Salt * Wet * Fish

A friend of mine, Eileena, posted the information about the upcoming changes to the penal code in her email list for lesbians. One of the changes, if it happens, will mean that lesbian sex will be decriminalized, whereas sex between men will still be a criminal offense. Many would think that the lesbians have much to rejoice and don’t really need to work too hard to get rid 377 and 377A entirely anymore. However, the insightful reply below shows otherwise:

Thanks to those who’ve posted all these informative messages about the Penal Code review.

I completely agree with Eileena that ‘there’s really no us and them’ - as a lesbian I object strongly to the retention of Penal Code Section 377A covering male-male ‘gross indecency’. Instead of rejoicing that lesbians are slightly less reviled than gay men, I’m remembering that the government has not given any explicit pledge to decriminalise lesbian sex, although that would be one consequence of repealing S377. In fact, government statements ignore the existence of lesbianism altogether. Without a firm government commitment, policy could change later; S377A could, as has been pointed out, be adjusted to preserve ‘gender equality’. Or S377 might be rewritten in the manner implied by earlier reports, i.e. rewritten to decriminalise only heterosexual oral and anal sex. Although it might seem tempting to keep quiet in the hope that S377 will be wholly repealed before the government remembers lesbians exist, that will buy decriminalisation at the cost of continued invisibility - and as long as we are invisible, we have won nothing, and have no protection if the government suddenly decides to notice us.

Moreover, I feel that our sexual invisibility is nothing to be proud of. It is nobody else’s business to regulate what consenting adults do in private, but it is important that society recognises that women can, and do, have sex with each other. The same year Raffles purchased Singapore, the British House of Lords declared that women could no more have sex with each other than a man could rape a woman with words. Almost two hundred years later, the government is as unwilling to acknowledge the existence of lesbian sex as were colonial lawmakers. As long as what women do in bed with each other is not considered ’sex’, our relationships with each other are believed to be less deep-seated, and less complete, than male-female relationships.

Society can treat our relationships as overgrown childish friendships. Ignoring lesbian sex also makes it difficult to prosecute female-female rape, assualt and abuse. If we avoid drawing attention to ourselves, we may escape the explicit censure of the law, but what else do we give up in the process?

Does simply being left out of a reformed Penal Code really give lesbians much cause for celebration? Surely what we want is not invisibility, but equality? And if we are to achieve that, I think the LBGTQ community needs to stand together, regardless of gender.

Emma