by Sya Taha _ In Secondary Two, after sports training, a friend said she could give me a lift in her father’s car. When I got in, I looked at the driver – it was not her father but a middle-aged Malay man. * In Primary One, I was called to see the English teacher.…
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Education as a weapon for narcissistic abuse
by Sya Taha _ “I don’t know what I did wrong, but perhaps, you are too educated!” My father said to me to end a big quarrel we had. It worked. I was so dumbfounded at this accusation that I shrank away. He had always been, as I perceived, my biggest fan and supporter in…
Read MoreOf Passion and Privilege
by Shaf Ghani _ I remember one of the Raya gatherings when a distant cousin, whose opinion I did not need (but had to listen to anyway because I was obligated to kuehs and protocols), casually commented that I read too much. It was pre-contact lenses days, and he said that the next time he…
Read MoreEditor’s Letter: Education
The theme of education, to my surprise, elicited the most responses so far. Submissions range from women who have studied in Madrasahs, to mainstream schools, to those who have been through the Gifted Education Programme. The theme of education was also interpreted outside the parameters of school to include meditations on the informal education we…
Read MoreSwim Good
by NL __ Awakening Story At the age of 8, I used to take swimming lessons at the Clementi Swimming Complex. For merely twenty dollars a month, many students, or rather their parents, willingly signed up for the swimming courses programmed by the school. On Tuesdays after school, a lot of us would leave class…
Read MoreThe Pain and Guilt of Pleasure
by Naima Khan _ I was 14 when I had my first orgasm. It happened by accident and I was completely unprepared. I wasn’t precocious as a teenager. At that stage, other girls were starting to grow into their adult bodies and learning the ways in which their clothes and mannerisms affected the boys around them.…
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