The Legal Janitor

Sorry for the long absence since the end of my exams, I had no access to the computer and internet for an unbearable few days, and serious withdrawal symptoms were starting to set in.

That said, I observe that the level of stupidity in Singapore has risen again, since the last time I was around to lay the smackdown on morons and idiots. The war against ignorance and stupidity is a neverending one, and since that my primary purpose for blogging, here I am again!

A certain Dr John, supposedly a real doctor, recently wrote a letter in to the Forum page of the Straits Times. The contents of his letter is reproduced here, I shall not copy-paste the whole thing, but highlight the relevant parts that are central to my critique.

Dr John says:

AFA’s Nikki ad (in both pictorial and verbal forms) obviously enticed and encouraged men to look at women in a less-than-dignified light.

Hmm. What have we learnt before about the understanding of symbols? Surely the fact that Dr John thinks Nikki makes men ‘look at women in a less-than-dignified light’ is a greater reflection of his own mental state than of the ad itself, no?

The implicit message of the ad was that ‘if you want to make use of this woman for your self-gratification, you can do so, but make sure you put on a condom’.

Implicit message. Interpreted by our good doctor. See above.

Women are wonderful members of the human race, indeed men’s esteemed partners, with a dignity we should respect absolutely.

Ok, this sounds good so far. We could do with a little bit less of that creepy goody-feely shit, but we get the gist of what he’s saying.

They should not be seen as objects for men to indulge their baser desires.

Wuzzah??? Starting from here, the phrasing is very important. We begin to get a clearer picture of what Dr John is really trying to say.

Women are our equals. They should be loved, not lusted after. They should be protected from HIV, not subjected to any risk of contracting it. Women deserve no less.

Yes! Women are equals! We must respect women! We must love women! We must not lust after women! We must not objectify women! We men are base creatures for feeling lust!

Oh hang on. What about women who want to be lusted after? What about women who are in tune with their sexuality? What about women who know and understand their own sensuality?

The problem with self-righteous moralising pricks like our dear Dr John, is that not only do they ignore the huge diversity of self-selected values and behaviours by capable adult women, they also presuppose that there is only a single type of ‘woman’ and how that ‘woman’ should be like.

In other words, Dr John is every bit guilty of objectifying women as those he accused of doing, as he himself is perpetuating the male-domination of ‘how women should be like’, ie the virtuous virgin.

By worshipping a virginal concept of how ‘women should be like’, he is denying that women are human beings capable of conscious will and have the freedom to choose. Every individual woman has a right to determine their own sexuality, and that could very well be wanting to be wanted, to be lusted after, as opposed to the sterilized version that Dr John proposes.

The most disgusting fact is that Dr John is just another chauvinist pig masquerading as a goody-feely, bleeding-heart ‘defender of women’, when he is in actual fact telling women how he thinks they should be. And the gall of him to accuse AFA of ‘objectifying women’.

So on top of sounding like a real jackass by lying about statistics and advocating some half-arsed religious agenda, he also reveals himself to be a complete moron. Seems that all those years in Evil Medical School? did nothing for his powers of logic and reasoning. Doctors may be able to treat illnesses, but they sure have problems dealing with social policy.

Tomorrow.sg - Lies and Bad Statistics when you push your religious agenda
sg_ljers: the religious right LIE again
Yawning Bread - Condoms only 85 percent effective - not true!