A local radio DJ's comments

Dear editor,

I am sending this email because I am uncomfortable with Mr Young's comments just aired in his late-night show.

I was tuning in to Mr Young's late-night show on 987 on Friday, December 17th. In the short span of time I was tuned in, Mr Young made several comments about various female celebrities, including Nicole Scherzinger. What I noticed was that most of his comments of the female celebrities revolved around their bodies. He alluded to their curves, hotness, and at some point pointed out that hotness was about moving fats of the body around. He then said for women, fat could be moved from the butt (if it were too big) to the "chest area", and then said that for women the chest area can never be too big.

I understand that this a radio programme for the young, but I feel the objectification and sexualization of the female celebrities that Mr Young readily does is not the best thing, considering the young tend to be influenced enough by the media, and the young are increasingly falling to eating disorders and other afflictions associated with being self-conscious about their bodies, and the attempt to attain a certain ideal beauty standard, one that Mr Young makes clear he finds desirable.

As a radio celebrity with many listeners, I think it is reasonable to hope that our local DJs will be more aware of social trends and be more concerned about promoting respect for people (not only for their physicality), and to help young people be positive about their self-image.

Moreover, in responding to a caller who had won tickets to some event, Mr Young immediately asked the male caller to bring three of his hottest friends, again emphasizing the importance of good looks. And then he at once followed with asking if the friends would be females. When the caller said he did not know, Mr Young was (or acted) shocked. He said he thought the caller did not know the sex of his friends, like he was bringing friends from Changi Village. Here, Mr Young alluded to the transsexuals of Singapore. When the caller said "no la...", Mr Young breathed a sigh of relief and implied the idea of 'Phew, that's good'.

Here, Mr Young was subtly discriminatory towards the transgendered community in Singapore, already a very marginalized group. It may be subtle, but then most media messages that people internalize are plenty, all-around, and each seemingly subtle, yet in totality effective in propagating and reinforcing certain narrow and discriminatory ideas.

Thank you for your time,
Nina Carlina