Review: The L Word Season 6

So here it is. The end. The finale of the series that has alternately kept on the edge of our seats, swear in despair, rush to the nearest bar to get a drink at the end of 13 episodes only to wait for the next season to begin, cry, laugh and generally provide a good fodder for gossip and some good old-fashioned bitchfest.

The reason this season review is two weeks late, is because I had to consult a therapist for the acute and schizophrenic feelings of loss and relief. It is kinda like ending a very bad/abusive relationship that just gets worse by the day – you are so glad it has ended (and it certainly feels nice not to be beaten up all the time) but at the same time, you have been with the woman for 5 years and letting go is hard, and you miss being around her.

So, here’s a season review, as tough as it was to write.

Warning: spoilers ahead!

Sayoni Events: Anniversary Party and Summer Camp

It is an exciting time to be around Sayoni – we have two events to present to you: Sayoni Third Anniversary Party and the Sayoni Summer Camp ‘09.

The Anniversary Party is the highlight of our year, for sure, as we let down our hair and party like it has yet been another successful eventful year for us. Each year, we have grown and changed. Each year, we have gained new family members and gotten to more milestones, and each year, we honour the women that make it all possible. Ladies and gentlemen, you are invited to the Sayoni Third Anniversary Party: Homecoming.

Sayoni Summer Camp is a 3-day/2-nights camp specifically for queer women in or around Singapore. We will be having our first run on 1st – 3rd May 2009.

We aim to provide a fun-filled and meaningful experience for all campers. Our goal is to promote self-development and growth, with a focus on encouraging campers’ self-exploration and understanding of their relationship with the world around them.

At SSC ‘09, expect to be transported to a beautiful beachside resort in Indonesia. Away from the bustle of city life, enjoy indoor and outdoor activities including workshops and water games. Challenge your body and engage your mind with a series of activities – surrounded by a great bunch of queer women and Sayonites committed to your well-being.

Grey’s Is Gay Again?

Yes, I am still following this show. So sue me.

*spoiler alert for people who aren’t up to date*

Review: The L Word Season 6 Premiere

Originally published on Sayoni Speak

There are a few great mysteries in this world. Are there aliens out there? Does God exist? How were the pyramids built? But the greatest mystery of all, to me, is still why in the world I continue watching The L Word (and Grey’s Anatomy, but I’ve resolved to give no more airtime on this website to that particular show). As a heads-up to all our readers: a (slightly edited) first episode is available on the Official L Word podcast, free and legal for download.

The Grey Area

Originally published on Sayoni Speak.

So we all had high hopes. We all stayed glued to our screens, crying with joy about the best thing that ever happened to network television lesbian representation: Callie and Erica on Grey’s Anatomy.

Sayoni Survey Report 2008

Originally published on Sayoni Speak

Sayoni proudly presents Sayoni Queer Women Survey 2008 Report (Singapore).

Abstract

Objectives:

1.To gain some perspective on the actual needs of queer women, and what we can do about them

2.To provide free and accessible information to researchers, and act as a starting point for further research into the field

3.To ameliorate the dire lack of information on queer women in Singapore. Currently, there is no proper understanding of how the women’s queer community functions, other than biased and disjointed personal views.

The survey is broken down into five main aspects. Questions in each category are stream-lined and standardised for easy answering, by presenting most of the questions as rating questions where possible.

1. Introduction

General background.

2. Family, Friends and Work

Questions on how out the respondent is in their various social circles, how this group has reacted to the information, and the respondent’s intention to come out to that particular group.

3. Personal

Questions on a personal level relating to sexual orientation. Probes how the respondents come to realise their sexuality, different aspects of personal identity, and how their sexuality has affected them. Also includes information on relationships of respondents.

4. Financial

Questions to ascertain the financial status of queer women as a community – on income, occupation and industry, housing and car ownership.

5. Feedback on Sayoni and the community

Take note that the answers to these questions with the exception of two, are not presented in this report as they are meant for internal feedback.

This survey was not carried out with a null hypothesis in mind, and much of the information contained in this report is  processed descriptive statistics. Where possible, averages and trends have been pre-computed, and presented along with a broad analysis of the data. This  year, the data is presented in a much more visual format, as opposed to raw numbers in the
pilot run of 2006.

In the report of 2006, the data was broken down across Age, Ethnicity and Religion, as it is believed that these three different aspects affect the average queer woman in her views and social situation with respect to her sexuality. This year, due to the significant changes in methodology and presentation, we have decided to omit the comparison by Ethnicity and  Religion, as the representation for minority ethnic groups is not high enough to allow accurate comparisons.

An Indian Among Indians

Originally published on Sayoni Speak

I wish I could write this in the nature of some undercover spy report, or even a fascinating account of some rare new species by a researcher. While it feels like I am doing something of the sort, the subjects of my article are far from treason-committing criminals or an animal species. They are a bunch of queer women of Indian origin, a group of girls in an educational institution unnamed, brought together through to a weird gravitational force yet unaccounted for by the laws of physics.

How did I get to know these girls? Quite honestly, mainly through an ex-partner. For one and a half years, I have been hearing reports of these women and their exploits from more than one source, and met a couple of members on occasion. But last week was the first time I met them en masse, a mass of black-and-brown skinned girls (to be quite politically correct, boys too, but we shall get to that later), representing maybe half this unique sub-culture.

Gay’s Anatomy?

Originally published on Sayoni Speak

Season 4 of Grey’s Anatomy returned with Episode 12 right before Lost did. I thought they ended the season with episode 11 due to the writer’s strike, but turns out they are just carrying on.

Sayoni Queer Women Survey 2008 (Singapore)

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 to 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.

Sayoni Queer Women Survey 2008

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

Thank you for your time!

Bi-Bi

I’m bi. That’s a fact proudly announced on my blog sidebar, and something all my friends know. Granted, it took my clueless bisexual ex three months to know, but hey, not my fault. So why is it that I am still encountering people who insist on seeing me as lesbian, or straight boys who think it is just something I am into, for the kink factor? Why is that my idol, Alice in The L Word, swore in a military court that she is a lesbian now, when she was been maintaining for four seasons that she is bisexual? Why are people mud-slinging poor openly bisexual actress Kristanna Loken for getting engaged to a man?

Granted, my history is such that I haven’t really dated men. It it is just much easier for me to meet interesting women because of the circles I move in. I don’t gush as much about men, because of the simple fact that my standard for men is rather high. For one, he needs to be bi-friendly, or else it is bi-bi for him. To straight boys who hit on me… my sexuality isn’t a kink. It is not a topping thrown on top of the sundae, it is the sundae, a part of my identity as vital as my race or gender. If you can’t understand this, please go away. Secondly, most singaporean men just bore me to death [So do most singaporean girls actually, but the gay girls tend to be marginally more interesting].

I don’t consider sex with either one as “more fun”, or “more sacred”, or whatever. Yes, I have yet to fall in love with a boy, but hey, I’ve only fallen in love with one person in my entire life, so that’s hardly a good sampling. Stop telling me what my sexuality is, I know it better than you. If I do date a man or a woman next, that has nothing to do with whom I prefer, it is what it is. It doesn’t mean anything has changed.

To lesbians who are afraid of bisexuals: getoverit. Whether your relationship is going to succeed has nothing to do with whether your partner is bisexual or lesbian. If she leaves you for a man, it is really no different from her leaving you for a woman, except maybe your ego gets hurt more. So getoverit. Seriously.