Singapore is, in many ways, a great country. I've been there several times and I've always enjoyed my visits. The place is clean. The food is nice (not as nice as HK though :p) and the people are friendly.
Which meant that I was extremely surprised to find out that the Singapore government is homophobic.
Basically, there is a game coming out on the Xbox 360 called Mass Effect. The game is a role playing game being billed as a space opera. In the greatest traditions of Captain Kirk, one of the things that you can do in the game is romance a blue skinned female alien - even if you are a girl. This then results in a lesbian love scene in the game - which has now resulted in Singapore banning the game. Pardon my language but - wtf?? (full disclosure dept - I am a huge BioWare fan and am eagerly anticipating this game).
Unfortunately, the "steamy" lesbian love scene video seems to have been taken down and is no longer available. The video in the link above is a less steamy version (although you can see a screenshot from the steamy version here). However, even after having seen the "uncut" version, the whole scene was very mild and, imho, very tastefully done. For starters, its not like you really get to see any real pornography (to help put this in perspective - based on the ratings board, throughout the entire game, you only get to see a breast profile - this is considered partial nudity and was part of the reason this game was rated mature).
I actually first read about this a couple of days ago. However, at the time, I didn't give it much credence as it was on a source which I didn't frequent and hence I didn't know if it was reliable. However, this piece of news has now been reported on several mainstream news sites and was also apparently in the Straits Times (a SG newspaper).
And I have to admit my reaction is one of incredulity. As I said, the love scene itself is very tame (you get a lot worse from many mainstream Hollywood movies) and the only reason I can think of for this game to be banned is because the love scene is lesbian in nature.
I had no idea the Singaporeans were so homophobic and I really pity the gay community living in Singapore. If there is something I'm missing or don't understand about the ban, then I really wish someone would explain. As things stand right now, I'm starting to form a really poor opinion of Singapore.
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6 comments:
Heh heh
Lets just say that Singapore is like most Chinese societies re: homosexuality. Things have actually opened up a bit from what I understand - they now turn a blind eye to it as long as you keep it private.
There was a big debate in their parliament just a few weeks ago where one MP chaired a motion to allow same sex marriages. Things got very heated from both sides of the argument, and I understand that threats of GBH were aimed at some of the opposing MPs. Thats why there has been so much spotlight on this whole thing.
Anyway, storm in a teacup - they have now decided to allow it into the country, but with a Mature (18) rating - the first game to receive this. You know what they say about no such thing as bad publicity....
Wow - their parliamentary debates seem quite interesting...
As you say, the ban got lifted very quickly. However, I'm surprised that its the first game to receive a mature rating. Even if I exclude extremely violent games like GTA, Manhunt etc, there is still a large number of mature games out there.
What happens to them? Are they all just banned?
Yup - previously Sg has been controlling some of the games that have been coming into the country. However the games they target for banning are typically those that they deem either religiously or sexually offensive. They don't seem to have so much of an issue around violence or ethical issues e.g. the Hitman series are on sale here.
The new rating system is designed to allow more games that previously would have been banned to come onto the market.
BTW - the threats of GBH were not from MP to MP of course! They were received anonymously by the opposing MP after their positions came out in the newspaper.
hahaha. I'm glad you cleared that up. I actually did think that MPs were threatening each other.
Nope - its not Taiwan... ;)
I realised what you may have been thinking when I reread your post - thats why I put in the clarification!
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