Singapore Indian Gay Men
In October 2007, the Singapore government declared that private, consensual, adult homosexual sex would no longer be prosecuted but that its illegality would remain.
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| North Indians yuppies |
All societies have multiple layers and innumerable pockets. Singapore is no exception. Even among gay Singaporeans, there are divisions, especially by race. Much of what is seen as Singaporean gayness actually reflects the attitudes and activities of the gay male Chinese, since their race makes up 78% of Singapore residents.
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| Blue-collar South Indian boys cruising around the cruisy Little India MRT Station |
In this piece, the writer takes a sharp look at Indian and Malay male homosexuals and the tensions between them and the Chinese. Indians and Malays make up about 7% and 14% respectively of our population. As for the lesbian angle, that's something else again!
This piece was originally written as a posting to SiGNeL, the Singapore gay and lesbian cyberforum. It was part of a thread of discussion about race and homosexuality.
| Minority race homosexuals in Singapore by Mr and Mrs Pussy |
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 The
other day, Sheila was asking whether there is a gay Indian scene in Singapore.
Predictably, the response was poor, probably an indicator of disinterest. Today
Anne asked about why dark skin is at the bottom of the desirability stakes in
Singapore. All nationalities have positive and negative feelings about others.
Elderly Europeans haven’t forgiven the Germans for two world wars; the Greeks
have few warm feelings towards the Turks, and so on. Equally, almost everybody
has sexual preferences involving physiognomy, size, weight, age and indeed,
race. But in Singaporean gay sexual politics, is racial preference largely
determined by society’s deep rooted antipathies towards other races, which has
the effect of marginalising non-Chinese homosexual men and women?
We know what follows is a generalisation. It has
to be. There is little research on homosexuality in Singapore; one has to rely
on anecdotal evidence and one's own experience of belonging to a minority. We
believe that negative feelings amongst the Chinese population as a whole towards
minorities in Singapore, has influenced homosexual politics. There is no denying
that in everyday life, Indians and Malays are stereotyped to an extent that is
both derisive and insulting.
The consequences of this polarisation for Chinese homosexuals are negligible. For Indians it is extremely significant. If, on the whole, the Chinese of your choice are out of reach because they don't want you or because you've internalised a pride-protecting mechanism, what choices do you have? Other Indians? No and yes. Because the Indian community in Singapore is small and cohesive (=kaypo) and because most Indian men who have sex with men also have wives and children, there is a marked reluctance to have sex with each other. Careless whispers and innuendo can lead to the destruction of marriage and family and ostracism from a tightly knit community. Of course, there are thousands of Indian and Bangladeshi migrant workers in Singapore who must count as potential sex partners for local Indians. They do have sex with each other, but on the whole the latter view themselves as having little in common with poor migrant workers. This is not true for Indians from JB and Malaysia and Indian immigrants newly arrived to write your software or run your polymer production plant, since they are educated and culturally, have more in common. In fact, there is quite a lot of coupling between Singapore and JB homosexual Indians since there are few marriage ties between the two communities and because both need to find partners outside their own communities. But, there is no getting away from the fact that many Indian homosexuals live in a sexual limbo, reluctant to cruise, spurned by the Chinese and not willing to risk losing everything by teaming up with a local Indian. This then is one consequence of negative stereotyping of an entire race in Singapore.
But like Indians, Malays perceive a welcome (certainly not cold rejection) from caucasians. And this has created another perception amongst the Chinese that Malays (if they think of them at all) are gold diggers, looking for sugar daddies in East/West bars such as Vincent's Lounge. But then is it not a widely held opinion among Chinese homosexuals who eschew Vincent's, that anybody who goes there is a sweet young gold digger looking for a benefactor? The Chinese/Caucasian debate on Signel, has mostly been hostile to the Caucasian. He is the "transgressor" seducing our "young Chinese youth". It's unclear if this is xenophobia, superiority, racial stereotyping or plain jealousy. But it's obvious that if Chinese homosexuals have a preference other than themselves, Caucasians come far higher up the list than Indians and Malays. It’s true that Caucasians in Singapore run after the Chinese. But this is not surprising given that they are the most visible and accessible homosexual majority, owning and patronising all the watering holes. Anyway, what’s the point of being posted to Singapore if your preference is for your own kind or Zulus? Do Indian lesbians suffer in the same way as Indian gay men? We don’t know but are sure somebody will enlighten us. Finally, to return to Sheila. There is a vibrant and rather public cruising culture for young Indians, mostly unmarried, in Singapore. Around Seranagoon Road from Teka market to Mustafa’s, are bus stops, toilets, quiet side streets, a bar and boutiques where cruising and sex takes place. On the whole, Indians cannot take their tricks home. Some rent rooms by the hour in shabby Serangoon hotels. More common are public couplings and group sex in dark corners, especially where redevelopment is taking place. For a cooler cruise, there is a favourite shopping centre in Selegie Road. A very few of the younger, better educated set, might venture to Fort Road beach.
Is there anything else you’d like to know? Mr & Mrs Pussy |
