Found this interesting article online in response to Prof's article on Singaporean men!
http://www.divaasia.com/article/4913
As compared to the article on Singaporean men, this article that I've found is rather extreme in placing men in an incredibly good light and women in the opposite. The author, understandably a man, openly calls Singaporean women 'bitches' and criticizes them. As a female myself, I feel the strong need to defend my own gender after reading this article due to his warped viewpoint.
I feel that numerous flaws in Singaporean women that he pointed out were unwarranted. Sarong Party Girls (SPG) that go after Caucasian men are very much the small minority in Singapore. It is also interesting to note that in the comparison between the two articles, one complains that women in Singapore are expected to be submissive while the other thinks the submissive Singaporean women are boring. How can one win in this situation? This is one of the numerous cases where women are faulted no matter what they do. Another often mentioned case is where female leaders are accused of being heartless when they lead in a more aggressive 'masculine' manner, but yet are said to be bad leaders when they show their emotions. I also feel that the author of the article I posted above has mentioned numerous untruths and biased viewpoints on women. Just as an example, the author has accused Singaporean women of not caring for their appearances once they are attached. On the contrary among almost all of my friends, I have seen the males piling on the pounds once they have a girlfriend for some time and losing weight the moment they are single. Many of the females stay around the same size regardless of relationship status.
On the flip side, Singaporean males have much more flaws that being homophobic and Singaporean women have many other virtues unlike what the author described. Much of the problems that people always complain of Singaporean men and women are due to the society's influences that shape the way people think and I feel that neither gender is better or worse than the other. However, I am after all a female and I can't help defending my own gender :) That said, I don't think Singaporean men are as bad as they seem in the article that the Prof posted.
Goodness, I know how you feel and I'm not even Singaporean. I just don't like it when people make gross sweeping statements without thought about how others may view it.
ReplyDeleteFirstly, about the Sarong Party Girls. She went to Attica. That's the one club noted for the white guy-SPG crowd. That's why a lot of people tend to avoid it. Other clubs in Singapore are not like that. So that's a limited perspective.
he Non-SPGs are unadventurous and boring. They are the "I don't know, anything goes!" type. What's their idea of spending the weekend? Shopping, lying in bed, watching Korean or Japanese soap operas. Ask them out to go for in-line skating, cycling or shooting it out at paintball and they'd talk you out of it.
About being "unadventurous and boring" and "spineless, shapeless wrecks," well, people like that exists. But it doesn't mean that those individuals represent the whole society.
I must disagree with the complacent-as-hell about image. So much about Singapore is about image! It trickles down to the people too. I think it is very hard to live in an urban city and not bother about looks.
And prissy? Come on. That happens everywhere and part of the reason why girls will over-interpret things is probably because of all those self-help books and magazines that "decode" and "translate" phrases and actions.
So what are the virtues of Singaporean men and women?
ReplyDeletePerhaps such labels isn't useful at all in the first place!
haha oh my! Although what he wrote seems to be more out of spite than anything to me, it is still amusing to see the kind of stereotypical thinking these people have!
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ReplyDeleteI think it is just a matter of appreciating Singaporean men and women for who they are.
ReplyDeleteBeing a Singaporean men, we are inculcated since young, the concept of being responsible, leading to seriousness, leading to boredom in most of us.
Its a pity most fun-loving Singaporean ladies dun like it?
But I still love Singapore!!! Even nobody chase after UFOs in Singapore...Spore's night scene truly one of the best in the world!!!