Sexual Politics

Haven't we all heard this term before? Sexual politics in the office, where the woman bared all and sacrificed her dignity to sleep with the boss on the expensive conference table, bargaining her way up the social ladder. Sexual politics even in the parameters of the home, where the woman is submissive to the dominion of her husband. Sexual politics even in the political system, where the woman minister is perhaps under the thumb of the male.

You guys must be wondering why I am even touching on this topic. Just watched a History documentary on the importance of the female body during biblical times. We all know that the woman's body is often, the seductive cause that leads to a man's eternal downfall. This too, according to scholars of the bible, was symptomatic of some of the males in the Bible. King David, for instance committed adultery and murder, while his son forced himself upon his sister, and another son raping the mother. What audacious tales, of shocking proportions. While Christians may feel outraged at such scandalous posting, I repeat that this is what I have learnt by watching the History Channel and by no means it is a frivolous assumption made by me. ( In case I get butchered for writting this)

Anyway, I was just thinking of how this problem is being perpetuated even in today's modern times. We have heard many a case of women being raped. I am being reminded of the New Paper article where a man allegedly had 10 over wives and how he even raped some of his daughters. I am reminded of Offred's statement in the Handmaid's Tale, of how women's bodies have now become commodities. We are things, we are products, we are to be used and manipulated. I am also reminded of the controversial issue in rape cases. Is the rapist to be responsible for the crime or is the woman raped perhaps also an involuntary accomplice? She may not have wanted to be raped, but invited violation through scanty dressing and flirty behaviour. Is she therefore responsible as well for the misdeed since she herself was attracting the male?

Last week, had a history tutorial where I learnt about the women in Singapore's history. There is a website called the Pioneers of Singapore. In it, important leading figures are listed and their contributions told of. My teacher raised a chilling point. How is it, that no women whatsoever were mentioned at all in this list, that we are always told about FOUNDING FATHERS but never mothers or even aunties? The comfort women that were abused by the Japanese during the World War - their stories were muted until the early 1990s. Why is this so? Perhaps it is because these women feared discrimination from males that they did not reveal this matter. Another case in point. Although we were often told that Singapore as a whole suffered after the Japanese Occupation, why is it that history that we learnt never emphasized the fact that women, most of all, suffered the worst. After the horrendous Sook Ching episode, it was women who were crying the loudest and the longest. They were the ones who had lost their husbands, their fathers, their brothers and their sons. Yet, why were the stories of these women never at all related to us? My class concluded at the end of the lesson that we are perhaps still, despite the facade of equality, a patriarchial society.

Difficult issues to be debated on. All in all, I don't know if this sounds right, but such cases draw me to the point that we as girls, as women need to be aware that our sexuality is not to be ignored. After all, History has showed us time and time again that women's bodies are often manipulated by males, even in the smallest and unoticeable of ways. And there is no reason to believe that things will be any different now.