Our group thinks that the arguments presented in this text do not really apply to Singaporean society.

Given the definitions of ‘sex’ and ‘gender’ in the text, with the former being the physical differences of the body and latter being the psychological, social and cultural differences between males and females, there isn’t a clear distinction between these two terms in the context of Singapore. This is due the fact that the Singaporean government is not liberal enough to accept such differences. For example, on profiling forms, the word ‘sex’ was changed to ‘gender’ cause the government thinks that sex was a crude word. If our society isn’t even open enough to accept ‘sex’ as a normal word, it is pretty evident that it is not liberal to homosexuality as well. This brings us to the next point on homosexuality.

In the text, it is stated that certain countries in Europe and cities legalize homosexuality, even to the extent of giving recognition to homosexual relationships and marriages. However, the Singapore society is anti-homosexuality and this is vastly different from the points brought up in the text. Singaporean government criminalizes homosexuality and bans homosexual marriages. According to Penal Code 377A, men are not allowed to have sex with men, even in their own homes and between mutually consenting men.

Therefore, we can see that the arguments brought up in the passage do not apply to Singaporean society.

Lionel, Toan, Andrea, Chunhui, Serene 09S06J