Mariam Yuan
SINGAPORE: A group of Singapore female university students told Bikyanews.com in December they are planning to organize what they describe as an “explicit” nude calendar to battle against sexual violence in the Southeast Asian city-state.
The students, all between 18- and 22-years-old argued that the media is sexualizing women to a degree that men believe them to be objects for their every desire.
“So we are going to give them that, to the fullest of our ability. If they want to see a naked woman, let’s do it, but at the same time we will promote an honest debate over the role of women and sex in the region,” said Anya Xi Liu, who told Bikyanews.com that “we will have lesbian scenes, sex toy scenes. But it will also have specific messages of ending sexual violence.”
They argue that with the rise in anti-women media across the region and the increasing pornographic industry, “there needs to be a change in perception of women. If we want to show them sex, they better understand that they have to ask before touching.”
And that’s the tentative title of their calendar, which will include 24 photos of the young girls, completely nude.
“We want to make it clear that women are strong. We can be naked and still don’t want to be raped or assaulted,” interjected Claire, a British student who is joining the campaign.
Although they haven’t set a date for the calendar to be released, they admit it will likely only be on the black market at first.
“It will be too edgy for many people, who will view it as porn, but that is the point. To get people aware that we are not objects that can be pushed around. If we want to get naked, show our bodies and push a message, that is our goal,” added Liu.
It is all part of the ongoing battle against female perception vis-a-vis the pornographic industry and their use of women without considering the impact it has on the role of women and their bodies in society.
“I think this is a unique campaign and one that will shock many people, but it is needed to create a message that we are not just bodies to poke and prod,” added Liu.
Ironically, their inspiration comes from China’s Wang Li Danna, who was outed earlier this fall as a woman in a porn film. The Singapore students say that it showed them that even if a woman uses her body for her own private and business interests, they are shunned and condemned.
“But men who perform in sex tapes and porn films are praised as macho. This is wrong,” Claire argued.
Is Singapore anti-women
SINGAPORE: For the past few months, we have been reporting regularly on women’s rights issues, doing the best to not trivialize or sexualize women in Singapore. But continued articles published by English and Chinese language websites have continued to confound the issue.
Most recently, an article by AsiaOne.com showed how high-end restaurants, clubs and other establishments are hiring “attractive” women in the city to wear little clothes in an effort to entice customers to come by.
Short skirts, lingerie-clad hostesses are now such a commonplace in the city that few think twice about seeing a little – or a lot – of leg.
But I wonder, as a journalist, if we are doing enough to ensure that women’s voices are heard in this city and across Southeast Asia. As an Asian woman, I feel that the rise of the porn industry and the overly sexual nature of women’s reporting has left us cold to the stark realities facing us women in the is part of the world.
We are often seen and written about as submissive sexual characters who want to please men. It would appear, from the articles written about women that here in Singapore, the young women on the pages of magazines, at clubs and in the business sector, use their bodies for personal gains.
At the same time there is a failure on journalists’ part to adequately report on the positives that women are contributing to society. There are a large number of female executives here who do not resort to sex to get ahead. They are the true heroes of our supposedly progressive society. But they are left aside, in favor of the bikini, or less, adorned woman.
It is a frustrating time to live in Asia as an Asian woman. The media sees our vagina as a means of reporting. What we do with our bodies seems to always be up for discussion. In effect, it is our body that gets the attention.
When we face sexual violence, too often the media views this as a positive for the men. Women are not getting a fair shake in this regard. The media push a stereotype that views women as sex objects, for men’s pleasure and gazing. It is time to change this perspective.
If a woman has had sex, that’s great, it’s her life, but for the media to continually approach the topic of women’s issues in a manner that disregards the woman and focuses only on what she has done with her body, this begs the question: is Singapore becoming anti-women?
** This article was originally published on December 9, 2012.
Ref:Bikyanews.com
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