Yes, you read that title right. Chicken pills and butt injections.  Women are dying for it. Loosing limbs, hair and immune systems for it. But what is this “It” that I am speaking of? A bigger, rounder, traffic stopping ASS.

Africa has a long history of ass worship, especially in regions where mortality rates were and still are very high.  Having a woman who is “substantial” is seen as a sign of wealth–that as a man you can provide for and protect your family from the threat of hunger and starvation.  I have quite a few Nigerian and Ghanan men in my family (I am an American Black woman, however I have two aunts who married African men) whom I spoke with regarding this phenomenon and to write this posting since absolutely nothing historical could be found on this topic.

“When I first met your aunt, she was skinny–like a white girl–but she had a good head and a good heart.  When we got serious, one of the first things I told her was that if she were to meet my parents back home [Nigeria], she would have to gain weight for I would not be the laughing stock of all my brothers by bringing home a skinny fiance.”

These are the words of my uncle A, but it is hardly surprising–in fact I simply chuckled.  Did my aunt gain the required weight?  Yes, she did in fact. Check out this short article. As many the world over know, Africans are starving–millions of people are dying daily simply because they cannot get enough to eat.  It is not that great of an intellectual feat to see how having a woman with a large derriere is seen as a status symbol among men in Africa. She is healthy, your kids are probably healthy and because she is fat enough she can carry a baby to term even in harsh conditions and the child will still be healthy and well fed (breast milk) until the rains return. But how did this transfer to Black America, Black Europe and just about anywhere my people find themselves?

My belief (again no proof) is that when we were brought over in slave ships, this is simply an artifact of our culture that survived along with many others. The early conditions that my ancestors had to exist in were very similar to those in Africa and slave owners often selected for the same criteria when breeding black females (ample bosoms,  backsides, thighs) to black males. So this theme in selecting for big hips and asses has its basis in survival–from famine in Africa and slavery in the Americas. In fact, Blacks  in America have only been free from slavery (1619-1865) for 148 years actually–not the oft reported 400/500 years.

This is my culture–Black culture. A culture that obsesses over the hips and thighs of its women in the opposite direction of Caucasian and Asian cultures. Black and some Latino men (usually those Latinos whose culture has roots in the African slave trade) love women with back, culo, ass, junk-in-da-truck, donkey booty or the infamous “shelf”—sit a shot glass in the cleft of her ass, pour a shot and march her ass across the room without spilling a single drop! BAOW! I’m not gonna lie, when I see a woman with one of these asses my head turns right along with the fellas and I wanna scream and high five somebody right along with them…why? Because it is the culture that I come from. The land of ass worshipers on steroids. Don’t get me wrong, I like my backside–it is in direct proportion to my body and fits me, however; I am not beyond admitting that I wish it were the same size but rounder and fuller.  Being that I am not into quick fixes, my ass is in the gym but this blog posting is the product of someone whom I personally know who got ass shots. She hasn’t suffered any of the negative side effects (yet) and true her ass looks fucking amazing (she didn’t go too big) but I am deathly afraid of plopping down $1,000 to some black market ass pumper for the possibility of not walking out of there alive or only living for a day or two in excruciating pain only to die from an embolism caused by free floating industrial grade silicone migrating into my lungs. As many a man can attest, ass is not worth dying for.

NPR did a segment on All Things Considered called “The Hidden World of Girls” where the taking of chicken pills/powder by Jamaican women was exposed.  Can’t cough up $8,500 for fat transfer for a legal Brazilian butt lift from a board certified plastic surgeon or don’t have the fat to even qualify for a transfer? Chicken pills to the rescue! These pills and powders contain the same carcinogenic hormones that are used by the factory farming industry to grow frankenchickens. When taken by human females, the hormone causes a woman’s butt, hips and breast to grow larger and firmer giving her that ever desired rap video vixen shape.  It is said that since Black women’s genetics are already programmed for ample buttocks, these “butt pills” lead to astronomically retarded ass growth. Jamaican music (play the NPR segment) even encourages the taking of these pills and many women are happy with their results despite the dangerous consequences.  Chicken pills contain arsenic which can and will KILL YOU.  The pills also can cause the immune system to weaken and shut down. These are just the two side effects I read about but I am sure there are many, many more.

Butt injections are a very well known topic in the hip-hop and Black stripper industry. From Niki Minaj to Peeblez to many an unknown model in the pages of Source, Black Men’s Magazine or some other hip-hop magazine we are familiar with the images. But what are they and is it legal? No, it is not legal to inject free floating  hyaluronic acid or Hydrogel as it is known in  quantities as great as 4000cc submuscular. Yes, this same substance is used in facial fillers by dermatologist and plastic surgeons but the quantities are small and safe and done by someone who is board certified and using FDA approved material.  What’s more is that some of these black market doctors aren’t buying the medical grade stuff. They go right down to Home Depo and purchase silicone and pour it into a water bottle, ask a girl to take over the counter pain killers, insert a cannula into her ass and start injecting away.  Enough with my pontification on the subject. I’ll just let you watch the videos.

Written by Alexandria Fox