Ep 044: In Her Words - I Rose Above Being Publicly Humiliated and Made History

It’s been a while since our last episode, but that’s because WE’VE BEEN READING! That’s right, if you’ve come across bookstagram, booktube and now booktok, you’d know that reading is IN now. On this episode, we chat with Amanda Chong, lawyer, poet, and co-founder of ReadAble, to discuss some essential feminist reads - except they aren’t the usual picks you’d expect. From deliberating our existence to the link between feminism and contemporary Singapore, the selection of books discussed will inspire greater inspection of the self, and how we relate to others. Here’s to big brains! 

In collaboration with the National Reading Movement. Download the free NLB Mobile app at https://go.gov.sg/nlbmobile-app. 

Borrow the titles discussed on our episode today!

1. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood (https://www.nlb.gov.sg/biblio/13604701) 
2. How to Date Men when you Hate Men by Blythe Roberson (https://nlb.overdrive.com/media/3994785) 
3. All About Love: New Visions by bell hooks (https://nlb.overdrive.com/media/3707748) 
4. Pachinko by Min Jin Lee (https://nlb.overdrive.com/media/2763946) 
5. Trick Mirror by Jia Tolentino (https://nlb.overdrive.com/media/4571723) 
6. This is What Inequality Looks Like by Teo Yeo Yann (https://nlb.overdrive.com/media/5300567) 

WE KNOW YOU... endlessly scrolling TikTok before bed every night! Social media is a form of entertainment, escapism, and relaxation for many of us, but we all know consuming too much of it is bad. Depression, anxiety, self-absorption, not to mention feeling overwhelmed from the sheer amount of content, are effects that many of us are learning to grapple with. 

LADY BOSSES, and Mother of Twos Charmaine Seah-Ong and Aarika Lee, tell us how they manage burnout as content creators, what it’s like bringing their children up in this pandemic digital age, and how we can take care of ourselves. TIP: PUT YOUR PHONE DOWN!

This episode was made in collaboration with IMDA, as part of their Digital for Life movement. With digital as a new way of life, how do we take care of our online safety and wellness? Find out more at http://go.gov.sg/digitalwellness.

It usually starts off with a simple "Hello, you're cute", but can quickly escalate to a sexually explicit message. In a generation of tech-savvy individuals, it's hard to imagine that any of us will fall victim to online grooming, and yet two out of three secondary school students in Singapore received unwanted sexual content online, according to Microsoft's Digital Civility Survey conducted in 2019. Between looking out for big age gaps, grand gestures of love, how do we know if it's a case of being groomed?

This episode was made in collaboration with IMDA, as part of their Digital for Life movement. With digital as a new way of life, how do we take care of our online safety and wellness? Find out more at http://go.gov.sg/digitalwellness.

CONTENT WARNING: Death threats

"You're FAT!" and "You should kill yourself" are just some of the many nasty comments that Christabel Chua and Mathilda Huang receive on the daily. Cyberbullying and online harassment are real; chances are, you've probably been a target of a nasty comment, an unsolicited picture, or maybe had your information shared without your permission. So how can we fight back, and how can we keep ourselves safe?

This episode was made in collaboration with IMDA, as part of their Digital for Life movement. With digital as a new way of life, how do we take care of our online safety and wellness? Find out more at http://go.gov.sg/digitalwellness.

Body positivity started out as a global movement against the oppressive societal standard that small and skinny equals beautiful. These days, brands and influencers alike claim it as a means to market their clothes to women of all sizes, but Beckie Liu from Haikini wants to challenge that. To her, changing your mindset from thinking about what your body looks like, to what it can do for you, is key. The 26-year-old entrepreneur who’s living in Bali today shares with us her journey from struggling with how she looks, to starting her business.

Voyage to the Vulva-verse is a 5 part series in collaboration with TWO L(I)PS and Strip, as we embark on a journey as vulva-owners to understand ourselves a little better. This is the last episode of this mini-series, to listen to the previous episodes, check out our library!

A trip to the doctor's to get birth control can be an embarrassing and time-consuming activity for some of us, so the team at Ease Healthcare came up with a solution. Discreet, affordable, and convenient access to birth control, from the comfort of your home and delivered under 4 hours? GOOD THINGS CAN HAPPEN TO GOOD PEOPLE! We chat with Guada from Ease, about birth control options and side effects, why access to birth control is a basic right, and the importance of taking ownership over our own sexual health.

Voyage to the Vulva-verse is a 5 part series in collaboration with TWO L(I)PS and Strip, as we embark on a journey as vulva-owners to understand ourselves a little better. New episodes every last Wednesday of the month!

It’s 2021… I don’t know about you, but we’re rejecting outdated notions of beauty society has imposed on us! We take what makes us feel good on the inside, and leave behind what doesn’t! Take it from Kate Low, who grew up in the era of Victoria’s Secret Fashion Shows (push up bras, flat tummies, long slender legs). She’s since built a lingerie brand, Perk by Kate, which puts the comfort and needs of women at the forefront. How do modern brands and consumers work together to take back power in our own hands?

Voyage to the Vulva-verse is a 5 part series in collaboration with TWO L(I)PS and Strip, as we embark on a journey as vulva-owners to understand ourselves a little better. New episodes every last Wednesday of the month!

We live in the age of social media, which means, it’s hard not to compare every aspect of our lives, our bodies, with others, including how our genitals look. Although many of us feel shame in talking about our genitals, when we’re asked to think about what a “normal” vulva looks like, we have an image in our minds: small, pink, hairless, tucked in... In reality, that couldn’t be further from the truth. So why is there so much shame we experience in talking about our genitals, and how do we battle the need to have “normal” looking parts?

IT’S THE FINAL EPISODE OF OUR SEASON! And we have a special one, featuring Singapore’s youngest female minority MP, Raeesah Khan. It’s been a year since one of Singapore’s most iconic general elections, and incidentally also a year since Raeesah was investigated for alleged online comments about race. We speak with her about her journey in politics one year on, her thoughts about racism in Singapore, tackling important social issues and being a voice for minorities. 

New episodes biweekly on Thursdays, 8pm GMT+8. Visit our website, http://somethingprivate.fm, or email us at nicole@somethingprivate.fm.

Narelle Kheng needs no introduction. She’s one of the most iconic millennials of Southeast Asia, having made it to the Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia List in 2019. But beyond her luxurious music career and glamorous persona, Narelle is just like any one of us. The outspoken advocate for mental health struggles with everyday adulting problems, like managing relationships, feeling lonely, making mistakes, learning how to take care of ourselves, the list goes on. In this episode, we dig into a more vulnerable side of Narelle, and get a peek into a side of her life we don’t usually get to see.

This episode was made in collaboration with It’s Your Life, an educational campaign around HPV prevention and awareness by MSD Singapore. For more information, head over to http://itsyourlife.sg.

New episodes biweekly on Thursdays, 8pm GMT+8. Visit our website, http://somethingprivate.fm, or email us at nicole@somethingprivate.fm.