Tag:penalties

Darlings, let’s dim the neon lights for a moment and talk about the men behind them—the clients of Asia’s vast, complicated sex industry. Not the cartoon villains some activists imagine, nor the suave playboys of bad K-dramas. No, the real psychology is much messier, more mundane, and painfully revealing about our region’s gender norms. Let Auntie pour you some tea (hot, spicy, no sugar). At the core of the Asian sex buyer’s mind lies a powerful cocktail: loneliness, entitlement, secrecy, and the cultural permission slip that says men are “just...

If there is one topic that makes Auntie’s blood simmer like sambal on a low flame, it’s the long, tragic, infuriating history of gender selection in Asia. The quiet, polite cruelty of deciding a child’s worth before they even take their first breath. Selective abortions, abandoned newborn girls, ultrasound hush-hush deals, families whispering prayers for sons as if daughters were defective products—Auntie has seen it, heard it, and tasted the bitterness in a dozen countries from Delhi to Da Nang. Let’s be clear: this isn’t just a “cultural preference” or...

Auntie needs to have a stern word, again, with the self-appointed moral police who seem to think they’re the new headmasters of Asia’s playgrounds. You’d think, with everything going on in the world—economic troubles, political scandals, floods, real social issues—they’d have better things to do than policing cartoons. But no. A mermaid gives a peck on the cheek and suddenly the guardians of “public morality” come marching in like we’re on the brink of societal collapse. Please. Spare me the drama. Let’s get something straight, sweethearts: children are not fragile...

Let Auntie adjust her dupatta and sip her ginger tea before diving into this one — because yes, I am a proud, card-carrying pacifist. I would rather see armies turned into libraries, barracks transformed into community gardens, and all those defence budgets redirected to health, education, and childcare. But reality has a funny way of marching on, boots thumping, uniforms pressed, and flags flying. And if the world insists on keeping its militaries, then by all that is sacred and sensible, women must have every right to step into those...

Oh, New Zealand. Sweet, quiet, well-behaved New Zealand — land of hobbits, good manners, and public agencies that supposedly sparkle with integrity. And yet here we are. Your almost-Commissioner of Police, Jevon “I-Swear-I’m-Innocent” McSkimming, has been caught with more inappropriate material than a bored teenager with unlimited Wi-Fi. Except this was not a bored teenager. This was the man sitting one step below the most powerful policing role in the country. Using work devices. During office hours. Darling, even Southeast Asian politicians caught in karaoke bars are shaking their heads....