24 June 2007, New Paper
FIRST THERE WERE BUS UNCLES. NOW...Nasty Aunties
WHAT THE PICTURES SHOW
1. A woman getting aggressive in a carpark
2. Another woman digging her nose on the MRT.
3. A third woman shelling prawns on a Tibs bus
By Ho Lian Yi
THERE are appropriate places to shell prawns.
A bus isn't one ofthem.
But that didn't stop one middle-aged woman from peeling her plastic bag full of crustaceans on a Tibsbus.
A passenger sitting behind who saw what she did was so incensed by her anti-social behaviour that he took out his phone and filmed the entire act.
He then posted the clip online with the intention of shaming the woman.
The passenger, who signed himself off as nicholastansg,, said that at that time, the prawns stank and 'polluted the whole air-conditioned bus'.
When contacted via e-mail, he told The New Paper On Sunday: 'After I finished filming it, I confronted her and asked her why she did that.'
He claimed that from the woman's initial reaction, she seemed 'prepared to show her unreasonableness' until she realised that the person confronting her was a man who didn't 'have a friendly-looking face'.
Mr Tan believed that but for his intervention, the woman would have left the prawn shells on the floor.
After he told her off, she grudgingly picked up the shells, he said.
The woman is not the only 'aunty' in Singapore who has been caught committing anti-social acts that were eventually posted online.
A quick search on YouTube for 'Singapore auntie' comes up with several clips that reinforced the negative image of these elderly or middle-aged women or housewives.
'Kiasu', 'loud' and 'unreasonable' were some of the words that were associated with the stereotype of 'uncouth' women aged 50 and up.
The most infamous is probably the 'Singapore Lift Auntie', who was caught on film as she started chasing and yelling at a man and his daughter, as they cowered in a lift.
Other videos on YouTube included women taking far more plastic bags than they needed, and a woman who, with two others who appeared to be her sister and elderly mother, argued with someone over a carpark lot.
There was even one of a woman combing her wet hair at a corridor of a HDB block and leaving her used wet towel on the parapet every day.
This was posted and described by a person called gongxi88, who said he was her neighbour.
He said he initially wanted to take a picture of the slippers, umbrella and laundry rack that he claimed were blocking the pathway when he caught her in action.
WEIRD BEHAVIOUR
He wrote in an e-mail: 'When she saw me recording her weird behaviour, she purposely moved toward my unit and started her nonsense in front of my video cam.
'She mentioned that she is pretty, so shoot, lah! She even scolded (me with some) bad words.'
He now keeps his door closed to avoid seeing her 'nonsense', but she still does it, he claimed.
Perhaps the most difficult clip to watch is one titled 'Hardcore nose digging auntie on MRT'.
It shows a bespectacled woman , taking up two seats on the train - itself an inconsiderate act - clearing the gunk in her nose energetically.
The uploader's description summed it up: 'Yucks.'
Upon viewing the clip, one woman, 25-year-old copywriter Lena Wong, said: 'I don't know how anyone can tahan (Malay for stand it) filming that for one minute.'
For Miss Wong, stereotypes persist because people prove them right.
Bank officer Melvin Poh, 30, believes it has to do with upbringing and habits.
'That was how they have been doing things all along, so they're used to it,' he said.
However, communications services associate Lye Peixian, 25, felt that the stereotypes have arisen because of how people are portrayed.
In local shows, 'aunties' are always loud and rude, she said.
'A sophisticated middle-aged woman is never seen as an 'auntie' in those shows.'
It is an exaggerated portrayal, she said, adding: 'People of that age do show a bit of those traits, but it's not a high percentage.'
Blogger Lam Chun See, 55, of goodmorningyesterday.blogspot.com, cited Jack Neo's cross-dressing character, Liang Ximei, as an example of the 'auntie' stereotype.
Mr Lam's first reaction on seeing the videos was to wonder: 'Could it be they were staged?'
He feels the pigeonholing is unfair as young people do anti-social things, too.
'Different people behave differently. When I go into a lift with all the young girls talking so loudly, I find that very rude. Maybe it's not as bad as digging your nose, but it's not very courteous behaviour,' he said.
What do the women in their 50s think?
Mrs Liu Chye Lian, 50, a bus attendant and a mother of two, said the stereotype is outdated as more older women are concerned about their image.
'Aunties are more high-class now,' she said.
However, she admitted she is acquiring 'auntie' traits as she gets older.
'When I buy things, I bargain very hard sometimes. I guess that's 'auntie'. I'm not scared to bargain!'
Madam Tracy Wang, 44, homemaker and mum to threechildren, was unhappy that people would put such videos online.
She said: 'If I were that person, I would prefer you approach me. (Doing that) doesn't give people a chance to defend their actions.'
SELFISHNESS
She doesn't think 'auntie' behaviour has anything to do with educational levels, but more about selfishness.
'I call these people IMM - I, Myself, Me,' she said.
But she wouldn't want to be called an auntie herself.
'I think it's associated with being low-class, that's why nobody likes to be called auntie,' she said.
FIRST THERE WERE BUS UNCLES. NOW...Nasty Aunties
WHAT THE PICTURES SHOW
1. A woman getting aggressive in a carpark
2. Another woman digging her nose on the MRT.
3. A third woman shelling prawns on a Tibs bus
By Ho Lian Yi
THERE are appropriate places to shell prawns.
A bus isn't one ofthem.
But that didn't stop one middle-aged woman from peeling her plastic bag full of crustaceans on a Tibsbus.
A passenger sitting behind who saw what she did was so incensed by her anti-social behaviour that he took out his phone and filmed the entire act.
He then posted the clip online with the intention of shaming the woman.
The passenger, who signed himself off as nicholastansg,, said that at that time, the prawns stank and 'polluted the whole air-conditioned bus'.
When contacted via e-mail, he told The New Paper On Sunday: 'After I finished filming it, I confronted her and asked her why she did that.'
He claimed that from the woman's initial reaction, she seemed 'prepared to show her unreasonableness' until she realised that the person confronting her was a man who didn't 'have a friendly-looking face'.
Mr Tan believed that but for his intervention, the woman would have left the prawn shells on the floor.
After he told her off, she grudgingly picked up the shells, he said.
The woman is not the only 'aunty' in Singapore who has been caught committing anti-social acts that were eventually posted online.
A quick search on YouTube for 'Singapore auntie' comes up with several clips that reinforced the negative image of these elderly or middle-aged women or housewives.
'Kiasu', 'loud' and 'unreasonable' were some of the words that were associated with the stereotype of 'uncouth' women aged 50 and up.
The most infamous is probably the 'Singapore Lift Auntie', who was caught on film as she started chasing and yelling at a man and his daughter, as they cowered in a lift.
Other videos on YouTube included women taking far more plastic bags than they needed, and a woman who, with two others who appeared to be her sister and elderly mother, argued with someone over a carpark lot.
There was even one of a woman combing her wet hair at a corridor of a HDB block and leaving her used wet towel on the parapet every day.
This was posted and described by a person called gongxi88, who said he was her neighbour.
He said he initially wanted to take a picture of the slippers, umbrella and laundry rack that he claimed were blocking the pathway when he caught her in action.
WEIRD BEHAVIOUR
He wrote in an e-mail: 'When she saw me recording her weird behaviour, she purposely moved toward my unit and started her nonsense in front of my video cam.
'She mentioned that she is pretty, so shoot, lah! She even scolded (me with some) bad words.'
He now keeps his door closed to avoid seeing her 'nonsense', but she still does it, he claimed.
Perhaps the most difficult clip to watch is one titled 'Hardcore nose digging auntie on MRT'.
It shows a bespectacled woman , taking up two seats on the train - itself an inconsiderate act - clearing the gunk in her nose energetically.
The uploader's description summed it up: 'Yucks.'
Upon viewing the clip, one woman, 25-year-old copywriter Lena Wong, said: 'I don't know how anyone can tahan (Malay for stand it) filming that for one minute.'
For Miss Wong, stereotypes persist because people prove them right.
Bank officer Melvin Poh, 30, believes it has to do with upbringing and habits.
'That was how they have been doing things all along, so they're used to it,' he said.
However, communications services associate Lye Peixian, 25, felt that the stereotypes have arisen because of how people are portrayed.
In local shows, 'aunties' are always loud and rude, she said.
'A sophisticated middle-aged woman is never seen as an 'auntie' in those shows.'
It is an exaggerated portrayal, she said, adding: 'People of that age do show a bit of those traits, but it's not a high percentage.'
Blogger Lam Chun See, 55, of goodmorningyesterday.blogspot.com, cited Jack Neo's cross-dressing character, Liang Ximei, as an example of the 'auntie' stereotype.
Mr Lam's first reaction on seeing the videos was to wonder: 'Could it be they were staged?'
He feels the pigeonholing is unfair as young people do anti-social things, too.
'Different people behave differently. When I go into a lift with all the young girls talking so loudly, I find that very rude. Maybe it's not as bad as digging your nose, but it's not very courteous behaviour,' he said.
What do the women in their 50s think?
Mrs Liu Chye Lian, 50, a bus attendant and a mother of two, said the stereotype is outdated as more older women are concerned about their image.
'Aunties are more high-class now,' she said.
However, she admitted she is acquiring 'auntie' traits as she gets older.
'When I buy things, I bargain very hard sometimes. I guess that's 'auntie'. I'm not scared to bargain!'
Madam Tracy Wang, 44, homemaker and mum to threechildren, was unhappy that people would put such videos online.
She said: 'If I were that person, I would prefer you approach me. (Doing that) doesn't give people a chance to defend their actions.'
SELFISHNESS
She doesn't think 'auntie' behaviour has anything to do with educational levels, but more about selfishness.
'I call these people IMM - I, Myself, Me,' she said.
But she wouldn't want to be called an auntie herself.
'I think it's associated with being low-class, that's why nobody likes to be called auntie,' she said.
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