Cheryl Marie Cordeiro

On July 4, 2012, AsiaOne News ran an online article entitled “Social media drives MOE to revise sex education”.

In the past few days, news of sex education in Singapore had hit the international scene, crossing both geographical and virtual boundaries. Having only read some about this happening, I can share here that I remain ambivalent on the choice and use of words between “sex education” rather than “sexuality education”, the distinction of which might seem inconsequential but shows a general attitude and level of discomfort with the subject, AsiaOne indicating greater comfort in managing the topic than Singapore’s Ministry of Education (MOE), the very institution responsible for the education policy planning and general dissemination of knowledge of the subject to promising young individuals upon whose shoulders Singapore will need to depend upon for its future.

In today’s world of the Internet savvy where information is literally at one’s fingertips, and where search retrieval results act as general classifications, associations and even branding of identity, what is perhaps more important than a false sense of modesty is the accessibility and availability of information retrieved.

A google search and retrieve (dated 10 June 2012) for the terms “sex education” and “sexuality education” renders 661,000,000 hits in under 20s to the former and about 45,700,000 hits in about half a minute to the latter.

On the perspective of branding by association, the term “sexuality education” in contrast to the more direct “sex education”, carries ambivalent connotations. While the term is used by UNESCO under its efforts on improving prevention on HIV/AIDS, it at the same time appears in retrieved searches that tend towards the ultra-conservative in political views. From The Huffington Post, for example, a news article entitled “Abstinence-Only Sex Education Bill in Utah Prohibits Teaching Contraception” (posted Feb 2012) appears close in searches retrieved with Singapore’s MOE pages. Utah is one of USA’s most religiously homogeneous state, with approximately 60% of the population reportedly belonging to the Mormon Church that greatly influences their culture and daily life. Other closely associated results retrieved with the search terms “sexuality education” include videos, one of which is a cartoon version of “sexuality education” from Belgium targeted at children aged 6.

At MOE’s website under “Education > Programmes > Social and Emotional Learning > Sexuality Education > Scope and Teaching Approach of Sexuality Education in Schools”, readers will find find in the opening paragraphs (retrieved Tuesday, 10 July 2012, 22:40 hrs):

Sexuality Education

Scope and Teaching Approach of Sexuality Education in Schools

Abstinence before marriage is the best course of action for teenagers. Sexuality Education teaches students the possible consequences of sexual activity and that pre-marital sex is not desirable as there are inherent risks.

To reduce the incidence of STIs/HIV and teenage pregnancies among our young, a practical approach is adopted. Sexuality Education teaches students facts about contraception, repercussions of casual sex, and the prevention of diseases from a health perspective. This is in addition to teaching teenagers about building healthy relationships and how to say “no” to sexual advances.

Sexuality Education teaches students what homosexuality is, and the current legal provisions concerning homosexual acts in Singapore.

Both teachers and MOE-approved external speakers should respect that they are in a position of trust with respect to students and ensure that schools are not used as arenas for advocacy on controversial issues.

A quick discourse analysis of the text uncovers the Singapore governmental institution’s underlying sense of Victorian values and lack of ease with the subject of sex education. The opening paragraph that outlines the “scope and teaching approach” of sex education in Singapore schools raises a few questions due to inconsistencies in conceptual definitions (defining “secular” vs. “mainstream” values in multicultural, multi-religious Singapore) and logical fallacies, one of which is faulty correlation that the discourse tries to equate facts (how STIs are spread) with social values (preferred abstinence from pre-marital sex).

One wonders what kind of cat and mouse game teachers and students would play during class on the topic of sex education, or on whom the blinkers will lay when “abstinence before marriage” (a material act of individual choice) is considered “the best course of action for teenagers” (a social value hegemonically advocated in this discourse) that is also “a practical approach” (begs the question, from whose perspective and for which party concerned – the teachers, the parents or the teenagers?). Even the Roman Catholic Church in their long history of struggle and balance of politics and power, where abstinence, the result of which was a purposeful lack of heirs that dissolved assets in their division amongst many, was deemed a necessary measure of wealth building, power retention and consolidation for the institution and regime of the Church, has had trouble keeping their ordained leaders chaste.
Continue reading “Discourse on sex / sexuality: the Singapore context” →

Some women build their daily outfits beginning with their shoes. Beginning with this pair of Emilio Pucci wrapped purple suede heels, this is an outfit ensemble I could see myself wearing to the office in autumn. A wool blend Bottega Veneta shift dress paired with a charcoal grey jacket with double lapels by Vivienne Westwood. Over this ensemble, a square wrap coat by Vivienne Westwood Anglomania with a large purple patent tote (35cm x 40cm x 13 cm), also by Vivienne Westwood.

I’ve been following with interest, the following articles from the more lighthearted Daily Mail in the UK:

• Why women’s heels are high on the union bosses’ agenda
• Hands off our heels!

Apparently the Trade Union Council (TUC) in the UK would like to call for a ban of the use of high heels for women in the office (printed on the 6th of August, 2009), citing sexism and health problems for women who wear high heels to work everyday. This article was followed the next day with a counter article written by Maureen Rice (7th August, 2009) who said that the best careers advice ever given to her was one from her female boss:

‘Whenever you know you are going to have a challenging meeting,’ she said, ‘and especially if that meeting is mainly with men, wear high heels.’

Rice’s article gets more interesting from there on, citing heels as a symbol of feminine power in the office and how heels can give women more confidence in the office when facing their male colleagues. Heels as symbols of small daggers clinging to the heels of women who wear them, are not so much “I want to turn you on” as “I want to take you on”.

In the numerous brands of feminism, the one that caught my imagination most were essays from the genre l’écriture féminine or ‘feminine writing’, writings predominantly by Hélène Cixous and Luce Irigary from the late ’70s. The writings of Cixous in particular, would trouble women who resist the sense of being tied to the biological, but for others, it could offer a strong sense of relief that gushes from the inner core as her works encourage the celebration of differences between the biological male and female. Why fight biology and climb an uphill battle for equality that sounds defeating to begin with when we can revel in it, and with it, celebrate too the subsequent differences in manifestations of the sexes whether in speech, writing or in this case, dressing.

The article by Rice voices this very aspect of being female and of possessing your femininity on your own terms, especially in the highly competitive world of business. And where once restraining clothing items such as corsets and stilettos were seen as a tools of constriction, a mark of biology, is now viewed as an expression of will and control of self when worn, for today, the difference lies in choice. Now women decide for themselves what to wear.

British artist Damien Hirst revealed his latest work of art at the White Cube Gallery in London, June 1, 2007. “For the Love of God” is a life-size cast of a human skull in platinum and covered by 8,601 pave-set diamonds weighing 1,106.18 carats. The single large diamond in the middle of the forehead is a 52.4 carat internally flawless, light, fancy pink, brilliant-cut diamond reportedly worth $4.2 million alone. Hirst financed the project himself, and estimates it cost between 10 and 15 million. The price tag was $99 million. The platinum plates were hand-lasered with thousands of holes and the diamonds, which have a total weight of 1,106.18 carats, were individually set.

When I first saw this skull I went through a myriad of reactions that went something like:

WOW! What a fantastic thing!

Oooh! How HORRID!

buuuuut…Interesting.

COOOOOL!

Well, my thoughts needed to do a really long walking to come to that fourth observation of it being cool. The obvious in-your-face impression of this piece of art, is of course that the skull as an age old Vanitas symbol that Nothing is Forever, combined with the De Beer diamond slogan that Diamonds, are Forever, Hirst manages to add some kind of cynical humour to the combination “Death, is Forever, too”.

How cool is that.

Then I started to wonder, is that observation really worth £50 million?

My mind started to ponder a much wider circle. Looking some into this I found that the original “perfectly shaped skull” had been sourced from a taxidermy shop, with an analysis suggesting that it had probably belonged to a European man who died in his mid-thirties in the 18th or early 19th century.

But don’t those teeth awfully “fresh” to be from an 18th century skull?

A really old skull. The painting “Vanitas” by, Pieter Claesz (1597-1661).

It suddenly dawned on me that I had seen such a “fresh” looking skull once before, at the desk of an engineer who designed dental equipment. “Is this plastic?”, I asked. “No, it’s the real thing” he answered and explained that it actually came from the first World War battle fields in the Flanders. They were popular with dental clinics because the soldiers had been so young and healthy when they died, that their teeth were perfect, “Look Ma, no cavities!”.

Of course this was just my mind wandering, but then again I had just been forced – due to a lack of alternatives – to read an article about a specifically bloody battle in an obscure village in Belgium, called Passchendaele. It lasted some 100 days in the autumn of 1917. And when it ended, a total of 325,000 Allied and 260,000 German young men had died, achieving nothing.
Continue reading “A diamond skull is forever” →