Homoseksual dilarang di Perjanjian Lama

Baru baca Taurat Musa soal homoseksual. Anehnya di bab ini tidak disinggung soal lesbian :P Kali dari zaman dahulu kala, laki-laki lebih "berkuasa"??? Semakin dibaca, memang sepertinya masyarakat (zaman itu) lebih mengutamakan laki-laki.

Imamat 18: 22 Janganlah engkau tidur dengan laki-laki secara orang bersetubuh dengan perempuan, karena itu suatu kekejian.

Leviticus 18: 22 Do not have sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman; that is detestable

Marital Rape

Source: Her World Nov 2009

My husband raped me

by Jacelyn Lim

When it first happened in 2007, we had already been married for seven years – he had been my senior at the polytechnic and my first love.

Our marriage was on the rocks because I had just discovered that he had been cheating on me with different women for years. And his ongoing infidelity was slowly ripping us apart with frequent quarrels and scuffles.

One night, he started touching my body, as he always did when he wanted sex. But sex was the last thing on earth I wanted at the time – I wasn’t even sure exactly how many women he had been with. So I pushed him away. He tried again. And I pushed him away again. That was when he became frustrated. He climbed on top of me and pressed me down roughly. I struggled but he was stronger than me. He kissed me all over and started to force himself on me. I was helpless. When he was done, he simply rolled over to his side of the bed and went to sleep, leaving me feeling traumatised.

The next morning, he behaved as if nothing unusual had happened. But I was still reeling in shock and disbelief.

What had happened to the intelligent and attentive man I had known since I was 17, the student leader whom our peers had looked up to? That night, he was a different man altogether, he was a stranger.

Full article can be read here

Happy End or Sad End?

Wokeh, lagi semangat nge-blog di sini. Kemarin sahabat saya di LA (Venny) tanya, maksudnya minta sedikit "bocoran" aka spoiler tentang novel ini.
"Yun, happy end nggak? Soalnya gw gak suka yang gak happy end!"

Oh well, Ven, I also like a happy ending. (Kayaknya emang karena kita banyak kemiripan dalam karakter, apa yang kita sukai dan tidak kita sukai, makanya kita jadi nyambung hihihi)

Tapi waktu saya nulis novel ini (awalnya cuma 50 halaman double space), memang mood lagi aneh (hahaha, dulu kan profesi bukan novelis, tapi pengangguran oops, maksudnya jadi Shinigami aka Angel of Death cum social entertainer dengan banyak pasien kanker stadium 4. (please click that link to my English article in Kompas Komunitas / KoKi). Jadi tau sendiri deh, I was not in my best mood to create a cheery atmosphere in my writings. Plus, waktu itu saya lagi rada depresi, identity crisis: what's next after getting my Masters degree? so I weighed all my options a lot with "what if" scenarios. More or less, it is reflected in the gloomy aura of this novel.

However, yes... this is a however... I always want a happy ending for the hero and heroine. Hence, as I told to Venny, this is not a spoiler of the story though.

YES, IT HAS A HAPPY ENDING FOR THE PROTAGONISTS. But again, happiness is relative from which perspective you see the case. *Duh, siap-siap ngabur ah, ntar ditimpuki orang-orang lagi kayak kasus ending-nya my first novel: Sakura Bersemi di Yokohama.

Pesannya, hanya ada satu orang KAMU di WAKTU INI, DIMENSI INI, apapun yang terjadi. Ya, masa lalu memang memengaruhi apa yang terjadi sekarang, tapi ingat, kamu masih punya masa depan!

The past influenced what happens in the present time, but remember, you still have the future to discover! There is only one YOU in THIS PRESENT TIME, THIS DIMENSION, no matter what happened.

Tetap semangat!!! Ganbatte! Jia you! Way to go!!!

Time Paradox

Time Paradox is a pretty complicated physics theory. When I wrote Sydney Darling Harbour, I was fascinated with the idea of time travel. If I go back to the past and kill my grandfather, then I won't be born in the future and I cannot do the time travel to murder him in the past.

Artemis Fowl and the Time Paradox explores the same theory I used in Sydney Darling Harbour. The past must not be changed so that the present stays as what it is.

One lesson though, the difference between Artemis Fowl technology and my novel: there must only be one ME in one TIME. There can't be two same Kumalasari in the same time. Keep this in mind when you are reading Sydney Darling Harbour later!

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Paradoks Waktu adalah sebuah teori fisika yang cukup rumit. Ketika saya menulis Sydney Darling Harbour, saya lagi "penggumunan" dengan konsep perjalanan menembus waktu. Kalau saya kembali ke masa lalu dan membunuh kakek saya, maka saya tidak akan terlahir di masa depan dan saya tidak bisa melakukan perjalanan ke masa lalu untuk membunuh kakek saya. Bingung nggak?? HEHE.

Artemis Fowl and the Time Paradox mengeksplorasi teori yang sama, yang saya gunakan di Sydney Darling Harbour. Masa lalu tidak boleh diubah sehingga masa sekarang tetap sama.

Beda novel saya dengan teknologi Artemis Fowl adalah aturan ini: hanya boleh ada satu SAYA dalam satu WAKTU. Tidak ada dua Kumalasari yang sama pada waktu yang sama. Tolong ingat ini saat Anda membaca Sydney Darling Harbour nanti ya!

The Starting Ideas

This story was originally written in 2004. The idea of this story was started when an ex TOFI 2nd batch (Physics Olympic Team from Indonesia), Jemmy, one of my good friends from NUS, told me about physics theory of "TIME" (although I have simplified a lot in this novel, of course, and I have cut off one full chapter that creates headache, said my sis).

Then there was a friend who told me a true story of a male subordinate. They have been married for decades, they have two grown-up children, but then the husband told his wife that he just realized that he is gay and he wants a divorce. My friend asked me what if I am in the position of the wife... Oh well, the couple is not Indonesian, by the way.

(Speaking of which this type of story can also be found in recent new column @ Kompas.com called Love Talk).

These are few of "heavy" topics that can be found in this novel...

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Kisah ini aslinya ditulis tahun 2004. Ide cerita ini dimulai saat seorang eks anggota TOFI angkatan ke-2 (yup, Tim Olimpiade Fisika Indonesia), Jemmy, salah satu temen baikku dari NUS, ngomongin teori fisika soal "WAKTU" (walau saya udah menyederhanakan sekali konsepnya, dan sudah membabat habis 1 bab yang kata adik2 bikin pusing kepala).

Terus ada temen yang cerita kisah nyata anak buahnya. Mereka udah kawin puluhan tahun, punya dua orang anak yang sudah dewasa. Tapi si suami bilang ke istrinya kalau dia baru sadar bahwa dirinya homo, terus dia minta cerai. Temenku nanya ke aku: apa yang akan aku lakukan kalau aku di posisi istrinya. Oh ya, pasangan tersebut bukan orang Indonesia.

(Ngomong2, cerita kayak gini bisa ditemukan di curhat orang di kolom (relatif) baru di Kompas.com, namanya Love Talk).

Ini adalah salah dua topik "berat" yang bisa ditemui di novel ini.