On Sunday 1st April the Straits Times (the main English-language daily broadsheet newspaper in Singapore) run an article titled "Sexual wellness items are now being sold openly on supermarket and pharmacy shelves and online grocery stores".
The author, Vanessa Lee, informs her audience that Singaporeans can now buy a selection of adult toys from mainstream retailers such as Guardian and Watsons (pharmacies) or RedMart and FairPrice (online grocery stores).
I was interviewed for this piece and asked if I though this was a positive or negative development.
I suggested this was a positive development towards "normalising the dialogue on sexuality". Vanessa and I spoke for about one hour, and only a few points made it into the article. The gist of my input was that I see much of the issues around sex and sexuality stemming from lack of information and understanding, and that anything that can healthily open up the dialogue is useful.
In a country that has been struggling with birth rates for the last 15 or so years, I find it staggering that there is little or no open dialogue on sex and sexuality.
Within hours from publication, a post about the article appeared on Reddit.
Some people thought it was an April Fool's, some quickly decried the immorality of such trends and threw the baby out with the bath water by bundling sex toys, homosexuality and porn together.
However, I was deeply and pleasantly surprised to see a wide range of commentators positively reacting to the new trend.
I suppose that if there were more funding opportunities, it would be intriguing to run new research on sexual attitudes across this region, but I guess it won't be for now.
I'd be interested in your views.
What do you think about mainstream retailer openly stocking adult toys?
You can submit your replies by commenting below or emailing me directly.
Thanks and I look forward to hear from you.