August 24, 2011
Laura Rena Murray ‘11 had been working to complete the reporting on her story regarding transgender health issues all summer. Her efforts paid off recently when “The High Price of Looking Like a Woman” appeared on Page One of Sunday’s New York Times.
The story deals with the types of treatments to which some individuals who cannot afford surgical procedures resort in an effort to appear more feminine, even though the methods used are not medically controlled and the results may be devastating. These patients sometimes turn to “pumpers,” unlicensed people who provide sub-grade, loose silicon injections to modify the body and make it appear more feminine.“For these women, yearning to appear more feminine, and unable to afford gender reassignment surgery, pumping can seem like a relatively cheap and easy shortcut,” writes Murray. “The names of pumpers travel by word of mouth, handed down from older women to younger ones just beginning the process of transition. Some operate in teams, renting a hotel room and holding a pumping party to inject 10 or 20 women at a time.”Murray spent weeks gathering research for the story. It began while she was an investigative journalism student at the Journalism School but extended past her graduation . Through the Stabile Center for Investigative Journalism, funds are made available to support the completion of the most promising student work for publication.
