Shvarts in her Studio

Or when abortion becomes art.

Beginning next Tuesday, Shvarts will be displaying her senior art project, a documentation of a nine-month process during which she artificially inseminated herself 'as often as possible' while periodically taking abortifacient drugs to induce miscarriages. Her exhibition will feature video recordings of these forced miscarriages as well as preserved collections of the blood from the process. [Read the full article]

Shocked? Disgusted? Fascinated? Whatever your reaction is, you are probably not alone – thousands of people in Yale and in the bloggosphere have been actively voicing their views on Shvarts’ “artwork”. I put those in quotation marks, because like the (badly written) “artwork” Jodie chooses to display at the end of Season 5 of The L Word, this didn’t really make all that sense to me. But then, I was never a fan of abstract art.

The creator explains her artwork further in another news article.

It creates an ambiguity that isolates the locus of ontology to an act of readership. An intentional ambiguity pervades both the act and the objects I produced in relation to it. The performance exists only as I chose to represent it. For me, the most poignant aspect of this representation- the part most meaningful in terms of its political agenda (and, incidentally, the aspect that has not been discussed thus far)- is the impossibility of accurately identifying the resulting blood. Because the miscarriages coincide with the expected date of menstruation (the 28th day of my cycle), it remains ambiguous whether the there was ever a fertilized ovum or not. The reality of the pregnancy, both for myself and for the audience, is a matter of reading.

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Sayoni commemorated our 2nd Anniversary in style on 12th April, at a rustic world-war-II bunker-like space in Food#03, a rising social entrepreneurship cafe. The party was the culmination of months of planning and preparation, from the drinks to the decorations.

We were hosted by O’Ren Ishii, a new-found MCing talent within Sayoni who entertained the crowd with her wicked sense of humour and presentation.

The highlight of the party was the Sayoni Awards 2008, where a series of fun titles were handed out to our beloved members, such as Drama Queen of the Year, Sticky Rice Couple of the Year etc.

 

But apart from poking harmless fun at our members, we also know how to honour the outstanding women in our community. Ms Yong Meiling was awarded the prestigious Sayoni Woman of the Year 2008 title, with a beautiful crystal trophy.

This is what Jean had to say when she honoured Ms Yong Meiling with the trophy.

I first got to know Meiling in 2005, hoping to meet the leaders who are in charge of OC Women. We met up, I remember Meiling said she was ‘just helping out’ and nothing more. Over the years, it became, ‘helping out’, to ‘contributing’ to Program Director of OC women. And maybe boss now.

Empathetic, Street smart and certainly no push over, Meiling has shown a remarkable willingness to make a step back for others to lead, change her mind over issues and stand up for those she believes in. We have all seen how OC women’s support group changed people’s lives. Always wanting to ignore our presence, society and gay men alike, it has been the ‘hope in the dark’ when all else is bleak in the society we live in now. Without demanding for hope, we would not have struggled, and without struggle we would not have been here. Virginia Woolf wrote in her journal, “The future is dark, which is on the whole, the best thing the future can be, I think.” Dark, she seems to say, not as in terrible. We often mistake the one for the other. To me, dark as in the familiar female womb where we all come from ready to burst forward to find the light at the end of the tunnel. Today, we honor Yong Meiling, helper to program director of OC Women.

We hope to celebrate many many more anniversaries with you, and continue honouring women in our community.

We would like to remind all our readers to take this survey. Even if you have taken the survey in 2006, you are encouraged the take it again this year.

Sayoni is proud to present the Sayoni Queer Women Survey, 2008. This survey is aimed at queer, lesbian, bisexual and transgender women living in Singapore, to gather essential information about the community, in terms of�

1. Age, racial and religious composition

2. Educational and career background, and financial status

3. Social framework, in relation to their sexual orientation

4. Personal/Emotional status, in relation to their sexual orientation

5. Feedback, on Sayoni and on the community

We appeal you to take this survey, if you happen to belong to the target group. Just five minutes of your time can help us learn how to better help you and the community as a whole, as well as serve as a record of progress throughout the years.

All information, once collected and analysed, will be made publicly available.

Please be reassured that this survey is completely anonymous. Individual responses will not be revealed, and will not be traceable to the individual user.

Please help spread the word around, to your queer female friends. We aim to capture people from all social strata in this survey.

Click here to take the Sayoni Queer Women Survey 2008

If you wish to see the reports from last year, please click here.

If you wish to the survey with an image, you can use the following code.

Take the Sayoni Queer Women Survey 2008!

Thank you for your time!

We at Sayoni are appalled by this decision, which we consider not only a slap in the face of the gay community, but also yet another example of contravening freedom of speech.

The video in question can be viewed here. We invite the viewers to judge whether the content was graphic enough to invite the fine.

Newreport from TODAYonline.

The Media Development Authority has fined StarHub Cable Vision $10,000 for airing a commercial that depicted “lesbian kissing scenes”.

The MDA posted a statement yesterday on its website about the cable operator’s breach of TV advertising guidelines, “which disallows advertisements that condone homosexuality”.

The commercial, which aired over two days in November on MTV’s Mandarin-language channel, was to promote a song by pop singer Olivia Yan.

Her music video from the album Silly Child featured two scenes of herself and Taiwanese actress Pei Lin in a “passionate embrace”, as described last November in the Taipei Times.

The portrayal of a lesbian in a music video was supposedly a first for Taiwan, the paper reported.

According to the MDA, in the commercial, “romanticised scenes of two girls kissing were shown and it portrayed the relationship as acceptable”.

The MDA had consulted the Advisory Committee for Chinese Programmes, which concurred that the commercial had “promoted lesbianism as acceptable and romantic, especially when shown together with the lyrics featured”.

The MDA said it had taken into account the “severity” of the breach and that the commercial was aired on a youth-oriented TV channel, as well as SCV’s explanation on the matter before deciding “a financial penalty was warranted”.

StarHub expressed disappointment at the authority’s decision to impose a fine but said it would follow broadcasting rules. “We understand the authority’s concern, and will continue to work closely with our regional and international content partners to ensure that the local broadcasting guidelines are fully adhered to,” said StarHub spokesperson Caitlin Fua.