WALKING AS A WOMAN: CONSTRUCTING OTHERS, THE MALE GAZE AND COPING STRATEGIES

Abstract

My thesis examines the intersection of gender and space. While this particular field of interest has been studied extensively in Western societies, there is a paucity of literature concerning the issue in the Singapore context. Despite Singapore’s long-held reputation as one of the safest countries in the world, perceptions of safety in public spaces still vary between genders. More precisely, women’s perceptions of safety are inextricably linked to feelings of sexual vulnerability. As such, this paper seeks to understand the structures that define and frame women’s lived and embodied experiences of spaces and places. From the vantage point of everyday experiences, I explore the micropolitics of how women perceive and navigate public spaces in Singapore. In doing so, I interrogate and deconstruct the aspects of their everyday spatial realities that often go unscrutinised, allowing me to understand how feminine subjectivities are constituted and reconstituted. Through this, I contend that women’s experiences in public space are largely moulded by their constructions of the Other as well as the ever-present male gaze, both of which engender fear and anxiety. Yet, despite the context of fear in which women’s spatial realities are situated, women devise strategies to live with and beyond fear, ultimately proving themselves to be active negotiators of fear and danger.