1. Non-Monogamous Relationships
The times are changing and as the world evolves, relationships and intimacy hav changed as well. Previously known non-socially acceptable relationships refer to throuples, sugar daddy/mommy and their babies, large age gaps, queer, polyamorous, open relationships and other lesser known variants that constitute a human relationship.
Currently, the only socially acceptable relationship is the heterosexual monogamy. At times, it is easy to say that such relationships should be only variant. However, we should try and understand that the world is more diverse and different than we actually think it is. End the discrimination and stigma of lesser known variants of relationships.
2. HIV-stigma
HIV currently has a strong stigma in Singapore. The truth is, while HIV is common and rampant in places where sexual freedom occurs, like America, this fact would also mean that the society and medical attention is more focused there. According to U.S. statistics, more than 1.1 million people in the U.S. are living with HIV today, and 1 in 7 of them don’t know it An estimated 38,500 Americans became newly infected with HIV in 2015.Gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men bear the greatest burden by risk group, representing an estimated 26,200 of these new HIV infections.From 2010 to 2015, the estimated number of annual HIV infections in the U.S. declined 8%.In 2016, 39,782 people were diagnosed with HIV in the U.S. HIV diagnoses are not evenly distributed across states and regions. People in southern states accounted for more than half of new HIV diagnoses in 2016, while making up 38% of the nation’s population. However in Singapore, of the 434 cases, 94% were male and 71% were between 20 to 49 years old. About 41% had late-stage HIV infection when they were diagnosed. Sexual intercourse remains the main mode of HIV transmission. 96% (417 out of 434) of the cases acquired the infection through sexual intercourse. Heterosexual transmission accounted for 36% of all cases, while 50% were from homosexual transmission and 10% from bisexual transmission. 45% of the newly reported cases were detected in the course of medical care provision. Such cases are typically at the late stage of HIV infection. Another 27% were detected during routine programmatic HIV screening and 23% were detected from self-initiated HIV screening i.e. voluntary screening. Cases detected via voluntary screening are more likely to be at the early stage of infection. When differentiated by sexual transmission, a higher proportion of homosexuals and bisexuals (33%) had their HIV infection detected via voluntary screening compared to heterosexuals (8%).
Another issue is that due to this stigma, the research and aftercare of infection is expensive and hard to access. Pre Exposure Prophylaxis (PreP) would help prevent or lower the risk of HIV infection in high risk sexual intercourse. However, the access to this drug is expensive and many people go to Thailand to get it at a cheaper rate.
3. Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation Labels
Currently, the idea of gender variance is socially unacceptable in Singapore. These variants include the non-binary, transgendered, inter sex, queer, and other alternative labels. The problem with people not accepting this label is because of the conservative nature of Singapore. What people should do is to understand that the world is changing and labels are constantly being blurred.
4. Toxic Masculinity
Toxic masculinity is a poor man’s excuse of being gregarious and disruptive. We should end toxic masculinity. A post on Urban Dictionary that sums this urban term is “Any Male action that doesn’t conform to liberal ideals of what a man SHOULD be in today’s society. If he isn’t sensitive and emotional and docile he is accused of toxic masculinity. Where as used to these people were known as “douche bags” or even “assholes” (see also Twunt) now they are blamed for being a product of the male driven society” I think that all in all toxic masculinity is rampant in Singapore due to National Service and the poor excuse and teachings of the army officers would prove this true especially in times of all the deaths and injuries caused during training that were not through negligence.
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I feel that I would want to touch on topic 1. This is because there is little to no diagrams or tables present currently that explains relationship variants.
These are all the types of relationship symbols and infographics that I could find on google. But it would be better if we could do more to let people visualise and understand the stigma that people feel.
I feel that not a lot of people know about this and should be respectful to people that are not part of the status quo. I want to target adults because they are more likely to want to explore relationship variants. If you don’t know, you never try! And no one should judge them for trying to find a suitable relationship variant for themselves.