Singapore is notorious for it's laws governing sexual acts. For the longest of times, it was illegal for a woman to suck her husbands penis as a sexual act on its own. It was only acceptable if it was going to lead to something else. Needless to say, the police didn't really go round trying to enforce this law ....I can imagine how much fun the lawyers would have had over this in court. Finally the government realised how silly it was and scrapped the law.
But let's leave aside Singapore's contributions to FHM and talk about something more serious, namely very screwed-up priorities when it comes to sex. The screwy nature of our attitudes towards sex can be seen in the penal code.
Firstly it is illegal for two adult men to have sex (the anal variety). I'm a red blooded heterosexual guy and I love "Pussy" and can't for the life of me understand why anyone would want to poke an arse or have their arses poked. However, I also cannot see any justification for making it illegal for two CONSENTING ADULTS to carry on a PRIVATE ACT in the privacy of their own bedroom. The current legal position is a wonderful cop-out - "We will maintain the law but not enforce it," says our Prime Minister.
Why must we criminalise a PRIVATE act between CONSENTING Adults? Well, a few people actually think their morals will be affected even when they're far away from the act. What's more alarming these are actually highly educated people with degrees in REAL subjects like LAW from the best universities that the world has to offer.
Watching highly intelligent and competent people try and work the logic of this argument is quite funny and I think it gets the press excited. AWARE was fun for me, for once the media came to me.
What's really sad about Singapore's attitude to sex is that while we are happy to keep a PRIVATE ACT between CONSENTING adult in the privacy of their bedroom criminal, we are, if postings on the Online Citizen are anything to go by, very reluctant criminalise the act of rape.
In Singapore, the land where women are supposedly educated and allowed to succeed in the corporate field, it is perfectly acceptable to rape your wife. "Marital RAPE," is perfectly LEGAL, because of the word marital.
Unlike the issue of homosexuality, nobody seems to want to write about husbands who think it's perfectly ok to RAPE their wives. The only news you get is online on the Online Citizen, Singapore's favourite gripe-site.
Again, it's almost funny to hear the views that people have. One guy actually said that it won't be rape if the wife would learn to move her legs a little and use KY jelly. Another clown actually accused me of being an "enemy of marriage." This would be very funny if the people involved were not so uneducated that they would not know how to get online. Needless to say, the very clever people in the "family values" brigade are perfectly fine with it. Nobody has said anything other than to complain about KY Jelly in the online space.
Let's sum this up. In Singapore:
It is AGAINST the LAW for two CONSENTING ADULTS to engage in a PRIVATE ACT in the privacy of their bedroom
But it is PERFECTLY LEGAL for one adult to USE COERCION (aka FORCE, VIOLENCE) to FORCE another person into a sexual act AGAINST THEIR WILL.
It could be the fact that I'm just a pleb, but can anyone explain to me the logic in this situation?
Who says Singaporeans are normal, boring people who don't go for the kinky? The laws on sex reflect a nation that is highly confused about the activities in the bedroom. Here's another example:
If I want to READ a magazine with pictures of NAKED ladies I would be committing a criminal act.
But if I wanted to GET LAID, all I have to do is to head down to Geylang with a budget of around S$50 and I can get splendidly laid by an Indonesian or Thai girl, who may, for all I know be highly infected with something nasty or to be more gentle....UNDER AGED.
OK, I support the government's stance on prostitution. Lee Kuan Yew very wisely pointed out that you will never stomp it out and criminalising it will make it worse. It is better to allow it to run but keep it under the control of the law.
However, how can you seriously argue that seeing a picture of a naked girl who is more often than not over 18 be more harmful than paying for a girl to spread her legs? Then you look at it from the girls perspective. The girl who poses simply needs to pose for a camera, while the girl who is selling her body has to accept the customer and be nice to the customer even if he's smelly and downright awful. I know which I would rather do (incidentally I have not posed naked or sold my body) but then again, it' illegal to pose naked for a camera but its perfectly ok to sell your body.
Let's think about it, we are seriously warped when it comes to the issue of sex. I mean where else in the world can you think of where it's perfectly acceptable for a man to rape his wife and have people say that she failed her conjugal duties. Where else can two consenting adults find themselves in hot soup over a private consensual act in the privacy of their bed room because someone far away from them thought it was making them turn ...happy?
Come on, isn't it time we started applying practicality and common sense, things we claim to have in abundance, to the sections of the penal code that apply to sexual acts?
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