This piece is part of the 5 year Viridian retrospective organised by Tim Maly, published in The State on 13 December 2013: Viridian Design was an avant-garde bright green design movement engineered by Bruce Sterling and intended to address climate change. It ran from 1998-2008. Five years later, we reflect. The vision of a Viridian… Continue reading Towards a Viridian feminist future
Category: Feminism
Rethinking the discourse of sexual harassment
Published on The F-Word UK blog on 14th August 2013 After following Everyday Sexism on Twitter and reading its website for nearly a year, there are times when reading their continuous flow of sexual harassment stories becomes too painful an experience. I have contemplated unfollowing Everyday Sexism’s Twitter account because there are entries that… Continue reading Rethinking the discourse of sexual harassment
Sexist men and the people who love them
First published on Loyar Burok on 12th August 2013 This article is about the men who walk amongst us whom we admire, whom we call our friends, lovers, husbands, fathers, brothers. If you prefer, this article may also be about the ‘other’ men out there, the rapists, child abusers, sexual harassers, and other shadowy characters… Continue reading Sexist men and the people who love them
Mapping gender in public toilets of the non-Western world
First published on The State Magazine on 10 July 2013 Toilets: we need them as we all pee and shit. It seems as if our most basic homeostatic functions exist outside of time and space, abiding by their own internal laws. This article, however, is about the laws that are external to the corporeal vessel:… Continue reading Mapping gender in public toilets of the non-Western world
On blogging or how my life presents itself online
The frightful genius of Charlie Brooker’s first episode of Black Mirror has got several things right about social media and new telecommunication technologies: how we choose to present ourselves to the world is highly selective and based on narcissistic drives. Those of us who are more decorous in our internet use would loath to reveal… Continue reading On blogging or how my life presents itself online
Women’s exodus from the work force: Not a simply matter of brain drain
An article I wrote with Clarissa Lee, Dahlia Martin and Fiona Lee, published on The Malaysian Insider, The B-Side, and Loyar Burok. A recent BFM podcast episode, “The New Brain Drain,” discussed the relatively low rate of women’s participation in the Malaysian workforce, focusing specifically on the challenges faced by mothers working outside the home.… Continue reading Women’s exodus from the work force: Not a simply matter of brain drain
Rape, media coverage and our bloodstained hypocrisy
First published on the 30th of December 2012 on Loyarburok Early yesterday morning, an Indian woman died from severe internal injuries after being raped by six men in New Delhi. The global reportage of an unnamed rape victim is an unprecedented event for a crime that is depressingly commonplace and downplayed or sensationalised in the… Continue reading Rape, media coverage and our bloodstained hypocrisy
My interview with film director Nia Dinata
Nia Dinata is one of Indonesia’s most important film-makers. Known for tackling subject matters such as abortion, polygamy, and sexualities in a profoundly refreshing way, the films of teh Nia have received worldwide acclaim outside the geographically parochial national film industry of Indonesia. I had the valuable opportunity to ask teh Nia about her views… Continue reading My interview with film director Nia Dinata
On the viability of ‘gender’ and ‘sexuality’ as categories in Malaysia
The first thing that would be useful when thinking about genders and sexualities in Malaysia is that the categories of ‘gender’ and ‘sexuality’ are far from native and natural in the national language, Bahasa Malaysia. What is meant by ‘native’ and ‘natural’ refers to the fact that gender and sexuality are relatively recent loanwords. And… Continue reading On the viability of ‘gender’ and ‘sexuality’ as categories in Malaysia
Sang Penari: the female body as a sexualised site of masculine struggle
At the time of writing, I was experiencing the warmth of critical acclaim bestowed on an Indonesian film that had just finished its all-too-brief exhibition at cinemas in Jakarta. The film, Sang Penari (The Dancer), is described by film critics as the apogee of Indonesian cinema 20111. Arguably the “best film” of last year, and… Continue reading Sang Penari: the female body as a sexualised site of masculine struggle
Alicia Izharuddin 