Girls get Bald and Beautiful

Girls get Bald and Beautiful

By Amanda Zhang, 8 September 2006

When one sees a girl with a shaven head, a few thoughts possibly come immediately to mind — that the girl could either be a radical or that she could be suffering from cancer.

In July, some women in Singapore made a bold move involving the combination of both thoughts – they went bald to raise funds for cancer patients.


The movement was part of the Hair for Hope event organized by the Children’s Cancer Foundation.

NUS law alumnus, Teo Minzi, was one of 197 females who shed her locks to support the cause.

She described the experience as “liberating.”

According to Teo, her head felt lighter and she could “literally feel each drop of water and each caress of the wind on her naked scalp.”

In addition to the physical liberation, Teo said she was glad she had shaved her head for a good cause.

She said she managed to raise quite a large sum and attributed her achievement to her baldness, which had a “visual and direct impact on others.”

“As long as you believe in it, I think shaving your head is worth it,” she added.

Singapore raw to female bald heads

Teo may be all praise for her new bald look but she is also aware of the stigma attached to the image of a bald female. She said it was possible that some females in Singaporeans not able to shave their heads due to a corporate image that they have to upkeep.

Having just left her previous job, Teo said she did not have to deal with such a problem.

Debbie Ding, a fourth-year arts student, went through the gender barrier that Teo talked about.

Ding said she had wanted to shave her head but her parents objected to her decision. According to Ding, her parents thought she would be “less of a girl” if she went bald.

“It’s difficult for girls to find socially accepted causes for shaving their heads,” Ding said. “While it’s a good idea because it’s very visible and provocative, more conservative people still dislike it.”

The gender-based stigma may not be as apparent overseas.

Hannah Lim, a Singaporean exchange student from the University of British Columbia, shaved off all her hair when she was in Vancouver in April last year.

Lim said there is a large diversity of people, ranging from Goths to skater-boys, in Vancouver and bald girls were “simply another statement” that blended in with the wide social strata.

Hannah Lim, feeling liberated

Lim added that there are regular shaving events in Canada to help raise funds for cancer patients and that such events are probably still “a new culture” in Singapore.

As being part of this foreign culture, Lim said she received stares from people both in the streets and at church upon returning to Singapore a month after shaving off her hair. She added that her friends and family were initially shocked and not used to seeing her bald.

“I think people thought that I was going through a rebellious phase,” Lim said.

Despite the social consequences, Lim said she felt more confident when she is bald.

“Bald is beautiful,” she said.

Hair for Hope was held at Suntec City’s Fountain of Wealth on Jul. 23 and Jul. 30. A total of 900 volunteer shed their locks, of which 127 of them were female.

Organized by the Children’s Cancer Foundation (CCF), the shaving of healthy participants’ heads was symbolic of the cancer patients’ fight against the disease.

In a bid to lend moral support to children with cancer, the ambassadors who volunteered to shave their hair at Hair for Hope attempted to show that there is nothing wrong about being bald.

After shaving their hair, the ambassadors would receive a pledge card with which they can solicit donations. The project ambassadors were also able to raise funds using an online pledge which allowed people to donate money through internet banking.

For more information, please visit http://www.ccf.org.sg/hfh/

Women have all the fun

The stigma on going bald does not always fall on the female gender.

Nabil Mustafiz, a second-year law student, said in jest that there was a downside to shaving his hair at the Hair for Hope event.

“I had to make extra effort to distinguish myself from new recruits when I was out,” he said. “I even grew facial hair.”

On a more serious note, Mustafiz admitted that the experience of shaving one’s hair completely is probably “more exciting” for females than males judging from the way the media focused on the former during the event.

“In Singapore, all NS-trained men have at least shaved their head once,” he added.

Despite the downside to being bald, the law student said he “still stands by the good cause behind the event.”

A bold commitment for both men and women

Lay Shi Wei, a business undergraduate, said he found it admirable that both women and men participated in Hair for Hope.

Lay heard of the event from a friend only after it ended and had thus “regrettably” missed the chance to be part of it.

“I think it was meaningful. It is a more effective means of raising funds and also awareness as compared to charity stunts on television,” he said. “It is a greater commitment than just making a phone call. Your appearance is affected and it involves a longer period of time.”

Link to article>>

PinkBox Japan

Japanese subculture, Japanese sex clubs, and women in Japan

Book Description
In Pink Box, photographer Joan Sinclair takes us on a journey inside the secret world of fuzokukawaii (commercial sex) in Japan, a world where (cute) collides with consumerism and sex.

Unrivaled in their creativity and the sheer number of choices, the clubs featured in this book offer their clientele every fantasy imaginable. Subway groping, visits to the nurse’s office, and comic book character encounters are just the beginning of the immense list of possibilities that are played out in colorful playrooms for adults where no detail is overlooked. Sinclair’s photographs capture it all, while an introduction by sociologist James Farrer provides a brief history of commercial sex in Japan and places the images in the context of contemporary Japanese culture. spotted in boeboeing.net | Amazon

insightful read >> Pink Box interview with the female photographer

What is it about Japan that makes this industry so ubiquitous?

A 400 year old history of the industry, a lack of a Judeo-Christian religious philosophy, a need for release in an especially tightly wound society, an emphasis on customer appreciation, a set of laws so complex that the industry is virtually legal…

And the costumes and fantasy rooms. What makes them so popular?

In Japan, company uniforms and school uniforms are still widely used. People’s social place is identifiable at a glance by their costume. These clubs allow people to break the social rules, using everyday archetypes. The schoolgirl, the commuting secretary- the women you see every day- are forbidden fruit. These sexualized archetypes are reflected in Japan’s wildly popular dirty comic books.

So, are these clubs legal?

Gray zone. The bottom line is that most of them are officially operating illegally because they don’t have the proper licenses. But, as long as the girls are stopping short of having actual intercourse for money, the clubs are allowed to operate. So, most of the clubs offer absolutely everything imaginable but sex.

The industry is so clean in some ways—another Japanese paradox.

The prices and house rules are all written out in detail. Nothing is left to chance. The services were listed on ‘menus’. The extra services were so creative- to a degree that you just don’t see here.

Were the women all Japanese, or were many Asian immigrants?

The book is about Japanese sex clubs that cater to Japanese men, and the women working in the ones I shot are overwhelmingly Japanese. Generally, they are women who have chosen to do it—middle-class, educated women—not women trying to feed their families or get drugs

But there are neighborhoods in Japan where Thai, Filipina, Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese sex workers are brought over by the Japanese mafia to work as prostitutes. A lot of them are working off debt, and they’re forced to overstay their visas.

I chose for editorial reasons to keep that aspect out and limit the scope of the book. But people should know that’s not the whole story. One of the things Westerners kept telling me was: “Find the sad stories; you’re not going deep enough!” But with the Japanese women, I kept looking for psychological damage, exploitation and abuse—and I didn’t find any of it. I found very balanced women making a personal choice. Once in a while one of them would say, “I can’t have one-night stands because I feel I should get paid for them.” Those kind of statements gave me pause.

How much do these girls earn?

In general, about $140,000 per year, about what a first-year lawyer in the US earns. They get a base salary, plus cuts of the extra options, usually 50 percent, and a bit of extra money for being chosen. If you’re working at a health or image club, and you’re chosen from the photo catalog, you might get a $25 bonus for a forty minute session. And that encourages repeat customers, regulars who get hooked on one girl.

Many of the girls are educated and middle class. Do their parents know?

Many clubs offered so-called ‘alibi services’. A lot of the women still lived at home, which is common in Japan for individuals even into their 30s and 40s. They would tell their parents that they were makeup artists or waitresses. If the parents called that line, the club would answer, “Hello, Denny’s”—or wherever the women were pretending to work.

That’s ingenuous.

Well, the clubs compete with each other for the women so fiercely that the women themselves are the prized commodity. The managers really want to keep them so they take good care of them.

What about their futures? Do they get stuck in the sex industry, unable to break the addiction to quick cash, like so many American performers?

A lot of the Japanese women try it for a month or two, then quit, get married, and never tell their husbands. It’s really hard work, and the ones who do it for years don’t stay in the industry for decades. A lot of them have Bachelor’s degrees, since Japan boasts a 99% literacy rate. Generally, they can’t be on drugs—they’d get fired. In Japan, you need to use the more difficult formal form of honorable language to address customers, so any drug or alcohol abuse would be obvious and quickly discouraged. Their social demands are so much more complex than ours.

How did you feel as an American woman and mother encountering Japan’s comparatively more public pedophilic fantasies?

The first thing I had to do was put aside my preconceptions and some of my feelings. The schoolgirl fantasy is ubiquitous in Japan.

It’s a complex subject. A lot of Asian women look younger than they are—especially compared to Western women. But that’s an integral part of the industry, not only in Japan. It’s too critical to ignore just because it might offend.

What did disturb me was the sale of middle-school girls’ uniforms, and videos and magazines that featured young girls. I was surprised and saddened by that. Some of the video footage is taken by men posing as parents. I had more of a problem with that than the fantasies.

Are all of the customers male?

No, there are clubs for women where men provide female customers with services. And their customers are predominantly older women.

The real question is: Who has the power? Is it the customer paying for a fantasy, or the women and men getting paid quite well to tease, flirt, flatter and sometimes satisfy? Was it difficult selecting the photos? Were you concerned about offending readers?

I decided to include some of the racier images. The Japanese sex industry is complicated-it’s bizarre and creative and over-the top and colorful, but the bottom line is what happens inside those private rooms. I wanted the book to be both honest and complete- which means some of the photos are difficult to look at.

So what is the relationship between the mafia and the sex industry?

Most of the clubs are yakuza owned. They often sell oshiburi (moist washcloths) at a premium to the clubs. Extortion.

And every club has a ketsumochi (literally ass-holder), a low level mafia go-between, on the payroll of each club. If a customer is rowdy or rude to a girl, the ketsumochi has the yakuza deal with the troublemakers.

What did the clubs feel like inside?

They were crowded and they stank of whiskey and smoke. They were also claustrophobic and dark, with high volume techno music booming through the speakers. I had to learn to clean my cameras because of all the smoke, and I had a rule never to change to anything about the room or the way the girl was dressed.

How did you take the pictures?

I had both a digital camera and a Mamiya, a medium-format film camera. And because it was so dark, I had an off-shoe cord with a flash that I turned down to 1/16th power and did a little bit of a bounce flash to preserve the ambient lighting (black lights, colorful lights). Some of the private rooms were so small that I didn’t have room to spread out the legs of a tripod, so I used a monopod (camera on a stick!).

Upcoming Woman's Events

For Ladies, Tai Tai wanna be's and the New Age Woman...



Women Expo 2006 | Women Expo 2005 Photo Gallery

More >>

Women Expo 2006
Once again, ladies young and mature all over the region unite in a much-anticipated event that celebrates the confident femininity of today’s women for the second year running. The New Age Woman is a contrast of strength and beauty, traditional values and innovative energies. She is unpredictable, extraordinary, financially empowered and totally exciting. Watch the modern woman unveil at the 2nd edition of Women Expo. Viva Women!

Showcasing the latest in lifestyle, beauty, health and wellness, Women Expo 2006 is slated to bring more than 50,000 visitors and 80 exhibitors together over 3 days of vibrant interaction, fruitful exchanges and fulfilling experiences. Call it the pulse of high living or the perfect platform for women’s marketing. Either way, the event has the blessings of Venus to succeed! So celebrate the joys of womanhood and join us at Women Expo 2006!

Venue:	Singapore Expo Hall 6B
Date:	29 September - 1 October 2006
Opening Hours:	11am - 9pm
Admission:	Free

BEAUTY for Miss Vanity
Slimming services . Skin care
Cosmetics . Manicure/Pedicure

LIFESTYLE for the Cool Lass
Audio . Notebook computer
Mobile Phones . Television . Portable Audio
Digital Camera . Telco/ISP
Smart Home Appliances . Automobile
Property . Travel

SPA DESTINATION for the Chill-out Gal
Resort/Hotel spas . Cruise spas . Destination spas
Fitness spas . Medical spas . Mineral Spring spas
Airline carriers . Travel agencies
National Tourism Organisations

JEWELLERY & WINE for the Glam Queen
Jewellery . Wine Merchants . Wine pubs

HEALTH & FITNESS for the Tough Cookie
Fitness clubs . Yoga centres . Pilates centres
Aerobics . Golf . Swimming . Health Products

NEW MUM for the Family Woman
Maternity . Infant food & nutrition . Infant toys
Infant wear . Infant care

CASH-IT for the Aspiring Tai-Tai
Accessories . Shoes . Handbags . Apparels

Women Make a Difference. WMD . more >>

..: Flickr gallery :..

Celebrities on WMD

Singer/actress KIT CHAN“The most direct way to help women and children who have been trafficked or forced into prostitution is by donating money. If you have money, give money. If you have ability, give ability. Singaporeans need a campaign. If the message was being broadcast loud and clear, it will change things.”

Toy Factory Theatre’s Artistic Director BEATRICE CHIA“Action can and must be taken immediately. The fact that these children and women are only an hour away tells us that we really have no excuse not to act on it. It would be like watching our neighbour’s house burn down and not bothering to help. It is not enough to highlight the problem but to actively urge Singaporeans with compassion and time to volunteer their help.”

Businesswoman and former model NANZ CHONG“As an entrepreneur, I say money screams. Money saves lives. With money we can send out people, build educational centres, build hospitals. People without a vision will go back to their past. Money will give them a hope and a vision. It would be good to help these cities where the victims come from. Build schools, equip the people with specific skills. Each village should be known for a specific skill or art, each town has a certain branding. Transform the towns, develop industries that need people, like tourism, create jobs, opportunities.”

Singer and CEO of City Harvest Community Services Association SUN HO“Our ethos at City Harvest Community Services Association (CHCSA) has always been to find a need and meet it, to find a hurt and heal it. I would consider the victims of sex trafficking as individuals that I would want to help through CHCSA, to provide counseling, shelter and a follow-through program that can take them slowly but surely through the process of recovery. I hope to help them regain a vision for their future.”

MTV host and star of Eye For A Guy DENISE KELLER“I’m appalled at hearing about Singapore army boys who use their allowance to “satisfy their sexual curiosity” by going to places like Batam to use underaged girls for sex. As an army personnel, you are entrusted with the very protection of those unable to protect themselves, such as children.”

Nominated Member of Parliament EUNICE OLSEN“I think this is an urgent problem. Why is having sex with minors an offence for Singaporeans here but not outside of Singapore? This is not what our country is built on! Enacting the anti-sex tourism law will do two things: it will deter and it will punish. This is not condoned, so we need to enact the law. We need to send a message: THIS IS WRONG!”

Actress KAREN TAN“The abuse of children for sex is a very upsetting issue. Child pornography is insidious, an evil invented by man. Child abuse of every kind is wrong. My daughter Rachel is nine, which is how young some of the victims of forced prostitution are. Sometimes when I’m putting her to bed at nine, and she’s yawning, I think in another country, a little girl her age is being woken up to go to work.”

Actress TAN KHENG HUA“Whatever little celebrity I have, I hope will help the cause. Awareness is important — we will have made a difference if we made even just one guy reconsider.”

NUSSU elects first female president

NUSSU elects first female president

By Steven Lim, Campus Observer
12 September 2006

The NUS Students’ Union has elected its first female president.

Tay E Teng, fourth-year Business School undergraduate, was elected as President of the NUSSU 28th executive committee.

The sole nominee for the position of President during a council meeting held on Sep. 8, she received an overall vote of confidence.

Tay will succeed Danny Quek, the outgoing 27th president, with running mate Donald Koh, a third-year Industrial Design undergraduate.

Like Tay, Koh was the sole nominee for the position of Vice-President.

Endorsing Tay’s capability, Quek said, “She is able and has the heart. The gender should not matter.”

“I had wanted her to be President. She has established very good contacts with the administration,” said Tan Ee Yong, the outgoing Honorary Financial Secretary.

Agreeing, Lionel Wong, the incoming Honorary General Secretary, said, “I think she has a wealth of experience to bring with her. It doesn’t matter at all if she is male or female.”

Tay is the outgoing vice-president and was a previous council representative of Business Club. She was also one of the founding members of “Hooked!”, an online magazine.

During the 30-minute presentation, she articulated her vision for the new committee and stressed the need to not lose sight of the union’s vision.

“The overarching principle of the Union is to serve students and uphold their welfare. Ultimately, the aim is towards a united and relevant union which truly represents student interests,” she said.

As part of her plans to serve students better, she aims to raise awareness and establish a stronger union presence amongst students.

“To better engage students, I hope to get more feedback from students, through dialogue sessions, focus groups or surveys. We will brand ourselves better,” she added.

Her desire to improve NUSSU’s branding stems in part from a perceived lack of recognition from the student body.

“The outgoing committee had done a lot, such as the restoration of the mid-term break. But a lot of students take it for granted. They don’t know the difficulties involved,” Tay said.

The mid-semester break was reduced from 7 to 5 days in 2004.

In addition, she intends for the new committee to improve on its external branding by leveraging on existing projects such as Funkamania. Other new initiatives include the Tok Kok Campaign and Cuisine Fiesta.

While acknowledging the novelty of her position as the first female NUSSU President, she does not feel that her gender should not be an issue at all.

“Gender does not make a difference. It’s all about your willingness to serve. I hope to make a difference,” she said.

Link>>http://campusobserver.org/2006/September/12/nussupres/nussupres.htm

Aware calls for stiffer laws on child sex abuse

Singapore

Aware calls for stiffer laws on child sex abuse

Theresa Tan

9 September 2006, Straits Times

Group suggests definition of sex exploitation be widened, offenders' registry be set up

SINGAPORE has been urged to enact tough new laws to clamp down on paedophiles who travel abroad to have sex with children.

Even the intent to sexually exploit children overseas should be a punishable offence, says the women's advocacy group, Aware.

And those who aid and abet individuals to have sex with minors overseas - such as travel agents who organise child sex tours - should also be punished.

Aware argued that the definition of sexual exploitation of children should be broadened to include other acts of indecency besides sex.

It also suggests that a registry of sex offenders be set up to track and help these sex offenders to reduce the risk of them preying on children again, said an Aware report released yesterday.

The report - which examined laws to curb the scourge of child sex tourism - comes five months after the Government announced that Singaporeans travelling abroad for sex with children may face prosecution when they return home.

While hailing the Government's move to implement such extra-territorial laws, the report also pointed out the difficulties of enforcing these laws and suggested ways to overcome the hurdles.

For example, getting the young victim of sexual abuse to testify may be difficult. There is also the difficulty of verifying a child's age in some countries where passports or other official documents are lacking.

Ms Azmeen Moiz, one of the report's authors, added: 'You are dealing with corruption and poverty here.'

She pointed out that in previous cases, some victims had changed their testimony after they were bribed. But the 'ultimate problem' is the fact that few victims report the abuse.

Still, for the extra-territorial laws to be effective, Singapore has to tie up with foreign intelligence and enforcement agencies.

The report cited how international cooperation led to the arrest of Singaporean polytechnic lecturer Darwis Rianto Lim, who allegedly tried to buy sex from teenage boys in Bangkok, last year.

Lim was nabbed after American officers started monitoring his Internet postings seeking sex with teenage boys. The Americans tipped off the Thai police, who arrested the man. Lim, however, jumped bail and is now on the run.

While Ms Azmeen conceded that monitoring the activities of potential abusers is tough, she pointed out that much depends on political will.

She said: 'Without the political will to curb the problem, the new law will be just another piece of legislation.'