Sexual lunacy- The Malaysian Insider
October 28, 2011 — Any tourist drawn to Malaysia for its beaches, nightlife or diverse culture would not bargain on finding another aspect of Malaysian life in her daily newspapers; a very public obsession with sex.
Not just plain old heterosexual making out but sodomy, orgies and illicit sex tapes, to name a few. On any given day, one could be confronted with graphic details of the number of men present in another man’s anus, or be inflicted with the supposedly moral advice to Muslim women in a polygamous marriage to have sex with their husband simultaneously.
On a slow news day, sex tapes of anybody from a Customs officer to an air steward or a senior politician can be released to add a sexual punch to the news. If nothing else, even minor children of politicians can be accused of sexual harassment. Move on to the classifieds and they seem to be full of offers for seven-star Oriental man-on-man massages available right at your doorstep, or any other combination of sexual services that your imagination may conjure up. The agony aunt columns are also invariably full of lurid descriptions of women being treated despicably by their sex-crazed partners.
What gives? Why is a relatively peaceful, middle-income, largely spiritual and charitable nation so obsessed with the outer fringes of sexual behaviour that would be more appropriate to the more outlandish and risqué part of the American pornographic industry?
It seems even more astonishing given the fact that Malaysia is at the heart of Asia with its deeply conservative approach to sexuality across cultures and religion. In Malaysia, pornography is officially banned, films and advertising are routinely monitored for sexual innuendos even, and there is a large government department charged with policing the morals of its Muslim population.
One could argue that where there is such a stark collision between tradition and modernity on one hand and between the three main races on the other, such interest in otherwise unmentionable sexual practices is inevitable. Young men and women transitioning from small towns to the big bad world of Kuala Lumpur have to grapple with the contrast between their conservative upbringing and the freewheeling nature of the big city where any kind of sexual service is available for a price.
Malays, Indians and Chinese kids have to adjust their beliefs on intermarriage to the realities of living in such close proximity to each other. The stresses and strains of these clashes are managed admirably by young people as a whole by learning to divide their self into public and private personas. They learn to be more cosmopolitan and liberal in their outlook when at work or study, but at home they revert back to what their community and faith expect of them in terms of sexuality.
But the consequence of leading this double life is often hypocrisy. There is a vicarious kind of pleasure in seeing the sexual escapades of other people in newsprint and the inevitable censure and opprobrium that follows. It vindicates their belief that their own peccadilloes need to be carried out behind closed doors and kept a tightly-guarded secret lest they meet the same fate as those on TV.
There is also a sense that whatever these people may project as leaders, they have the same, sometimes outlandish sexual needs and desires as us ordinary folk. And then there are those like the Obedient Wives Club who figure that one way to project Islam as modern is to advocate the absolute limits of sexual behaviour that could possibly be condoned by the religion.
Sex as news is the societal compromise Malaysia seems to have made. As long as sex is mentioned as part of real Malaysian life and not content deliberately designed to titillate (apologies), it can be as graphic as it needs to be. Sexual hypocrisy is the Malaysian way.
No Debbie Does Dallas here, but Sodomy II in full graphic detail is all the rage.
Not just plain old heterosexual making out but sodomy, orgies and illicit sex tapes, to name a few. On any given day, one could be confronted with graphic details of the number of men present in another man’s anus, or be inflicted with the supposedly moral advice to Muslim women in a polygamous marriage to have sex with their husband simultaneously.
On a slow news day, sex tapes of anybody from a Customs officer to an air steward or a senior politician can be released to add a sexual punch to the news. If nothing else, even minor children of politicians can be accused of sexual harassment. Move on to the classifieds and they seem to be full of offers for seven-star Oriental man-on-man massages available right at your doorstep, or any other combination of sexual services that your imagination may conjure up. The agony aunt columns are also invariably full of lurid descriptions of women being treated despicably by their sex-crazed partners.
What gives? Why is a relatively peaceful, middle-income, largely spiritual and charitable nation so obsessed with the outer fringes of sexual behaviour that would be more appropriate to the more outlandish and risqué part of the American pornographic industry?
It seems even more astonishing given the fact that Malaysia is at the heart of Asia with its deeply conservative approach to sexuality across cultures and religion. In Malaysia, pornography is officially banned, films and advertising are routinely monitored for sexual innuendos even, and there is a large government department charged with policing the morals of its Muslim population.
One could argue that where there is such a stark collision between tradition and modernity on one hand and between the three main races on the other, such interest in otherwise unmentionable sexual practices is inevitable. Young men and women transitioning from small towns to the big bad world of Kuala Lumpur have to grapple with the contrast between their conservative upbringing and the freewheeling nature of the big city where any kind of sexual service is available for a price.
Malays, Indians and Chinese kids have to adjust their beliefs on intermarriage to the realities of living in such close proximity to each other. The stresses and strains of these clashes are managed admirably by young people as a whole by learning to divide their self into public and private personas. They learn to be more cosmopolitan and liberal in their outlook when at work or study, but at home they revert back to what their community and faith expect of them in terms of sexuality.
But the consequence of leading this double life is often hypocrisy. There is a vicarious kind of pleasure in seeing the sexual escapades of other people in newsprint and the inevitable censure and opprobrium that follows. It vindicates their belief that their own peccadilloes need to be carried out behind closed doors and kept a tightly-guarded secret lest they meet the same fate as those on TV.
There is also a sense that whatever these people may project as leaders, they have the same, sometimes outlandish sexual needs and desires as us ordinary folk. And then there are those like the Obedient Wives Club who figure that one way to project Islam as modern is to advocate the absolute limits of sexual behaviour that could possibly be condoned by the religion.
Sex as news is the societal compromise Malaysia seems to have made. As long as sex is mentioned as part of real Malaysian life and not content deliberately designed to titillate (apologies), it can be as graphic as it needs to be. Sexual hypocrisy is the Malaysian way.
No Debbie Does Dallas here, but Sodomy II in full graphic detail is all the rage.
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