Now to a lighter topic - how about peeling prawns or deshelling crabs?
AKA the post-semester gathering. (The pre-semester entry is here.)
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You can always bet on this as the perennial discussion topic when you have a group of Singaporeans (from both sexes) coming together for seafood of the crustacean kind. Not surprisingly we steered clear of any discussion on the GE results, since a number present are bonded to return sometime in the future. (Nobody wants to jeopardize his/her rice bowl right?)
So instead we talked about prawn peeling and crab de-shelling, no thanks to Sumiko Tan's Jan 2002 column:
...I, for one, can't see myself peeling prawns for anyone at a public meal, except perhaps my niece, who's small and helpless.
I mean, why does a man need a woman to do that for him if he can do it himself? Unless he is out to prove to others around him that he has control over her, that she is 'his woman'?
And why would a woman want to peel prawns for an able-bodied man unless she wants to make a show that he belongs to her?
Either way, the mind games being played here turn me off.
I do not think we ever played mind games in front of friends (or relatives). Two women had peeled prawns for me years before; yesterday another went further and de-shelled chilli crabs for me. :P
No issue, really. I just did not want to get my hands dirty and she offered (just for me! heh heh).
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The gender imbalance that was so glaringly obvious was ameliorated somewhat by inviting some of the undergrads.
3 comments:
Um, eww?
Seafood is pretty gross, come to think of it. >_< I doubt you'd ever see me getting my hands dirty for others (peel it yourself!)
it makes sense that one person gets their hands dirty instead of 2. that's just silly!
but i have a friend who shells and then feeds her bf mussels. he is muscular so we say she feeds his muscles with mussels.
2 things appalling about this:
1. mussels dont require hands to get dirty
2. the pun
With that article Ms Tan made an act of consideration (prawn peeling) the indicator of a modern female. A girl is suddenly a feminist if she doesn't peel prawns for her guy.
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