Hello hello from Singapore! I am really enjoying my time here, and I would definitely say it is one of my favorite stops this summer. The culture is very different than America, but I appreciate the exposure and feel comfortable.
I started this week by visiting the National Museum of Singapore because I found out there were some family planning archives there that would be interesting. The entire museum was pretty impressive, and it was heavily focused on viewing Singapore chronologically which helped piece together my understanding of the country’s history and how it has influenced my specific research topic of sexual health/contraception. I saw a few archives that caught my attention, and I included pictures:
- “Put Some Years Between Us” campaign poster – In the late 1940s, a voluntary association called the Singapore Family Planning Association was formed to promote family planning counseling and services. This was a fairly new concept in Singaporean culture since limited information about birth control was popular, and the cultural norms promoted larger families. During the late 1960s, due to population control concerns, there were large campaigns including the “Put Some Years Between Us” to encourage spacing out time between having children and the “Girl or Boy, Two is Enough” campaign to promote smaller families of only two children, regardless of gender. Some of the policies even pushed this shift in a more legal sense by offering incentives for sterilization and public housing applications favored smaller families.
- “Teenage Marriage Means Rushing Into Problems. A Happy Marriage is Worth Waiting For” poster – This poster was created by the Family Planning and Population Board as part of the Singapore government in 1978. The poster is discouraging teenage marriages (under the age of 20 years old) which they thought heavily contributed to social problems of raising children in poverty and negative impact on women.
- Questions & Answers on Family Planning pamphlet – A 1960 pamphlet answering common questions about family planning. It is clear in the language that they are promoting birth control as only a positive choice. They mention how simple it is to use contraception, emphasize that people have been doing this for a long time, and mention that it will have no impact on someone’s life. I noticed that they mention either partner can utilize contraception to protect themselves from unintended pregnancy which is unique from most family planning initiatives during this era that focused on how this was a woman’s responsibility.
I’ve also visited multiple pharmacies in different neighborhoods to check out over-the-counter available methods. There are condoms everywhere! I am pleasantly surprised to find a variety of condoms and lube available at 7-Eleven and pharmacies, and I even saw them at the cashier’s check-out area recently in case you need to grab a candy bar and condoms in a rush.
Singapore’s sexual health history reminds me of the textbook case of family planning history and initiatives, but I see differences based on the region and their own historical development. I am excited to continue exploring in my last week here and of traveling. 
