i see an increased number of questions such as "2 men going out together = gay?", "do you dare to run topless?", "do you dare to walk around your corridor topless?", "do you dare to bath in the nude at the pool cubicles" being asked... harlow! in the 80s/ 90s, it was perfectly normal to do all these. no questions asked. hmmmm... perhaps this has direct correlations to the constant blasts of hot 6-packed perfections everywhere? (haha... why am i suddenly so aware of my one big pack now!?)
on the same token, i see the trend of guys getting more and more aware and shy and feeling uncomfortable with people looking at them (be it real or percieved) in male public spaces such as toilets and pools. it's like as though people around them are awaiting to prey on them... and this is reflected in the way construction of public spaces has evolved over the years. for example, we used to have those common drain urinals, over time, these have been removed and changed to single person urinals, and even then, these days, we have partitions being created between 2 single male urinals... similarly, in the past, public pool shower areas came with common open sharing shower areas, these have gradually been replaced with single doorless ones. then, curtained shower cubicles were the order of the day... and the latest trend is to install doors for these doorless cubicles... interesting cases of changes in public areas to protect the pubic areas.
i do ask myself objectively - do these developments suggest the singaporean male's increasing insecurities about their own body, or for that matter, their sexuality?...
hmmm....
ps: don't you just love the cute innocent face! hahaha!
picture from http://thefreshxpress.com/2010/06/insecurity-is-the-reason-why-men-hate/on the same token, i see the trend of guys getting more and more aware and shy and feeling uncomfortable with people looking at them (be it real or percieved) in male public spaces such as toilets and pools. it's like as though people around them are awaiting to prey on them... and this is reflected in the way construction of public spaces has evolved over the years. for example, we used to have those common drain urinals, over time, these have been removed and changed to single person urinals, and even then, these days, we have partitions being created between 2 single male urinals... similarly, in the past, public pool shower areas came with common open sharing shower areas, these have gradually been replaced with single doorless ones. then, curtained shower cubicles were the order of the day... and the latest trend is to install doors for these doorless cubicles... interesting cases of changes in public areas to protect the pubic areas.
i do ask myself objectively - do these developments suggest the singaporean male's increasing insecurities about their own body, or for that matter, their sexuality?...
hmmm....
ps: don't you just love the cute innocent face! hahaha!
erm... not use to it perhaps... I mean even within the family, you see older male relatives usually topless at home while the younger one's rarely do so.
ReplyDeleteHerm... maybe airconds are more common these days?
its just no longer a norm perhaps...
but hor, think there's a trend to it... as in maybe in another 20 years, we will start to see topless male running around =P
it was never an issue for us to be topless some 20 years back... now, going topless macam taken as indecent exposure...
ReplyDeleteInteresting post.
ReplyDeleteI agree, I think insecurity is the issue here. Probably because the media is constantly bombarding us with pictures of hunks with tight abs and amazing bodies. So we can't help but comparing ourselves. And when we see our less than perfect sculpture, we tend to feel inferior, thus the need to cover up.
have a great week ahead jason!
ReplyDeletePerhaps more aware of how their bodies look, more self-conscious :)
ReplyDeleteheightened self-conscious leading to the accentuation of inferiority complex as a result of constant misleading media blast?
ReplyDelete