All-girls' raunchy night out

Squeaky-clean Singapore has an underbelly that comes alive on certain nights of the month. 'Tis when lesbian females boldly stride out of the closet for a wild time.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------- By Tanny Chia

>> A lesbian female speaks to Purplelips

[eastciti.com, December 29]
The scene outside the popular nightspot seems straight out of any all-girls' pre-university prom night.

Young and fresh-faced, women in their late teens and early 20s wait patiently in a queue to enter a private party held in the club.

Others linger outside in intimate groups, chatting excitedly to one another in high-pitched tones or otherwise hurrying their friends over dainty mobile phones.

Only thing that differentiates this gathering from an innocent girls' school outing are the couples.

Brazenly making-out in full view of the other patrons, they are not your usual ill-mannered hormonally-charged boys and girls. All of them are female.

An open secret among people in the know, this is Lesbian Nite, held every last Tuesday of the month at the well-known club.

As the name suggests, it's an 'underground' gathering for gay females to meet and socialise. Similar such events are held regularly at nightspots around the island, but most, like this, are kept under wraps, publicised only to guests on the clubs' exclusive lists.

I'd heard of the event from a regular at the club and had readily volunteered to check out the scene in the name of duty. But standing among all the female faces outside the club on the night itself, I didn't feel quite so sure about my quick decision.

For one thing, while familiarity has helped me develop an ease with the gender eyeballing that occurs at all clubs, to expect sexual overtures from fellow females was quite another.

And the sexual undertones in the air tonight are definitely palpable. Perhaps the theme for the night has emboldened the young women, who hold hands and kiss unrestrainedly with other girls dressed up as boys in their oversized shirts and cargo pants.

For another, I harbour fears that somehow, my friend and I look 'too heterosexual' (don't ask me how) and my undercover assignment will be exposed.

It doesn't help that we are terribly conscious that we are 2 of the oldest faces among a very young female crowd - girls who perhaps are too young to have decided on their sexual inclination. But that's just my sentiment.

Fighting the urge to leave, we join the queue to enter the club. In front of us, 2 men insist on entering the girls-only event and are turned away by even more insistent bouncers.

Despite 'guilt' written all over our faces, we are waved past.

Once inside the club's smoky premises, the excitement from the strong crowd crashes down on us in a wave of sweaty endorphins.

Patrons, more notably the 'guys', enthusiastically cat-call and whistle as a cross-dressing performer on stage whips up sentiments with shouts of, "We are proud of who we are!" and "Why should we hide?!".

And when a popular local celebrity hops on stage to declare, "Tonight is for people like us!", I feel an acute guilty pang for trespassing an unordinary event.

Here in the club, away from outsiders' prying eyes, it is no holds barred. In my corner where my friend and I try to make ourselves inconspicuous behind glasses of gin tonic, a couple embrace in a passionate tongue duel, oblivious to our stares.

Next to them, another twosome danced intimately to the deafening music.

It is obvious the rules are written differently in this club. Unlike 'heterosexual' joints, pick-ups and sexual passes are made discreetly.

Forget the cheesy pick-up lines and too-bold approaches you get from drunken men. Here, masculine-looking girls discreetly eye the girls they fancy over the rims of their glasses.

Contrary to my earlier apprehensions, my friend and I receive no overture except an invitation to dance during the 3 hours we are at the club.

Perhaps it's because of the girls' less aggressive nature. Or perhaps it's because, as I had imagined, 'straight' was written all over our faces. Whatever, we certainly feel a helluva lot 'safer' among these girls.

I leave the lesbian gathering stung by the massive turnout.

Whether these youthful women are undergoing a phase or not, they are a group clamouring to be let in from society's fringes. Lesbianism is surely creeping into society's fabric and must be addressed one day.

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