Pondan?! It’s Maknyah to you! (Part 2)

After being wounded by an angry public over the broadcast of : Pondan Ancaman Wanita, Wanita Hari Ini (TV3) on 4^th October, still hasn’t learn it’s lesson and has now created another episode called ‘Wanita Ancaman Pondan’ that was broadcasted on 24^th October 2011.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8jP9oc6WhU&feature=youtu.be

With the exception of the hosts and Azwan Ali, the other speakers such as Jee, Sapphira Izwah Kazaruddin & Jamilah Hanim Othman are definitely better than the previous episode's poorly selected panel of speakers. However, since TV3 & Wanita Hari Ini again decided not to debate something that is of substance and continue to barely scratch the surface when it comes to covering issues involving Transgender Women, this follow-up ‘debate’ deserves a thumbs up!

Why?

1.    Continuously using the word Pondan (a derogatory term to address Maknyahs / Transgender Women) when describing Maknyahs / Transgender Women

2.    Having Azwan Ali on the show as 1 of the ‘speakers’ pointing out other biologically born women as ‘real / true women’, singling out Jee and spewing plenty of false accusations towards Transgender Women such as : 

-          His insistence in calling the existence of Transgender women as beings from another world

-          Transgender women are men who have failed to be the real, true men they are supposed to be

-          Most Transgender Women he knows have strong emotional feelings, to a ridiculous point where they aimed to be real, true women, having a family, husbands and all that which doesn’t make sense to him

-          Said Transgender Women have acknowledged that they will get nowhere. That  their appearances, however much their likeness are towards women, will always and only remain as Transgender women, but never that of real, true women

-          That women should be thankful as we are provided with our natural born gifts and should fight to keep these existing opportunities to be better than Transgender Women and that women are supposed to be more powerful but yet appear to relinquish their power over to Transgender Women

3.    Allowing hostesses to throws insults around attacking Transgender Women when trying to raise points for discussion

4.    Trying to desperately proof that Transgender Women are evil, envious, greedy, boyfriend stealer, husband snatcher, competitive and conniving against Women

5.    Spreading confusion and hatred even though from the beginning of the show they claimed that they are not trying to shame or discriminate anyone but then turned around and said that they aren’t trying to ‘promote Transgender’s lifestyle choices’. 

6.    Adamantly believed that they are stating the ‘reality of the situation’, defending how some parties felt the threat of the existence of Transgender Women who have monopolized and taken over Women’s professions

7.    Insist that Transgender Women are failures and are incomplete or wholly, perfect, macho males pretending to be women or trying to compete and be the better woman than any women out there

8.    Quoting incomplete / erroneous references on treatments towards or backgrounds of Transgenders from other nation - citing Hijras from Pakistan (not India as what hostess mentioned)

9.    Still portraying women as whiny weaklings who have been robbed of many opportunities and their way of lives due to the existence of Transgender Women

10. Instead of giving compliments where they are due, they hinted at the possibility of women’s lack of existence in the make-up industry to be the driving factor as to why the Transgender women appears more successful there

11. Only aired biased views of women on the street whom I believe do not know or actually understand the issue beyond the media representation / depiction of who Transgender Women might be

Otherwise, I do personally like what all the women speakers are saying : 

1.    Kak Jee

-          Use the word comparison instead of threat

-          Transgender Women dressed up and looked good because they want to be seen as beautiful but not to pose as a threat or as competition towards other women

-          Other professions helmed by Transgender women are not highlighted but only focus towards the beauty /make-up industry

2.    Sapphira Izwah Kazaruddin 

-          There’s no threat whatsoever coming from Transgender Women and she believes entirely on one’s capability when it comes to who should deserve the job at hand

-          When she first started in the make-up industry, she was learning  from Transgender Women & in addition, they have always been the ones whom she refers to when she needs advice related to her profession

-          As a woman, no matter what, we have to realize competition is always out there, whether it comes from Transgender Women or not.

3.    Jamilah Hanim Othman

-          Agreed with Sapphira that she doesn’t feel threatened and that there’s plenty for everyone in the corporate sector or entrepreneurship and that we shouldn’t just focus only on a single profession. 

-          There are plenty of support groups for women in many  areas who continuously work together to help women to evolve and better their chances out there in the job market

-          To accept everyone from diff backgrounds with an open and positive mind and we should empower one another by emphasizing their good points while sharing & advicing one another when there are negative ones

So TV3 & Wanita Hari Ini, if you lack proper questions to ask or researchers to present proper, reality based situations and scientifically proven facts, I am sure you can engage Maknyahs and they will talk to you for free, helping you to better prepare for a great segment next time?

Hopefully the viewer’s stomach will not churn if you decided to do a ‘Pondan Ancaman Masyarakat’ (Transgender Women a threat to society) segment in the future.

God forbid!

Pondan?! It’s Maknyah to you! (Part 1)

October is quite the eventful month for women. There’s Pink October, Oktofest, Deepavali, Halloween and Wanita Hari Ini then decided to tag along and make history. Who? WHI? What history?

History of the frivolous, scandalous and hatefulness, of course!

On 4^th Oct 2011, there was a massive eruption of absurdity in Bolehland coming from Media Prima where TV3 is. WHI “discussed” a topic titled ‘Pondan Ancaman Wanita’. The term ‘Pondan’ is locally understood as a derogatory term to describe effeminate men or transgender women. 

Link to video (Blogger unable to load my video): http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=8xM5_4zhMBg

First and foremost, TV3 & WHI have shown that they are not a credible lot, just merely viewer rating hunters. You can judge by : 

1)    Gossips / hearsays dressed up as “research facts” on Transgender Women

2)    Uninformed or under informed hostesses reading from a list to further confuse others and discredit Transgender Women

3)    The list of speakers / representatives :

      a.    Fatin Sarjat, a young, modern Malay Muslim woman who hides behind religion citations to mask her Trans phobic statements; coincidentally did not cover her ‘aurat’, with her dyed hair and modern fitting clothes.

     b.    Dr. Edward Chan, a middle age “psychology specialist” from Malaysia Psychology Center who needs input from the hostesses due to his lack of comprehensible Bahasa Malaysia.

Reference to his “credibility” :

1. http://www.thepsychologist.org.uk/archive/archive_home.cfm/volumeID_19-editionID_140-ArticleID_1097-getfile_getPDF/thepsychologist%5C1006soci.pdf

2. http://xa.yimg.com/kq/groups/18407645/55865851/name/edwardchan_BPS05.pdf

3. http://groups.google.com/group/healinghands/browse_thread/thread/48bc0f57f129a800?pli=1

    c.    Azwan Ali, a Malay middle age “celebrity, writer cum cross dresser” who is quite the misogynist and seemed more interested to market his new book than really discussing in-depth on the issue at hand.

    d.    A transgender woman who is blurred out and deserves my heartfelt condolences as it was very clear she was placed there to be the (mis)representation of a “shameful” minority group.

Secondly, Maknyahs do not pretend to be women or seek to be better than women. THEY ARE WOMEN! They are, unfortunately born in “biologically” male bodies and had to bear the brunt of society who never bother nor seek to understand them better and are subjected to humiliation, being sidelined, ignored, chastised, being treated lesser than human, etc.

Thirdly, where I grow up, Maknyahs DO NOT LIVE BEHIND THE FACES OF SOCIETY as the hostesses suggested. In fact, they are out and about, minding their own business. I grow up being aware that there are Women, Men & Transgender Women (which, btw, I was taught to call Pondan since I am young. Forgive me, now I know better.)

I feel if 1 chose to be ignorant, then yes; you might not have thought others existed, just like me not knowing there are actually gay men who are masculine (I blame the misrepresentation of LGBTs in media, esp. television or movies). I mean, how could you understand while growing up when you are presented with a bunch of actors/actresses acting as effeminate men, ugly & undesirable cross dressers, tomboy turned feminine, villainous or half the time being the king/queen of Clownland?

Fourthly, any relationship takes 2 (maybe more?) to tango. There’s always 1 who gives, another who receives. What is the nonsense that these people are talking about transgender women stealing boyfriends or husbands of other women?

Btw, cheater takes all form ya? A woman can cheat as much as a man do. However, we, being in a patriarchal society always and will forever emphasis the importance of men over women. Plus, if anyone wants to cheat and there’s something out there that catches his/her eyes, surely the only person who can stop the cheater is the cheater themselves. Also, have you question the reason why we’ve never said “Must be the men/women who is DOM (dirty old men or young)/hamsap/gatal” vs. the overused “Must be the mistress/yi lai/jalang’s fault”.

Last but not least, as a “biologically” born woman, I have never felt threatened by any Transgender Woman in terms of career choice nor relationship. It is not because I feel that I am better than them nor are they incompetent in any way. In fact, many are more able bodied, competent, passionate and contributors to the betterment of society than me.

To label them a “threat” is really absurd because TV3, WHI & WHI’s hostesses are definitely more threatening with their uninformed, dated, dangerous gossips/hearsays dressed as “facts” spewing hatred, confusion and resentment towards the Transgender Women.

Women out there, do you really, seriously, for 1 second, feel threatened because others tells you so?

Pink October meets CARIF & SDMCSJ

Recently I was in Sime Darby Medical Center Subang Jaya (formerly known as SJMC) and I saw this :

Speechless, NO?

So I went to this booth which was around the lobby / medicine collection area (right before lift lobby) to check things out (forgetting its Pink October).

It’s collaboration between CARIF (stands for Cancer Research Initiatives Foundation) and SDMCSJ for their Malaysian 1,000 Mammogram or My1000Mammo; I believe the tagline being More than a Mammo (I’m assuming because the branding in the leaflet is very confusing to me).

Basically speaking, you can now have a mammogram at only RM 50.00 as opposed to say, RM 230.00 when you participate in the My1000Mammo programme.

So how can you participate or know that you are eligible? If you are :

1) A Malaysian woman

2) 40 yrs and above

3) No personal history of breast cancer

4) Have not gone for a mammogram for the last 12 months

So what is the study about (I’m sure you are wondering)? It’s basically a Malaysian study to determine the impact of genes, lifestyle and breast density on breast cancer hence them recruiting 1,000 women for this purpose.

What do they need? They’re asking that :

1) You to donate small amount of blood

2) Complete a questionnaire about factors that relate to breast cancer

3) You have a mammogram at SDMCSJ

You don’t need a doctor’s referral for an appointment so call +603 5639 1340 now if you or your loved ones are interested and not just because it’s Pink October J.

About Women’s tête-à-tête

‘What does it mean to be a woman?’

‘How different is it to be a woman?’

‘Surely we are not just dolled up, living, breathing sex objects?’

These might be some of the questions you may or may not have asked yourself.

The beauty of this is that we are able to continuously explore and discover the many variations and wonders that womanhood and life brings us. Though I sometimes beg to differ, especially when I received those ‘monthly bills’ or ‘auntie visits'.

Hence, the birth of Women’s tête-à-tête. By specifically targeting a wide range of women’s issues, it hopes to add more flavor to the WWW (Wonderful World of Women, of course!). There’s plenty to talk about; i.e. bad day / good day, family, friends, food, fashion, health, sports and recreation, as well as welfare for women, just to name a few.

I hope you stick around and enjoy Women’s tête-à-tête.

Happy reading!