A line-up of exciting events, ready to make you laugh, cry and think. This year, we present 5 diverse events, and guess what, boys? You can come and play too.
Events in chronological order:
This ground-breaking event will cover issues that bisexuals face every day in coming out, relationships and finding their own space within the queer community. Can bisexuals ever be monogamous? Are bisexuals in straight relationships traitors to the GLBT community? Fearless and unshy of controversy, this forum is for anyone who has once asked these questions.
同不同 - DOES LIKENESS MATTER?
Date: Saturday, 4 August 2007
Time: 7:30 - 9:30 pm
Venue: 72-13 Queer-themed Chinese writing has found a place in Singapore’s literary landscape, individually. Now they will come together at this groundbreaking event, for dialogue and expression. Celebrating diversity, this promises to be a literary treat for all. Featuring academic and playwright Quah Syren, writer Ng How Wee, young writers Teng Qian Xi, Willy Yeo and more, the audience will be treated to a forum wherein the intricacies of forbidden love and its inspiration, as spoken through Singapore Chinese literary works (original and translated), are explored. Follow us as we seek camaraderie in diversity. Or perhaps it doesn’t matter at all.
How do women who don’t pair up primarily to procreate view the expiry of their youth and ovaries? Ovidia’s short story takes a light-hearted look at how one woman who’s no longer entitled to free drink vouchers on Ladies’ Nights survives the stereotypes of middle age, straying lovers and a (sterilised) ex-stray cat.Yi-sheng’s offering, on the other hand, is a spicy phantasmagoric romp through the eyes of a man who sexually desires old men.
Queer relationships don’t last compared to straight relationships. In this talk, Anj Ho will challenge such myths with research literature and present to you what have been found to make relationships tick. Regardless of your orientation, you will find this interactive talk refreshingly informative.
OCWomen and Sayoni are pleased to bring you a groundbreaking workshop which focusses on our selves in relationships.
The workshop takes you through a light-hearted process of reflection on your past/present relationships with the aim of providing you with greater clarity and self awareness.
Understanding the types of relationships we have lived through and the dynamics in the partnerships we make, gives clarity to what we are like when we are in a relationship. Understanding ourselves in our relationships is key to truly living a relationship.
Clarity and honesty within is crucial when inspecting our numerous motivations and our modes of operation. Only then will we begin to know who we truly are and build the relationship that resonates us. There will also be interactive discussions on the types of relationships, the roles that we play in them and signs of negative relationships.
Event: Tall Tales and Short Stories
Date: 5th August 2007 (Sunday)
Time: 7:30 - 9:30pm
Venue: 72-13
How do women who don’t pair up primarily to procreate view the expiry of their youth and ovaries? Ovidia’s short story takes a light-hearted look at how one woman who’s no longer entitled to free drink vouchers on Ladies’ Nights survives the stereotypes of middle age straying lovers and a (sterilised) ex-stray cat.
Yisheng’s offering, on the other hand, a deliberately absurd story about Vladimir Koh Nah Bay, a young man who is sexually attracted to only male senior citizens. Vladimir describes his youthful discovery of his urges, his rapid rise through the world of commerce due to his affairs, and his scandalous liaisons with unnamed political figures. The entire tale is told in the form of an official letter which forbids the reading of the story on the grounds of its disturbing effectiveness in converting people to be attracted to old men.
Licence from MDA pending.
Ng Yi-Sheng
Ng Yi-Sheng is a poet, playwright and writer. His first book of poetry, “Last Boy”, was published in 2006. His poems have also been published in the poetry anthologies “First Words”, “onewinged”, “No Other City” and “Love Gathers All”, as well as the journals “the2ndRule”, “QRLS”, “Softblow”, “Quarto”, “Asian Journal” and “Queer”. He won the SPH-Theatreworks 24-hour Playwriting Competition two years in a row, in 1998 and 1999, and has been published in the play anthology “5 under 25″. His performed plays include “Serve”, “Snake”, “Redhill Blues”, “Hungry”, “251″ and “Georgette: The Musical”. In 2006, he published a collection of gay, lesbian and bisexual Singaporeans’ coming out stories, “SQ21: Singapore Queers in the 21st Century”.
Ovidia Yu
Ovidia Yu is an award-winning female novelist, short-story writer and playwright. She is the recipient of the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI) Singapore Foundation Culture Award (1996), the National Arts Council (NAC) Young Artist Award (1996) and the Singapore Youth Award (1997). Her plays have been peformed locally and abroad.
Event : Your relationships and you
Date: 12th August 2007 (Sunday)
Time: 3 - 6:30pm
Venue: 72-13
OCWomen and Sayoni are pleased to bring you a groundbreaking workshop which focusses on our selves in relationships.
The workshop takes you through a light-hearted process of reflection on your past/present relationships with the aim of providing you with greater clarity and self awareness.
Understanding the types of relationships we have lived through and the dynamics in the partnerships we make, gives clarity to what we are like when we are in a relationship. Understanding ourselves in our relationships is key to truly living a relationship.
Clarity and honesty within is crucial when inspecting our numerous motivations and our modes of operation. Only then will we begin to know who we truly are and build the relationship that resonates us. There will also be interactive discussions on the types of relationships, the roles that we play in them and signs of negative relationships.
Have you been to forums in which lesbian women share about their relationships? What have you heard?
Stories of difficult love and barriers galore… the search for family acceptance of oneself and partners… the average lesbian relationship is given 7 years. Long-lived relationships are barely heard of; the occasional decade-long ones are much revered and looked upon as mythical creatures.
How much of gender differences come into play in the dynamics of relationships? Is love really all it takes for “forever”? In this interactive talk, you will be introduced- from the eye of research literature- to what contributes to relationship longevity and satisfaction; what separates straight relationships from queer ones.
You will be surprised… for what you think isn’t always what is.
Queer-themed Chinese writing has found a place in Singapore’s literary landscape, individually. Now they will come together at this groundbreaking event, for dialogue and expression. Celebrating diversity, this promises to be a literary treat for all.
Featuring academic and playwright Quah Sy Ren, writer Ng How Wee, young writers Teng Qian Xi, Irene Oh, Hong Simin and more, the audience will be treated to a forum wherein the intricacies of forbidden love and its inspiration, as spoken through Singapore Chinese literary works (original and translated), are explored. Follow us as we seek camaraderie in diversity.
Event: Bifocal
Date: 4th August 2007
Time: 3pm
Venue: 72-13
Can you remember the last time someone had a talk on bisexuality?
Wait, have we ever had a talk on bisexuality? Sure there are offensive articles published on gay websites, accompanied by even more offensive comments. Sure there are threads running in forums and mailing lists about how much they hate bisexuals. Sure there are people on both sides of the gender and sexuality fence cursing the B-word. But there still has never been anything that directly [and unbiasedly] tackles the issue on a community level. For all our political discourse, for all the coming out, relationship, single, chinese, artistic events, [insert what you've got] talks, forums, workshops and support groups we have every year, both within and without Indignation, this issue has gone entirely unaddressed.
This year, we plan to correct this omission - we are going to put the B back in the LGBTQ[IT?]. Organised by Sayoni, we present BiFocal, a forum on bisexuality, for both men and women. This ground-breaking event will cover issues that bisexuals face in their everyday life, in coming out, in relationships, in finding their own space within the queer community.
What does it really mean to be bisexual, in a world that is discovering its sexual fluidity? Who qualifies as a bisexual – is there a qualification at all? Can bisexuals ever be monogamous? Are bisexuals in straight relationships traitors? Are bisexuals separate from the gay community or part of it? Come down to hear various points of view on all these questions and more, in this fun, interactive forum.
If you wish to know more about this forum, feel free to email admin@sayoni.com. Also feel free to leave comments on this post on the issue, suggest topics for discussion et cetera.
Once again, it’s time to celebrate gay pride. As in the last few years, August is Singapore’s gay pride season. This year’s Events Calendar (subject to change) can be seen at
Indignation, Singapore’s Pride Season organized by People Like Us, is coming around again. To be held in the month of August, it once again celebrates the diversity of interests of the LGBT communities. The program will have art, photography, poetry, plays, talks and outdoor events.
This will be the third in the Indignation series, after successful seasons in 2005 and 2006.
Sayoni, a proud member of People Like Us will be organizing a series of events in Indignation. Watch this space as you bring you more memories and updates.
We met almost purely by chance, I think. What were the odds you would stumble on my Fridae profile when we weren’t remotely connected, and actually take time to read through it? Or that you would message me and tell me how you found me interesting.You know, I didn’t even think you were pretty. I was already thinking of how to say no to you.
And then I heard your voice, your words. I felt the chemistry, the connection forming between two people over the phone. It was instant, precipitating out of everything we said to each other, and more importantly, what we didn’t say.
I was off cycling with Mum at the beach… because she wanted my company. The weather was wonderful- neither sunny nor rainy. So we went on two separate bikes, much to my consternation. For she’s a slow cyclist. And i had to keep going at her snail pace. [Which i did. Mums get away with almost everything- in my case.]
The pleasant trip was tainted somewhat when she made a remark about how “lesbians won’t last in relationships” and cited how some of the tomboys she knew in her teenage years were later married to men. I happily told her that some of the lesbians i now know were married to men. It goes both ways. And they come with children from the straight marriage they had.
This ground-breaking event will cover issues that bisexuals face every day in coming out, relationships and finding their own space within the queer community. Can bisexuals ever be monogamous? Are bisexuals in straight relationships traitors to the GLBT community? Fearless and unshy of controversy, this forum is for anyone who has once asked these questions.
Queer-themed Chinese writing has found a place in Singapore’s literary landscape, individually. Now they will come together at this groundbreaking event, for dialogue and expression. Celebrating diversity, this promises to be a literary treat for all. Featuring academic and playwright Quah Syren, writer Ng How Wee, young writers Teng Qian Xi, Willy Yeo and more, the audience will be treated to a forum wherein the intricacies of forbidden love and its inspiration, as spoken through Singapore Chinese literary works (original and translated), are explored. Follow us as we seek camaraderie in diversity. Or perhaps it doesn’t matter at all.
