25 Oct 2006

Singapore Slings Censorship

From OFF/Beat by Emil Steiner
Talk about your all-time wardrobe malfunctions. StarHub Cable Vision of Singapore is being fined $6,350 for showing footage of lesbian sex and bondage during episodes of the reality program "Cheaters." According to Media Development authorities, the country's lone cable provider breached "guidelines which disallow the promotion, justification and glamorization of lesbian lifestyles and their explicit depictions" by airing footage of a pixelated woman tied to a bed in a "bondage session" with two other women. (Maybe it would have been less glamorous without the pixels?) In Singapore, voluntary "carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal," can still be punished by life in prison. Gum chewing is also illegal in the repressive city state, though it is unclear if airing footage of people chewing, enjoying or promoting a lifestyle of gum mastication could be similarly punished.


Source: Cable TV broadcaster fined for airing lesbian sex and bondage

Singapore - StarHub Cable Vision (SCV) has been fined for airing lesbian sex and bondage footage contained in a US reality TV show, Singapore's regulator said Tuesday.

The Media Development Authority (MDA) said the footage breached the 'guidelines which disallow the promotion, justification and glamorization of lesbian lifestyles and their explicit depictions,' in a statement on its website.

Singapore-based cable television provider SCV was fined 10,000 Singapore dollars (6,410 US dollars). Homosexual acts are illegal in the conservative city-state.

The show, "Cheaters," exposes ordinary people whom their partners suspect of having affairs.

A woman was seen having sex with another woman in an episode aired between May 22 and 26. There was also a bondage session involving three women.

StarHub's corporate communications manager Caitlin Fua told The Straits Times that her company was disappointed with the MDA's decision.

"Cheaters" has been aired in such countries as China, India and Indonesia 'without any difficulty,' she was quoted as saying.


© 2006 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur

According to Media Development Authority...
The reality programme featured cases handled by the Cheaters private agency where a person seeks to find out if his/ her partner is being unfaithful in their relationship. The episode concerned was aired during the period of 22 to 26 May 2006 and repeated on 29 August 2006. It contained footages of a woman engaging in lesbian sex acts with another woman. While pixilation was used during the sex scenes, it was still obvious to viewers that the women were naked and engaging in unnatural sex acts. The programme also showed the woman tied to a bed in a bondage session with two other women.The visuals were deemed to be sexually suggestive and offensive to good taste and decency

The programme also promotes lesbianism as a lifestyle, which breaches the Programme Code. The woman manages to get her boyfriend to accept her lifestyle and to invite other people to engage in threesomes with them.



3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Has Singapore ever put someone in jail for life because they were gay?

Anonymous said...

"The programme also promotes lesbianism as a lifestyle, which breaches the Programme Code. The woman manages to get her boyfriend to accept her lifestyle and to invite other people to engage in threesomes with them."


Sexual orientation has got nothing to do with lifestyle. The deadwood in MDA are total retards, unlearned, and a bunch of self-righteous fascists. MDA's programme code, standards, and the morals behind them belong to the Dark Ages.

Anonymous said...

Interesting to note that the programme was shown in China, India and Indonesia with any problems with their authorities.
And we kid ourselves to believe
that we are a more advanced globalised 1st world country?
The goons MDA are still locked
up with the Victorian mindset.