everything in between. If he doesn’t have respect for you, you’re setting yourself up for a lot of pain down the line. He's not going to change.

2. He is a compulsive liar

If he lies all the time, every time, over the simplest things, then this might be a problem. You will never be able tell when he's telling the truth or how genuine he is.

3. He shouts and swears at you

Shouting and cussing at you is not part of effective communication, worse, if it is over silly things. This is no way to treat a lady. He might have anger issues and may need anger management classes.

4. He has cheated countless times

Ok, you forgave him for cheating on you the first time when he said it was a mistake. But what is his excuse for the other three times that you know of? Clearly this man is a big time cheater and you deserve better.

5. He makes you cry

If he really cared about you he would never want to see you sad. Never be with someone who makes you cry, ever. No man is worth your tears.

6. He hits you

Getting out of an abusive relationship can be difficult. Sometimes women are so afraid and belittled that they don’t know which way to turn. But know that an abuser is sick mentally, so you should get out as soon as you can.

7. He threatens you

If your man has ever told you that he’ll ‘beat the crap out of you’ if you ever cheated, or out of anger threatened to set your things alight, then take this as a sign and leave.

8. He never or hardly compliments you

You go out of your way to throw him a great birthday party, even getting him the perfect present; you get all dressed up for him; and he doesn’t even acknowledge your efforts. If he doesn’t appreciate you, let him go.

9. He flirts with others or women (the bi man that strays)

He clearly doesn’t know the boundaries of a relationship. If you’re in a committed relationship with someone the last thing you want to feel is second best to another woman.

10. He plays mind games

Some men think relationships are a game, especially those who have free membership to the Immature Club. If one minute he’s into you and the next minute he’s not, lose him. He’s not worth your time.

Hmph ... I suggest you seriously dump this fool if it doesn't improve.

Peace & tolerance

H

also see:

Living & dating gay & bi Peter Pan types 

When your sex gets loud 

8 reasons why you shouldn't be friends with your ex

Are You Being Authentic in Your Relationship? 

A Failing Relationship: How to Let Go 

Serodiscordancy .............. Would you date someone who is HIV positive ?

7 Reasons Why You Might Lie to Your Partner

Ethics of Emergency Access to Unregistered Medical Interventions & Clinical Trial Designs ........

also see: New single-tablet HIV treatment Genvoya wins FDA approval

Ethical considerations from Bio Ethics Professor

Udo Schuklenk

The mass media excitement about Ebola has receded. The 2014-2015 West African outbreak has been brought under control not thanks to the deployment of successful treatment regimes, because there are none that are known to work. I participated recently in an international meeting of experts debating the ethical and methodological issues pertaining to trial designs for emerging infectious diseases like Ebola. It was both astounding and also immensely frustrating that to a large extent the controversies that exercised the minds of the delegates of this meeting exercised the minds of many an AIDS activist and clinical trials’ expert prior to the advent of highly active antiretroviral therapy, a good quarter of a century ago.[1] [2]Are placebo controls an ethically defensible methodological tool when patients face a terminal illness? Different alternative trial designs involving placebo controls, adaptive trial designs, and multi-stage approaches involving active controls were discussed during the meeting. The heated nature of some of these debates reminded me strongly of the passion that was on display during the early HIV trials. It turns out, despite decades of informed debate about these issues, a number of significant normative questions have not been settled.

A cluster of difficult ethical questions that engendered justifiably a lot of debate has to do with the use of placebo controls in trials involving patients facing a very high mortality risk (some in excess of 90%) and a fast-acting infection resulting in the death of these patient within 2-8 days after admission to a treatment centre. This scenario mirrors the sobering reality faced by a subset of Ebola Virus Disease patients. This issue was already highly contentious during the early HIV trials, and then patients and clinical investigators were faced with a virus that was nowhere near as fast-acting as the Ebola virus. The ethical conflict that arises here is this: We know that those randomized into the placebo arm face the same greater-than-90%-risk of death within a few days as those who receive the standard of care treatment. In some trial design the placebo control arm could be identical to the gold standard of (unsuccessful) clinical care provided in a particular clinical setting. Given that those who are randomized into the arm featuring the unregistered medical intervention might do better, or might do worse, or might do roughly as badly as those in the placebo control arm, the ethical question remains whether a trial design featuring a placebo control is ethically justifiable, given the almost certainty of imminent death faced by those randomized into the placebo arm. During the meeting I alluded to earlier a fairly contentious debate arose also over the question of whether trials producing less reliable results than placebo controlled trials might be acceptable under such circumstances.

What exacerbates the ethical challenges for those who undertake such trials is that their trial participants are arguably not true volunteers. Their – dying - trial participants are not given the opportunity to choose between participating in the placebo controlled randomized trial versus accessing the unregistered medical intervention on their own volition outside the trial process. It is perfectly conceivable that some patients might choose to participate in such trials in order to facilitate the development of a successful intervention capable of helping future patients like them. Or they might accept that there exists true clinical equipoise between the trial arms and they might be volunteering to be randomized under such circumstances. In the absence of alternative access routes to the unregistered medical intervention, we can never be certain that the patients agreeing to be randomized are not simply responding to what constitutes a coercive offer.

Clinical investigators colluding in this process, and arguably benefiting from it, are not absolved of their ethical responsibilities because they did not create the regulatory frameworks that gave rise to the problem. It is true that they did not create the regulatory framework under which they operate, but they undoubtedly benefit from its existence. We could respond to this kind of argument by pointing to the societal need for sound trial designs and the detrimental impact of permitting patients to access unregistered medical interventions outside the clinical trials’ system. The likely impact of permitting patients access, as a senior biostatistician attending the workshop rightly pointed out to me, would be a significant slowing-down in the trial recruitment process. Some trials might never be able to recruit sufficient patients, because most patients might be voting with their feet and opt to take their chances with the unregistered medical intervention. Surely that is not quite what is in the best interest of any society battling an emerging infectious disease such as Ebola. Does this justify coercing dying people into particular trial designs? I do not think so, but this is a contentious issue where reasonable, well-informed people can justifiably differ. A WHO panel looking at this question argued that while it would be ethically defensible to offer emergency access to unregistered medical interventions to Ebola patients, this should be subject to that emergency access not slowing down trial recruitment.[3] The panelists (not featuring a single expert or disease survivor from the affected countries) took a policy line here that mirrors US regulations. Other countries, including Canada and South Africa do not make this a threshold condition for emergency access. As it is with these sorts of panels, the advice it rendered on this controversial topic is not actually reasoned for, so policy makers and regulators as well as patient rights advocates aiming to balance the competing interests of access versus trial recruitment in a fair manner will be left wondering about the ethical reasons for this policy stance taken by the WHO panel, assuming there are any.

There are other ethical issues that arise in this context: Some experimental agents existed at the time only in insufficient quantities, for instance ZMapp, an unregistered medical intervention composed of monoclonal antibodies, was only available in very limited quantities. In light of this situation, is it acceptable to prioritize patients in comparable clinical circumstances who are willing to be randomized in a placebo controlled trial over patients clamoring for direct emergency access, given that the available quantities of this unregistered medical intervention would have been used up in the placebo controlled trial?

And here is another difficult question: While the AIDS activists of days gone by were highly educated about their disease and about the available unregistered medical interventions considered for expanded access programs, this is not quite the case with regard to the average West African Ebola patient. These patients were unlikely able to provide valid first person informed consent, because they were unable to demonstrate a reasonable person understanding of what was known about the unregistered medical intervention, about their options and so on and so forth. This is the case both because of educational limitations as well as disease progression. Are short-cuts to informed consent ethically justifiable under such circumstances? Given that time is of the essence and proxy consent might not be feasible due to family members being deceased or in a far-away village, are our informed consent requirements reasonable under such emergency 
circumstances?

[1] U Schuklenk, C Lowry. 2009. Terminal illness and access to Phase 1 experimental agents, surgeries and devices: reviewing the ethical arguments. British Medical Bulletin 89: 7-22.

[2] U Schuklenk, C Hogan. 1996. Patient access to experimental drugs and AIDS clinical trial designs: ethical issues. Cambridge Quarterly of Health Care Ethics 5: 400-409.

[3] WHO. 2014. Ethical considerations for the use of unregistered interventions for Ebola virus disease. WHO: Geneva 2014: p. 5.
More HERE

Barbee's lesbian scene music video "Babylon ' still creating a stir?

In July of this year recording artist Barbee created a stir with her same gender intimate scene in a music video to support her song "Babylon" and at that time all kinds of things were said of her including whether or not she like some others were or are  capitalizing on or exploiting lesbophobia (greater homophobia) nationally to attract attention. 

The Star News had carried a piece on the issue as well:

Recording artiste Barbee recently premiered an explosive video for her new single, 'Babylon', which sees her pushing sexual limits. In the video, Barbee is seen engaging in a sexual romp with a female in a steam room.

Barbee said she was at ease with the video, and felt empowered and confident to share the "truth" with her fans. She also reiterated that, as a woman in the industry, she would not like her intellect to be negated based on the video concept.

"Life begins at the end of your comfort zone," she said.

Crowned 'Reggae Pop Princess' by talk show diva Wendy Williams, the recording artiste and songwriter is fresh off her European and Australian tour.

No stranger to the Jamaican musical landscape, Barbee first emerged working with artistes such as Junior Kelly, with whom she recorded the hit single Missing You. The song received airplay in the Caribbean and overseas, and reached number one on Jamaican charts.

Barbee's other popular recordings include Paddy Cake and Give It Up, collaborations with dancehall icon Beenie Man. She followed up with successful records, Love You Anyway and Feel So Good.

Barbee said she is ready to carry her love for music to new horizons and is working with Grammy award-nominated producers The Exclusives and the island duo, Rock City, who penned the megahit, Man Down, for Rihanna.


She continues to book shows worldwide, recording in Los Angeles, Atlanta and Jamaica. Barbee will also be launching her line of studio-quality headphones, Barbee Everting Pretty Headphones, which will be released soon.

ENDS

Fast forward to recent times and the comment thread in several dancehall groups and social media are still raging surprisingly; this one has not gone down as another nine day wonder as Stylysh and Ishawna's sujourn into public displays of affection experiment went and then it essentially died down after a while with both artistes benefiting in the long run it seems.

see:
We're not lesbians - Stylysh clarifies song with Ishawna .......... And So What if They Were?

Dancehall Act Stylysh says Lesbians Linked her on Instagram after Secret Lovers' Song Controversy meanwhile the comments have been scaving such as:

"a weh some sodomite gal nuh gwey wid dem nastiness  ...... "

"a dis dem wan promote inna dancehall now ....... suck pussy oman"

"dem gal yah fi dead like dem battyman fren dem .........."

And so on some of which are too ghastly to share here but it just goes to show the level of hate embedded in the national psyche and all one needs is a story or event to reignite same. Whether the sojourn is a way to get more attention that may translate into sales in a slumpy music market is not clear to me or is it a genuine openness for same gender love is not open; lesbians overall have had a more tolerant response nationally than us their male counterparts and the strongest evidence of this is in the adult entertainment industry.

Strip clubs since the late nineties mostly have been offering sometimes live on stage sex between women with added features such as Heineken content poured into vaginal orifices and such or dildos/strap-ons used in the act; the use of toys however reinforces the stereotype of SGL practicing women (gay or not) as looking for an alternative from non performing men who cannot get said women aroused (so they fake it) as a result women switch to each other, in essence an almost granted permission so conditional tolerance. In a sense the live sex scenes has helped in HIV prevention strategies on the ground in terms of condom usage displays and safer sex drawing from recent memory when myself and my team in my HIV work years asked models to play their part after some training so as to bring a real world experience to the work.

Changing hearts and minds is so urgent these days for any credibility to emerge and to strengthen advocacy's call but with recent episodes of elitism showing up its ugly head parading as concerns for governmental non intervention again I am not so sure right now. See: Jaevion Nelson: PM Must Find Alternate Ways To Support LGBT Community (Gleaner Nov 2015)

flashback: Jamaican Homosexuality & Class Issues 2009

Peace & tolerance

H