Sunday, June 01, 2008

Xiaxue and the portrayal of Orientalism

Sometime back, we had a lecture on Internet and Sex, where we looked at (in)famous Singaporean blogger, Xiaxue. The lecturer showed us a video clip of Xiaxue's Guide to Life, the episode where she patronizes Oohtique, a sex shop. In her blog, the only thing Xiaxue talks about is herself, she talks about getting an orgasm and getting a boob job. So the question raised to us was this: Does that make her a feminist or is it an Orientalism portrayal of her?

Two other controversial Singaporean bloggers that were discussed during lecture were Celeste and Nicole Chen. For those who don't yet know, Celeste posts up video clips of herself performing some kind of dancing deemed 'provocative'. Some has criticized her for promoting herself as some form of sexual symbol. Again, we revisit the topic of Orientalism.

Something interesting to think about: Does these blogs reinforce pre-existing stereotypes and ideology of women, or does it liberate them?

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