|
|
|
Image credit: Huang Bu Min |
|
Get your copy now! |
|
the ridge-NUS SEX SURVEY |
|
THE SLIP OF THE KNOT |
|
UNDERSTANDING SOCIETY |
|
TISSUE PAPER ONE-DOLLAR |
|
Erratum: On page 19, the following quote was provided by Dr Ann-Marie Lew of the Counselling Centre.
|
To all readers:
My article was an opinion piece. It was meant to bring to light that arranged marriages exist even in Singapore, and make students aware of the different circumstances of other students in their midst. It was an expose of my personal experience with the tradition, and was thus not objective – it was so intended.
From some of the remarks the article has received, it is apparent that at least a few Indians do not agree with my opinion on arranged marriages. I am glad that Indians everywhere do not face the same problems and dilemmas and may even look at arranged marriages in a positive light.
I do understand that in many of the more cosmopolitan cities in India are embracing more open ideas about marriage, and that there are a significant number of families in urban India that allow inter-caste and inter-religious marriages.
My statistic about the extent to which it is prevalent in India was to show a link between what happens there prevalently and what happens here in a few communities. Since the larger part of India is rural, and in these places, arranged marriages are the most popular forms of marriage, I resolve that my facts are not mistaken.
As stated by ABC News last December, 95% of Indian marriages are arranged.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/12/19/2123355.htm
Under the ‘Caste’ section of this “Introduction to India” paper that the famed Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) presents, arranged marriages in Hindu society and their prevalence is talked about.
http://www.iit.edu/~madhshe/India%20as%20I%20know.htm
In the South Asian Studies exposure module that I did in my last semester, too, I learned that caste-based arranged marriages within the Hindu religion are predominant in India.
I did not write the article to make it interesting; my intention was to make readers aware of the existence of caste-based arranged marriages in some Indian communities here. Caste is given a lot of importance in some communities, especially mine.
Lastly, I would like to emphasize that I was not, at any cost, defaming India or the Hindu religion. I pride myself in being Indian, even if only by race and not nationality, and I have deep respect for the Hindu religion.
I request that my article be read only as a representation of caste-based Indian marriages in Singapore that prevail in some communities and result in quite a few dilemmas for the current generation of these communities.
And no, not all marriages are coercive!
For a copy of the comments addressed here, visit http://ridgeonline.wordpress.com.
Kokila Annamalai
Outspoken desk
Related article: Readers’ Response to “The Slip of The Knot”, February 2008
Responses on the NUSSU Wall
Image Credit: NUSSU Welfare
From Anonymous: NUSSU Wall, YIH
Text highlighted: “Hindu caste-based arranged marriage accounts for ninety-five per cent of all Hindu marriages in India, and the practice has lived on in some group here.”
Feedback: Caste system is no longer given much importance. Did you write this for the sake of making it interesting. If you don’t like arranged marriages, you should have guts to go out and find your partner and make a stance where you want to live with him or her.
Text highlighted: “Many age-old practices such as asking the prospective bride to demonstrate her singing or culinary abilities also prevail.”
Feedback: Where is this statistic from? Defame my country + religion for what??
Text highlighted: “Arranged marriages are more often than not coercive, and a sentiment that sells easily is “doing it for the family pride”
Feedback: Ain’t this case with ALL marriages
Related article: Writer’s response to “The Slip of The Knot”, February 2008
To all readers:
Last month, the ridge published an article that reflected the results of the sex survey carried out by yours truly on behalf of the magazine.
It has been brought to my attention that the main gripe readers had with the article was the lack of crucial information to put the numbers in the article into context. This is totally my oversight and I would like to apologise to all readers who felt misled by the information. I hope that by putting up the survey results available for download on ridgeonline, the ridge has taken one baby step to clarifying the issue.
For the record, the sample size of genuine respondents was 56, and the sample size from each faculty was not the same. The survey was disseminated to NUS students through Facebook, Yahoo! groups and emails within the period of 2 weeks in January 2008.
To ‘Alvin’, thank you for posting up your comments on ridgeonline. The article was not meant to be totally comical or parodic, but it was meant to be taken with a pinch of salt.
Some readers have accused the ridge of sensationalism. This is untrue. While it is arguable that anything related to sex is of interest to the masses and therefore deemed sensational, the article’s focus was on the issue of safe sex and sexual education in Singapore.
It has come to our attention that a mainstream newspaper has exploited my mistake and, without further research, deemed itself fit to run the headline “64% of NUS undergraduates have sex”. I would like to point out that the original article made it a point to say 64% of all respondents, instead of the entire university, have sex in hostels. The survey results, after removing multiple identical respondents, show a result of 62.5%. Unfortunately, the good people of that particular newspaper failed to read the original article properly, much less refer to the sex survey results provided online.
A large part of the article was on safe sex and sexual education, something most people do not pay attention to. I regret to say that the original article has failed in its attempt to highlight a major issue in the sexual practices of some NUS students; not the sex itself, but the lack of protection used.
There is a basic misunderstanding of the nature of the article. It was not a news report but a commentary. The student interviewees were an attempt to shed light on some of the results of the sex survey, and there was a conscious effort not to involve ‘professionals’ because it was assumed that NUS students know themselves best.
An English Language senior is obviously not an expert on sex and sexual morality, but as part of the NUS community, his perception may reflect the perception of many others in his peer group.
Some of the interviewees’ opinions may be factually wrong but that is because they were personal opinions. Many behind the Repeal 377A campaign share the opinion that homosexual intercourse is not a crime. The law does not decide what an individual believes in.
I thank Moses for pointing out that the correct reference to 377A is ’section 377A’ instead of ‘Act’ and apologise to more informed readers for the glaring mistake.
A comment left on the NUSSU wall at YIH went as follows:
What does this sentence mean? What is your vendetta against SDE?
There is no vendetta. Respondents from SDE amounted to a grand total of 3, and all indicated that they were virgins. I’m sure that being a virgin is not seen negatively in NUS, and I assert that it was not my intention to paint SDE students as in any way negatively. I apologise to all SDE students for any perceived disrespect.
As to the perception that the idea of a larger concentration of homosexual and bisexual students in Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences is “defam[atory]”, I urge the reader to show more respect towards a group of people who are every much a part of our community.
Yes, I am an undergraduate of FASS, and yes I did my research. I refer you to an article in the Washington Monthly by Richard Florida (“The Rise of The Creative Class”, 2002)
which surmised that diversity in all forms- whether in terms of ethnicity or sexuality- influenced the amount of creativity in a community. You may argue that my usage of the information provided in the article was a classic case of cognitive error, and in any case, you have the right to think so. But I did my research.
To the reader who had an issue with the fact that there are couples who engage in sex and sexual activities in halls and residences; I stand by my statement. Yes there are. Yes I live on campus. Yes I have seen and heard enough.
Finally, to the reader who states that the article contained “appalling quality of writing [and] editing” and asked if it was the “writer’s folly or [the] editor’s irresponsibility”, I will say both.
I apologise for the grammatical error in the second column on page 16 and the typo in the first paragraph of page 17. Editing should have been more stringent. I am sorry you were appalled and I am sorry for readers who were disappointed with this lapse in standard uncharacteristic of the ridge.
I would like to thank readers who took the trouble to tear off the pages and pin it on the NUSSU wall with their comments and those who visited ridgeonline and kindly informed us of their opinions not only on this article but others as well.
I would also like to thank members of the NUS community who took part in the survey in January.
But more than anything, I would like to apologise to the ridge, its writers and loyal readers as well as NUSSU if my article contributed to any form of embarrassment and inconvenience on their part. I hope that the numerous merits of the magazine far surpasses my clumsy blunder in the aforementioned article.
Nurhayati Khan
Chief Editor
The Ridge
An excerpt of this response is published in the March 2008 issue of the ridge.
Related articles:
Responses on the NUSSU Wall
Image Credit: NUSSU Welfare
From Anonymous: NUSSU WALL, YIH
General comments: Apalling quality of writing AND editing! Writer’s folly or editor’s irresponsibility?
Text highlighted: “In a NUS sex survey conducted by the ridge in January, 53.6% of respondents were virgins, including all respondents from SDE.”
Feedback: What does this sentence mean? What is your vendetta against SDE?
Text highlighted: “While FASS students tend to be viewed as more liberal, the large concentration of homosexual and bisexual respondents may be a clear indication that these communities tend towards the more creative or abstract forms of study.”
Feedback: Poor research man!! Seriously are you an arts undergrad?? Defame my fac & uni!!
Text highlighted: “While housing agreements issued out to all residents on-campus specifically require doors to be ajar when members of the opposite sex are in the room, there is no mention of denying sex and other sexual activities, prompting most residents to hint at some ‘free shows’ in some halls and residences.
Feedback: YOU EVER LIVED ON CAMPUS IN NUS??
From Suhas, Year 2: Email
I loved your article on the NUS sex survey. I was frankly amazed at how you took a bunch of simple questions (which I remember filling up and dismissing as just a sensational piece) and wrote something really worthwhile, analysing the data in remarkable detail.
Though, there there’s just one mistake - “og” instead of “of”. But then, I’m sure you’d know that already so I apologise if I sound finicky.
I find it surprising that people focus so much on the statistics because as a journalist, you’re not in control of that. Journalists are responsible for analysing the data and making it meaningful and so, in that respect, I believed you did the most out of the limited and possibly erroneous data given.
Regarding the Malay communities that you mentioned, I wanted to ask how the community can tackle such sex-related issues when Muslim law forbades any tacit compromise on such issues. I’m reiterating what you said - “religious institutions could attempt to bridge the gap with social realities by confronting them in a direct and relevant manner” but this doesn’t really help when the attitudes of the religious clergy doesn’t change, right? Their outlook on the matter outweighs whatever secular education is given in school, doesn’t it? But here I’m relating to my experience with religious power in Indonesia and, in Singapore, the case may not be the same.
From Alvin: RIDGEONLINE
Sample size was only 56. Too far of a stretch to generalise to the entire NUS population. And besides, the sampling looks like it was haphazardly done, with no sampling frame and all the random selection. That said, if the article was meant to be funny, it was hilarious.
From Moses, Year 2: Email
The first thing that my friends and I were curious to know after reading the survey was the sample size of the survey which was not stated anywhere in the article. As a reader, it aroused my suspicion because the claims which the surveyor was making were rather controversial. For example that 85.6% of non-virgins were from FASS and only 5.36% were from Engineering who were actually second highest. I immediately wondered if 1) the sample size was small which would have led to inaccuracies and possibly such skewed statistics and 2) if the sample sizes of each faculty were of the same size or not.
With these 2 doubts as to whether the statistics were accurate, I could only proceed with reading the article with skepticism. And with the writer failing to allay my doubts and at the same time alleging many other controversial statements like the large percentage of gays and lesbians, the article failed to convince me that I should take it seriously.
The second thing which sprung out at me was: why was an English language senior being quoted as if he were an authority on the subject of sex and sexual morality? Perhaps a professor of sociology or some other distinguished commentator would have added more credibility and weight to the article. Even failing which, perhaps a sociology major or philosophy major would have been more credible given the subject matter.
Thirdly, I took serious objection to one of your interviewees’s views viz Wong. Wong says, “consensual homosexual intercourse, anal and oral sex are NOT a crime before, now and forever.” This opinion is wrong on a factual basis because consensual homosexual intercourse has been and still is a crime, not only in Singapore but in a great many countries in the world. In fact, the punishment for homosexual acts in many countries is actually death. My objection however does not lie in Wong’s misguided views but rather that the writer failed to rebut the factual error. By ignoring the factual error, it gives the impression that the writer is agreeing to Wong’s viewpoint. Finally, the grammatically erroneous sentence structure also contributes to the lowering Wong’s credibility. Perhaps this could have been edited instead of being preserved verbatim for the readers to cringe at.
Fourthly, the homosexual law comes from section 377A and not Act 377A. The Act, or legislation, is the Penal Code. But the specific provision lies in s.377A of the Penal Code. So legally trained readers would probably have noticed the error and this would have perhaps lowered the writer’s credibility in their eyes.
Fifthly; generally, I did not have a good impression of the various interviewees. Their quotes, made them appear to be singularly uninformed indivuduals. E.g. Hoong, who asks “ I don’t see why two willing parties engaging in sex is a crime.” Any discerning reader would straight away think of various reasons. Firstly, a morality argument. Secondly, a social argument. So by printing what Hoong says and not expounding on her comments, she appears to be giving a very superficial opinion. Then again, perhaps this was the writer’s intent.
This brings me to the good points about the article.
Firstly, I suspect that the writer’s intent was to be controversial. Hence, the statistics and assertions about sex taking place in toilets and in YIH etc. This was done very successfully. The article is indeed controversial. I know a great many people who have read it and are spreading this issue of The Ridge because of the Sex Survey. So kudos for upping the readership.
Secondly, the article was professionally written. I especially like the way statistics are given to back up a point. E.g “NUS STUDENTS PROMISCUOUS” then boom! A whole buncha incredible statistics. This method of shock and awe really works, especially on educated people. Because educated people love statistics.
The layout, and sub-headline (or whatever u call it..i dunoe) are very professional looking. Love the sub-headline. It catches your attention by asserting that Singaporeans have 0 libido. Insults you, and therefore makes you want to read it to rebut it.
So that’s all my comments.
Related articles:
A response to Understanding Society: Full Interview Transcript with Sue
By Dr. Ann-Marie Lew and colleagues
Counselling Centre
University Health, Wellness and Counselling Centre (UHWC)
National University of Singapore
There is clearly pain beneath this woman’s hypersexual behaviours. She was victimized by peers when she was younger, and is now driven to engage in dangerous behaviours in a possible attempt to be in control and to have power. At the same time, she feels spiritually empty and experiences much self-loathing.
As a team, we are very concerned about this woman’s well-being, and that of the people who may be infected by her. We think it most important that she be assisted in getting professional help to both manage her medical condition and to learn healthier ways to cope with her past and her pain, and to stop hurting herself and others.
Health professionals and other individuals who can help her would be doctors, counsellors, and trained specialist volunteers.
For screening and referrals, the Action for Aids group in Singapore offers Anonymous HIV Testing and Post-testing Counselling, as well as support groups (http://www.afa.org.sg/home.asp; Tel: 62540212).
The DSC (Department of Sexually Transmitted Infections Control) Clinic in Singapore offers medical screening and treatment for individuals suffering from sexually transmitted diseases (http://dsc-sexualhealth.com.sg/index.php; Tel: 1800 2521324).
The Communicable Diseases Centre in Singapore offers medical treatment for individuals suffering from HIV-AIDS (Tel: 6357 7900, 6357 7909).
On-campus, the University Health, Wellness, and Counselling Centre provides assistance to NUS students and staff through its two divisions, the University Health Service (Tel: 6776 1631) and the Counselling Centre (counselling@nus.edu.sg; Tel: 6516-2376).
We would also like to remind readers that, while it is true that hypersexual behaviours increase the risk of an individual contracting HIV-AIDS and STDs, HIV can also be transmitted by exposure to infected blood through transfusions, sharing needles to inject drugs, or from mother to child during pregnancy, childbirth, or while breastfeeding.
It is important not to stigmatize and discriminate HIV-AIDS sufferers, and our team would like to introduce the website http://www.avert.org/aidsstigma.htm for readers to obtain more information about HIV-AIDS stigma and discrimination.
Hot Talk!