Category: Sexuality

Queer Muslim subjectivity: a short commentary

Below is a pre-published version of a commentary I was invited to write for Current Anthropology: One of the bees that inhabit uneasily in every anthropologist’s bonnet is the question of representation. Viola Thimm’s article, ‘Queer Muslim Subjectivity: LGBTQIA+ identity in Malaysia between transnational self-awareness, pilgrimage politics and Islamic repression’ [in Current Anthropology], is perhaps… Continue reading Queer Muslim subjectivity: a short commentary

After the Malaysian ‘gay novel’ (first published in the Mekong Review)

This is the pre-published version of my short review of Tash Aw’s novel, The South, in the November 2025 issue of the Mekong Review: Tash Aw has written five novels. His newest, The South, is the first one that explicitly explores the homosexuality of a teenage Malaysian-Chinese boy on the cusp of adulthood. The titular… Continue reading After the Malaysian ‘gay novel’ (first published in the Mekong Review)

Tracey Emin’s cancer

When Tracey Emin announced in late 2020 that her survival from an aggressive form of cancer was made possible by the surgical removal of her bladder, uterus, urethra, fallopian tubes, ovaries, parts of her intestines, and half of her vagina, there must have been an audible gasp all around not just at the sheer brutality… Continue reading Tracey Emin’s cancer

Published
Categorized as Sexuality

‘Romantic’ sexual violence, mediated intimacy and the single Muslim woman in Malaysia

“Romance imagines peace, security, and ease precisely because there is dissension, insecurity, and difficulty” (Janice Radway, Reading the Romance 1984, p. 15) Lately I’ve become very interested in how heterosexual Malay-Muslim women talk about romantic intimacy in their pursuit of potential partners, and why sexual violence features so significantly in Malay language romance novels. The… Continue reading ‘Romantic’ sexual violence, mediated intimacy and the single Muslim woman in Malaysia

Pengajian Gender untuk Semua #1: Pengenalan kepada konsep ‘seksualiti’ dan Queer Theory

Seksualiti merupakan satu perkataan yang secara lazimnya dihubungkaitkan dengan hubungan seks antara lelaki dan perempuan. Namun, ini adalah satu pemahaman istilah yang terlalu sempit. Sebaliknya, seksualiti merangkumi segala yang bersangkut-paut dengan perasaan cinta, hasrat (desire), hubungan intim (intimacy), perkahwinan, kawalan sosial, politik, ekonomi, dan agama. Berpegang tangan antara kekasih adalah satu tanda seksualiti seseorang. Seksualiti… Continue reading Pengajian Gender untuk Semua #1: Pengenalan kepada konsep ‘seksualiti’ dan Queer Theory

Sound, fury and écriture féminine in Violette (2013): a review

When I first heard about the film Violette (2013, dir. Martin Provost), I had little knowledge about the life and work of the French writer, Violette Leduc (1907-1972), on which the film was based. What drew me to the film was the fact that she was one time a protégé of Simone de Beauvoir. Imagine… Continue reading Sound, fury and écriture féminine in Violette (2013): a review

Competing ideological struggles and LGBTQ identities in multicultural Malaysia

I have an article published in a special issue on LGBT identities and cultures in Southeast Asia in Südostasien, a journal published by Stiftung Asienhaus, on LGBTQ identities in Malaysia today. It has been translated into German from English. Below is the article in English: Source: Wikimedia Commons Malaysia stands slightly part from its neighbours… Continue reading Competing ideological struggles and LGBTQ identities in multicultural Malaysia

Guest blog: Why can’t women wear short skirts?

Today we have a guest blog by Kaberi Dutta. Kaberi who is a nineteen year old Malaysian studying Social Anthropology and Law at SOAS, and hoping to alert people to the importance of feminism, one argument at a time. ***** Having grown up as a Malaysian Indian girl, who studied at an International school in… Continue reading Guest blog: Why can’t women wear short skirts?

New column on the Malay Mail: The economics of virginity in patriarchal Malaysia

My column on the Malay Mail, The economics of virginity in patriarchal Malaysia, published 2nd February 2015: Let’s forget that the hymen is central to the idea of (female) virginity. Focus instead on virginity as a cultural and social form of control. When we do this, we will discover that virginity is only a construct… Continue reading New column on the Malay Mail: The economics of virginity in patriarchal Malaysia