Tag:elites

Spicy Auntie has seen this show before. Different neighbourhoods, same script, same moral panic dressed up as “regulatory review”. Remove, hide, repress: the holy trinity of Singaporean governance whenever sex appears in public view. Not sex itself, of course — Singaporeans are not monks — but sex that refuses to stay invisible, tidy, and conveniently zoned away from good neighbourhoods, good schools, and good people who prefer not to think about what their neighbours might be paying for after dinner. Let’s be clear. Sex work exists in Singapore because there...

I have visited many temples in my life. I have bowed, knelt, chanted, lit incense, donated envelopes, listened politely to sermons delivered by men explaining suffering, attachment, compassion, desire, restraint—often while women quietly cleaned the floor behind them. So when I first encountered Songdhammakalyani, I didn’t feel scandal. I felt relief. Here, the voices leading the chant are women’s voices. Calm, disciplined, unperformative. No mystical theatrics, no patriarchal gravitas, no heavy symbolism of authority. Just practice. Just presence. And suddenly you realise how loud male dominance has always been in...

I have a complicated relationship with tradition. I respect it when it holds stories, skills, beauty, memory. I have far less patience when it is used as a velvet rope to keep women quietly outside, smiling politely while men perform rituals about strength, purity, and power. So when Japan’s prime minister calmly announced that she would not step onto the dohyō (sumo ring) and would not challenge the rule excluding women, my first reaction was not shock. It was a tired sigh. Ah yes. That tradition. Let’s be honest: this...

I am not going to Kelantan. Not for a conference, not for a festival, not even for “cultural curiosity.” Life is short, my passport has stamps to earn, and I have zero interest in spending my money in a place where my body, my clothes, my laughter, and my proximity to other human beings are treated as public risks to be managed. Let’s be clear: this is not about faith. I have worked with Muslim feminists, queer Muslims, and religious scholars across Asia who fight—often bravely—for dignity, consent, and justice...

If you ask me who I would vote for in this election, I’ll disappoint you by saying this first: I don’t vote for logos, slogans, or smiling men in white shirts. I vote for signals. For tone. For courage. For who dares to say certain words out loud without flinching. I would vote for the people who stopped whispering. For decades, Thai politics treated women, gender-diverse people and sex workers like embarrassing relatives at a family wedding—present, useful, but never acknowledged in public. Suddenly, during this campaign, some candidates have...