Yahoo – AFP,
Delphine Thouvenot and Ju Apilaporn, 21 February 2016
Thai
transgender Chalit Pongpitakwiset, who is undergoing a hormone treatment to
change into a man, seen at his home in Bangkok (AFP Photo/Christophe
Archambault)
|
Bangkok
(AFP) - Chalit Pongpitakwiset has always felt like a man. Now the 25-year-old
wants everyone else to see it too.
But unlike
most transgender people in Asia, who are left to self-administer hormone
supplements, Chalit is being helped by a pioneering clinic.
"I am
in the hands of doctors," said Chalit, who was born female, but identifies
as a man.
"I'm
not doing it by myself, so it isn't dangerous," the software company
worker said.
Several
days after receiving his first testosterone injection, Chalit returned to get a
blood test at Tangerine, the new clinic inside a Red Cross centre in downtown
Bangkok.
The centre
is a pilot programme that organisers hope could be replicated across Asia.
Its
location is no accident -- Thailand has a large and visible transgender
population and is one of the world's top destinations for sex-reassignment
surgery.
Thai
transgender Chalit Pongpitakwiset, who is undergoing a hormone treatment
to
change into a man, stretches at a park outside his home in Bangkok (AFP
Photo/
Christophe Archambault)
|
But just
like elsewhere in Asia-Pacific, a region home to more than nine million
transgender people according UN estimates, long-term care for patients is
patchy at best.
The clinic
is a rare place providing follow-up treatment, both physical and mental, for
those who have undergone sex-reassignment surgeries, procedures where patients
are often at risk of infection.
"Most
of the centres where the surgery is performed only provide short-term
post-surgical care," explained Nittaya Phanuphak, the head doctor at
Tangerine.
Unregulated hormones
In
Thailand, hormones are commonly purchased on the Internet or in local
pharmacies, and administered on advice gleaned from friends or web forums.
Recent
university graduate Benyapon Chimsud, who was born a man but identifies as
female, said she has been taking hormones for two years.
"I
have been taking hormones by myself for two years, I consult with my
friends," to determine the proper doses of contraceptive pills, she
explains.
She also
gets monthly black market oestrogen injections at a rudimentary neighbourhood
clinic.
That leaves
her cut off from regulated healthcare, prone to receiving inaccurate medical
advice and at risk of over-consuming hormones in a rush to see rapid results.
Chalit, on
the other hand, met with a psychiatrist several times before receiving his
first injection to prepare for the changes to his body.
"The
psychiatrist asked me how long I've wanted to be a man, and whether my friends
and other people around me would accept it if I changed," Chalit told AFP.
Now he is
getting hormone injections every two weeks.
"The
hormones will stop my periods, change my voice, give me a beard and moustache,
and develop my muscles," he said. "All things that will help me no
longer be a woman anymore."
That should
insulate him from the dangers of taking the wrong doses of hormones which
experts say can lead to liver and cardiovascular problems. HIV is also always a
risk if needles are shared.
Rights
groups like the Asia-Pacific Transgender Network (APTN) say this public health
issue is largely neglected by the mainstream medical community.
"There
are no official guidelines on the administration and monitoring of hormones
among trans people," said Joe Wong of the Asia-Pacific Transgender Network
(APTN).
Discrimination still commonplace
Although
Thailand can appear tolerant on transgender issues from the outside, many
segments of society remain deeply conservative.
The
kingdom's transgenders, often men who become women and are known colloquially
as "ladyboys," are over-represented in the entertainment and sex
industries.
Despite
high levels of education, many struggle to secure full-time work or prominent
positions in the workplace.
Same sex
marriage is also still not legally recognised, and up until 2012, transgenders
were considered mentally ill by the army.
Tangerine
doctor Nittaya says discrimination remains widespread in medical centres,
making access to proper healthcare a challenge for many transgenders.
But Chalit
is one of a small number of people to have been made aware of the dangers and
commitment that comes with long-term hormonal therapy.
Several
days after starting his treatment, Chalit, who is considering an operation, got
a tattoo of the testosterone molecule on his arm.
"I
have to take hormones for the rest of my life," he said. "This tattoo
will also stay with me for the rest of my life."
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