Now to a lighter topic – how about peeling prawns or deshelling crabs?

AKA the post-semester gathering. (The pre-semester entry is here.)

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You can always bet on this as the perennial discussion topic when you have a group of Singaporeans (from both sexes) coming together for seafood of the crustacean kind. Not surprisingly we steered clear of any discussion on the GE results, since a number present are bonded to return sometime in the future. (Nobody wants to jeopardize his/her rice bowl right?)

So instead we talked about prawn peeling and crab de-shelling, no thanks to Sumiko Tan’s Jan 2002 column:

…I, for one, can’t see myself peeling prawns for anyone at a public meal, except perhaps my niece, who’s small and helpless.

I mean, why does a man need a woman to do that for him if he can do it himself? Unless he is out to prove to others around him that he has control over her, that she is ‘his woman’?

And why would a woman want to peel prawns for an able-bodied man unless she wants to make a show that he belongs to her?

Either way, the mind games being played here turn me off.

I do not think we ever played mind games in front of friends (or relatives). Two women had peeled prawns for me years before; yesterday another went further and de-shelled chilli crabs for me. 😛

No issue, really. I just did not want to get my hands dirty and she offered (just for me! heh heh).

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The gender imbalance that was so glaringly obvious was ameliorated somewhat by inviting some of the undergrads.