Friday October 19, 2012

Young ones see no harm in erotic postings

Reports by REGINA LEE, WONG PEK MEI, YVONNE LIM and TASHNY SUKUMARAN

PETALING JAYA: If fame was what Alvin Tan and Vivian Lee were after, they have spades of it and coming with it, an abundance of debate as to whether their actions were morally and culturally acceptable.

Among their peers, most are unperturbed and do not consider the couple's posting of erotic pictures and sex videos of themselves on a blog to be immoral.

Production manager Joshua James Peterson, 26, said while he was shocked when he read the news, he did not think the couple had crossed the line.

“I do not mind because they are not spamming others to view their explicit pictures and videos. It is one's free will to view them.

“They can do anything they want as long as they do not force their ideas upon others,” he said.

Student Kan Wai Min, 18, said although he felt the two should keep their sexual activities private, he did not think it was immoral for them to display them publicly.

“But I do think it is culturally inappropriate,” he said.

Others showed their support on social media. @AnnoyingBobby said “I just cannot brain (understand) Vivian Lee and Alvin Tan. But it seems those two are happy with what they're doing. So, let them.”

Twitter user @warbaby also defended the pair, saying “Maybe all who are upset over Vivian Lee and Alvin Tan's pics wanna do the same but don't dare to? It's their own thing, why judge?”

@SyeikhSL tweeted “Alvin Tan and Vivian Lee, hats off!”

A former classmate of Lee thought she was “brave”.

David Woon, who attended university with Lee, described her as “a very sweet and kind” person, adding that the incident was “out of the imaginable”.

“Of course I was shocked initially, but I think it's only right to be truly concerned and give her the proper support she needs. To those who are sharing the news and wagging their tongues about it, I can only say there's more to life than to get over-excited about one's sexual lifestyle,” he said.

Singapore Straits Times spoke to Tan's former classmates, one of whom said the law student was “reliable and dependable”.

Online fashion entrepreneur May Tan Mei Wan, 24, said she found out about the blog two months ago from mutual friends.

“We discussed it and felt it was disgusting to post such contents online.

“I think that they must have insecurities and doing this gives them self assurance or makes them feel more superior,” she said.

Peterson pointed out that although the duo were getting a lot of attention, they might suffer negative consequences in future.

“It may seem great now but what if they break up? Their actions may act as a barrier to finding future partners or even hinder any potential business ventures,” he said.

Comment:
For some, no shame, just fame

More News