American best-selling author and renowned feminist figure Naomi Wolf was recently in town for the Singapore Writers Festival as a guest speaker, giving a lecture on the modern feminism movement and the ideas she posited in her book The Beauty Myth.
It was during a dialogue session with former Association of Women for Action and Research (AWARE) Dana Lam that placed the author at odds with the group's ideals, specifically their non-inclusive attitude towards men interested in joining as members. Currently, ordinary membership of AWARE are only open to women, and male members can only become associate members with fewer participation rights — a continually questionable topic that they are, well, aware of.
According to a transcript of the discourse on Mothership, a male participant had brought up the topic, to which Lam and another former AWARE president Constance Singam replied that it was being considered as part of their constitutional review.
Wolf openly disagreed, with the assertion that she would never want to be part of “any organization anywhere that leaves people out on the basis of their gender, or their race, or their religion”, to applause from the attending crowd.
Both Singam and Lam insisted that AWARE are not gender-prejudiced, and that the organisation is where they can first work on themselves, and in time, be men-inclusive.
The discussion ended without any real conclusion, just the fact that Wolf still disagrees with AWARE’s non-inclusive stance towards the male gender. On her Facebook page, she makes no mention of the incident.
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Post by Naomi Wolf.
Photo: Singapore Writers Festival Facebook page
American best-selling author and renowned feminist figure Naomi Wolf was recently in town for the Singapore Writers Festival as a guest speaker, giving a lecture on the modern feminism movement and the ideas she posited in her book The Beauty Myth.
It was during a dialogue session with former Association of Women for Action and Research (AWARE) Dana Lam that placed the author at odds with the group's ideals, specifically their non-inclusive attitude towards men interested in joining as members. Currently, ordinary membership of AWARE are only open to women, and male members can only become associate members with fewer participation rights — a continually questionable topic that they are, well, aware of.
According to a transcript of the discourse on Mothership, a male participant had brought up the topic, to which Lam and another former AWARE president Constance Singam replied that it was being considered as part of their constitutional review.
Wolf openly disagreed, with the assertion that she would never want to be part of “any organization anywhere that leaves people out on the basis of their gender, or their race, or their religion”, to applause from the attending crowd.
Both Singam and Lam insisted that AWARE are not gender-prejudiced, and that the organisation is where they can first work on themselves, and in time, be men-inclusive.
The discussion ended without any real conclusion, just the fact that Wolf still disagrees with AWARE’s non-inclusive stance towards the male gender. On her Facebook page, she makes no mention of the incident.
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Post by Naomi Wolf.
Photo: Singapore Writers Festival Facebook page