A Page From Our Diary

When I first had this idea to start off this project, it was under a prospect of much different circumstances than what it is today. It was a year ago, in 2023, when I first had a speckle of a thought to create this. This project, ‘Diary of a Boy’ (DoaB), is an ongoing multimedia ‘zine’ project. I’m careful in my selection of words with ‘zine’ and ‘magazine’ in this context because I believe that DoaB can be so much more than just a mish mash of miscellaneous images and articles strung together. For now, I will just refer to it simply as a project.

As we grow and establish our core ideas, I intend to showcase and inspire the male-presenting youth in South East Asia by delivering subversive content on gender, boyhood, architecture, subculture and the arts.

Boys have untold stories. This project is for boys who are boys who can’t see themselves like the other boys. ‘Boy’ is a performance, so actually anyone could be a boy. Some just default to ‘boy’ by circumstance, or by choice.

A diary of a boy. A diary is a record of one’s personal thoughts, ideas, experiences, and reflections. A diary that is published, bound and made for visibility, is an oxymoron. It is no longer a diary. Yet, DoaB aims to see these reflections and experiences as a personal strength that should be shared and discussed. Particularly, in Southeast Asia, where the region is laced with censorship and ideological turmoil. 

The effects of globalisation did not just mean the worldwide export of capitalism, and its related ideologies, but also pushed forward a global, imperial standard of masculinity. This ‘one-size-fits-all’ model often overshadows our local masculine/feminine identities and practices. The matrilineal societies of Southeast Asia have found themselves in disequilibrium. Now, boys and men have to adapt to the expectations of toughness and dominance. This phenomenon, as described by R. W. Connell is called ‘hegemonic masculinity’.

The effects of this, now transformed and mutated, from early John Wayne-isms to the now fucked up and self-contradictory ‘alpha male’ online movements, it will probably only get worse from here. While we grapple with our identities, we either conform for safety, or choose to defy. 

Defiance and compliance are both innate in humans, that’s why some lead double lives. Diary of a Boy wants to playfully explore that. Those who have complied ie. (playboys, stoics, the alpha males) and defied (soft, the androgynous, and the vulnerable). And for the ‘boy’, the situational shapeshifter, this is an introspective treat for them. 

Please look forward to our upcoming projects!

For collaborations, questions or queries, reach out at [email protected]