quick update

i know i havent been updating. here's a quick one (hence no photos)
i shall tell u abt this new module im taking "violence, gender & culture"

i think this module is a pretty dark/hard course for the professor to "teach". we cover discussion questions like "why do men sexually abuse children".

there are by large 2 schools of thoughts amongst psychologists. one that believes in the innocence of children, and one that believes that children only tell tales/stories.

this reminded me of my primary school days. i was sitting beside this irritating boy called sim si yu (i tried searching him down on facebk, but sadly i didnt manage to), who commented "mrs ong's backside very smelly" when she walked behind him. and so i raised up my hand, and said "mrs ong, sim si yu said your backside very smelly". how innocent(ly stupid i was).

before i knew it, *SLAP*.
"I DONT LIKE PEOPLE TELLING TALES"

i didnt know what "telling tales" was. and at that age, i didnt make sense of what was happening. i felt guilty, even though i was punished for doing something i thought was right. i went to recess with a red handprint on my face, ashamed.

it was until yrs later when i found out what telling tales meant.. i wasnt lying! and it didnt help tt my teacher's name was mrs ong teng chiong, similar to tt of our president then.

grahhh!!!!

i must learn to forgive. mrs ong, if you're seeing this, you're forgiven. (in fact i use this story as a joke during gatherings). and lucky you, at tt time, teachers were allowed to physically "abuse" or hit the students. which reminds me, mrs seah whacked my head with the assessment book before. poor me ;(

back to my module on violence, gender, and culture. it is said that in court, the lawyers and judge are mostly men. men and women are constructed differently, in terms of thoughts, emotions, what they perceive as norms, as what ought to be.. are women's and children's safety at risk?

in today's lesson, i learnt tt it is women's responsiblity to say "NO" to pre-marital sex. firstly, it is socially accepted that men is the more violent/aggressive gender. and second, women are the ones that bear the brunt of the act. the men simply get to scatter their seeds around, deriving pleasure. women, on the other hand, get pregnant during unprotected sex. this has loads of other implications to society: abortions, taking absence from school, being frowned upon etc. with such an imbalance in consequences, women HAVE to have the say. women have to make the decision in their heads to say NO, before hooking up with guys at parties/prom etc.

tough luck, huh.

we also talked about female genital mutilation. there are still some communities in Africa (Narok i tink) that practice female genital mutilation as a traditional ritual, one which 'tames' the women. sex becomes a men's game. after the ritual at about 14 years old, these women stop going to school, bcos the ritual is something like an announcement to the whole village tt she is ready for marriage. these ladies quickly get married off after the ritual and lose their chance to be educated. they become sex toys for the men. they cannot enjoy the pleasure of sex after the ritual (their clitoris is damaged/cut).

what's the point of all these cutting? senseless tradition.

this is one module which classes i never pon, despite it being a morning class. it gives me a glimpse of how small i am in this world, and how vast the world out there is for me to explore.

i dont want to go back to reality (singapore), yet.