Of Marital Pimping & Branding

Two seemingly unrelated news pieces arose recently to shine a light on our society's understanding of women. The first involved the agriculture-inspired identification technique of Penang police, and the second, a club formed on the basis of an obscene interpretation of a wife's role in marriage.

While both reflected a blatant disrespect of human rights, the one-dimensional view of women from a public agency and a religious organization was disturbing. Even more disturbing was the subsequent debate where arguments were made against values which previously were thought to be universal in a supposedly healthy society like ours. The mere fact that these arguments saw print shows that a certain chunk of society, a group which would include leaders and voters, are plainly misguided.

Further examples abound. A popular one would be the weekly screenings of vice raids on television news and reality crime shows. Why is it that the same outlets are raided time and again and every week scantily clad women are shown being led out cowering in fear into police trucks without any sign of what happens next. If the focus was on law enforcement, perhaps someone could recommend that overalls be provided before they are paraded in front of the lights and cameras waiting outside. It speaks volumes on our so-called religious and cultural values that the apparent purpose of the exercise is to humiliate and objectify the women in question. If this is not the case, why are the operators and clients of the outlets provided so little airtime?

Relatedly, on the Internet, one may find an non-televised recording of a vice-raid conducted by religious police. In the recording, the woman facing arrest is rudely spoken to by the enforcement team and is made to put her clothes on in front of the male officers. Again, the reduction of women to subjects is the theme.

It is apparent through conversations with both the young and old, that this affliction we have as a society in dealing with women is not one that is isolated.

In popular media, there are few young women known for their eloquence or strength. The women who do have these qualities abound, but are not given the stature they deserve in society. Who is the equivalent of Oprah Winfrey in Malaysia? An unfair comparison, but even the figurative roasting of Hillary Clinton on an Arab woman's talk show some years back would not happen here with our fondness for submissive superficial interviews by cutesy presenters.

We are still a long way from accepting women as equal members of society. This is apparent in numerous issues women face here, from job discrimination to blatant disrespect. On the basis of these latest news reports, things are not likely to change soon.