The measure of a woman

IN today's parlance, "butch" is a word used to describe a woman with masculine characteristics - a woman like actress Deonn Yang. Tall and beefy, she is quite the opposite of the thin demure women favoured by Asian fashion, media and advertising.

When Yang talks about how she once queued for the women's toilet, only to be told by another woman that the queue was for "Girls Only", you sympathise. When she talks about distant cousins who address her as kor kor (brother) instead of cheh cheh (s…