Participant 5: Anonymous
(Completed on 15th February 2017, Singapore)

1) What is your view on IMDA and its classification?
I think it is important to have a “neutral” body which protects audiences from some artists’ ego, insensitivity, disrespect, etc. Before I take my son to a performance, I want to make an informed choice and not be surprised by things he cannot handle on the moment and without preparation or explanation. Having the IMDA helps moderate between the interested parties and allows the audience to make an informed choice.

Its classification is very important to me. As explained above, I do not wish to bring my son to a performance without knowing that there are issues that I need to highlight, explain or discuss with him, prior to making a decision whether to attend or prior to attending.

2) How did you feel about IMDA’s denial of classification for Undressing Room, on the grounds that it contained ‘excessive nudity’?
Hahahah I love it: excessive nudity! It sounds like an oxymoron. How can you be excessively nude? I would have kept the highest rating. When I was eighteen, I certainly would not have been mature enough to handle an experience like this. We agree that certain decisions may not be “fair” to the individual case, but are conventionally accepted to protect the public at large. This is one of those cases. Maybe we are not ready to handle all at once. There will be other opportunities.

3) What was your reaction to Undressing Room being withdrawn from the M1 Singapore Fringe Festival, after it was denied a classification by IMDA?
Unsurprising, pathetic, childish, selfish, typical of small minded people who have a problem with their own body and want others to be shackled like them! I raised my eyes to the ceiling!

4) Why did you decide to take part in the revived Undressing Room, despite the controversy surrounding it?
Because it came from somebody I knew, a friend, somebody I could trust and who is as respectful as I am, an artist who is genuinely interested in the research of the performance he is proposing, somebody with whom I could easily feel safe and comfortable.

To experience the action of undressing and the state of being undressed in front of another human being of the opposite sex and similar age, who does not want to have sex with me and also wants simply to experience the action of undressing and the state of being undressed in front of another human being of the opposite sex and similar age, who does not want to have sex with him. To experience this action and state.

5) What were your thoughts or concerns regarding your participation in Undressing Room, a work that had not been approved by IMDA?
I did not wish my decision on such a sensitive performance to be used by people to depict me in a way that does not correspond to the truth (it has happened before and now I am more cautious).

I am simply glad I took part in the performance. It was easier than I thought. It is very much about the present moment. Once this is gone, that is it, I am no longer there. Only the feeling surrounding the memory remains and it is a good feeling.

6) How did IMDA’s decision affect your participation or experience of Undressing Room?
I find it immature that people cannot handle others’ choice to attend such an event. Perhaps in being cautious, one can fall into the excess and become paranoid. It is about allowing choices and protecting the right of those who make the choice. Naturally when the choice entails anybody being harmed, society has to intervene, but if this is not the case, then the person should be allowed to make the choice.

7) Other comments.
No, I feel I have expressed myself completely and in a balanced manner.