NUS Student Group Made To Cancel Rope Bondage Event After Online Backlash

Relatively controversial issues such as gay marriage, fetishes and televised sexual plays may have been given the benefit of the doubt in recent years, but the fact remains that they stay controversial…

And as such are still disallowed or frowned upon in many countries.

And that’s an especially prevalent notion when it comes to more conservative countries: having stayed committed to a conventional mindset for so long, such glaring and abrupt changes, that threaten what they have known for years, must surely come off as a negative aspect.

Yeah, really negative aspect.

And though it may be well-validated in some cases, it may also come across as a very ambiguous issue at times…

With perhaps the following topic being one fine, prime, example.

Rope Bondage

Lest you’re unaware of what rope bondage represents, here’s a rough explanation:

50 Shades Of Grey. Tight ropes. Titillated pleasure.

Unfortunately, I can’t go any more detailed than that because our company’s technically PG-21. So if you’re still curious I’ll suggest that you look up the movie title.

If you’re below 16, please kindly exit this article.

Well, anyways, rope bondage is one of many practices that have come into public consciousness due to their inclusion in popular movies.

And apparently, it has become so mainstream that a student group from the National University of Singapore (NUS) actually decided to let its members learn more about the practice.

It even tried to host an event for the topic, though one should note the emphasis on the italicized word in this sentence.

However, due to heavy online backlash, including the doxxing of affiliated members, the group was eventually forced to issue a statement in their own defence.

The event, as you might have surmised, has also been cancelled.

NUS Student Group Made To Cancel Rope Bondage Event After Online Backlash

The group in question is called tFreedom and hails from NUS’ Tembusu College.

It’s a self-professed “community that aims to build a diverse and inclusive college” by hosting events for members to comprehend issues and thoughts relating to gender, sexuality, sex and feminism, on its Facebook page.

And to provide more information on the topic of rope bondage, the group organised an online event yesterday (2 September) which was described as a “queer-friendly, sex-positive rope bondage space”.

Apparently, a couple from 0101 studio was supposed to share their experiences with consensual rope bondage to participants.

But reception, it seems, was worse than lukewarm.

It was a rebellion.

In response to the event, a petition on Change.org, titled Stop Promoting Violent Sex at NUS, was created.

The petition’s OP also listed a series of violations that the event was set to commit. They include:

• Glamorising creative ‘bondage sex’
• Accommodates “violent sexual fantasies among students”
• Promotion of potentially life-threatening “dangerous fetishes” could mean breaking the trust that parents have in the college

In addition, the petition also alleged that the group was “promoting loose sexual behaviour” with its Let’s Talk About Sex weekly sessions, where members chat about sexual experiences.

It expressed that such discussions lack “educational value”, and only serve to “stimulate sexual fantasies”.

The petition, which has since been signed by more than 7,700 people, also called the members “immoral” and “deeply troubling”, and questioned how such practices could be allowed by the Ministry of Education and NUS.

And apparently, the petition also included the personal details of the tFreedom members.

Or in other words, doxxing.

Defence

In response, tFreedom posted a statement on Facebook, saying that the petition had misrepresented the event.

The group also highlighted that it condemns violence and that its events have never encouraged ‘violent sex’ or ‘non-consensual’ activities.

No promotion (or encouragement) of rope bondage was intended; the event was simply to allow students to learn more about the practice.

As for the participants in question, 0101 Studio takes communication, respect and consent seriously.

It was a voluntary event, which was held over Zoom with no physical contact whatsoever.

However, it admitted that it could have done a better job with the poster for the event, in order to ensure a clearer conveyance of the “discourse-driven aspect”.

It also apologised for any distress that might’ve been caused to victims of sexual assault.

The group has also expressed its alarm at the doxxing of its members, and condemned the act.

The event has since been cancelled in a bid to protect those affected.

It should be noted, however, that a counter-petition titled Stop Censoring Sexual Discourse at NUS has been created. The counter-petition is supposedly unrelated to the group, which has since expressed gratitude for the support.

To date, over 2,000 signatures have been collated.

Ambiguity

In the end, it’s really an ambiguous issue, in the sense that you’ll likely find supporters on either end of the equation.

As a reasonably open-minded individual who still somewhat respect conservative values, I am undeniably on the fence in regards to this one.

However, under no circumstances should the act of doxxing have occurred. After all, there are laws against it.

And considering how the event was hardly pushing itself on unwilling ‘victims’, doxxing seems to be an act that’s heavily uncalled for.

As for the issue at hand, I guess only time will tell. After all, differences have always been aplenty in this society.

But it seems that only time irons out the differences, as it has done for every period of time.

Since we’re on the topic of restrictions, here’s what PM Lee has to say about Covid-19 in his parliamentary speech yesterday: