“Singapore wives are so ah soh!” and other headlines that made the public look twice

Before clickbait, there was the cover line.

Printed in bold these magazine headlines pushed social boundaries, teased out taboo, and captured the private anxieties of women in a rapidly modernising Singapore. They were provocative, sometimes outrageous, but always tapped into something real: the emotional undercurrents of love, sex, power, and survival.

This was an era before Instagram discourse and digital thinkpieces – when a single line on a newsstand could stir up a national debate or trigger a family dinner argument. Whether the topic was romance (or the lack of it), power dynamics at home, or the darker sides of the internet, Her World editors then leaned in and brought readers with it.

Today, Her World still leads the conversation. We’ve just changed the lens. From tabloid-worthy scandals to career strategy, the issues that matter to women have evolved – and so have we. We now tackle the hard truths around money, career, health and purpose, with the same honesty and heart.

As we mark Her World’s 65th anniversary, we look back at 10 unforgettable cover lines from the 2000s.

February 2002

Cover line: Plotting with the enemy. “The other woman helped me nail my husband”

Comment: The twist wasn’t just that she forgave the “other woman”, it’s that she joined forces with her. In a move that flipped the script on betrayal, this headline made readers wonder: what if the real enemy isn’t her, but him? Bold, disorienting, and surprisingly forward-thinking, it cracked open new ways of seeing infidelity and solidarity.

March 2002

Cover line: Singapore men - “Dull, unromantic, calculating!” China-born newscaster Helen Chen speaks out

Comment: It read like a personal attack, and maybe that’s why Helen Chen’s candid critique of Singaporean men hit so hard. She said what many local women only whispered to one another,  and she said it on the cover of a national magazine. That audacity turned frustrations into conversations, sparking debates over dinner tables, office pantries, and everywhere in between.

May 2002

Cover line: Exposed! Strange mating rituals of the Singapore man

Comment: Were these so-called ‘mating rituals’ bizarre, laughable, or painfully familiar? No one knew for sure, which is exactly why readers couldn’t resist flipping the page. With a headline that sounded part wildlife doc, part dating exposé, it held up a mirror… and maybe made a few Singaporean men squirm.

May 2003

Cover line: Singapore wives are so Ah Soh!

Comment: Domesticity, frumpiness, control freakery: the stereotype was loud, judgy, and layered. By calling wives “Ah Soh,” it exposed the contempt that Singaporean men held for the women they married, raising questions about their taste, ageing, and the hypocrisy of expectations.

October 2004

Cover line: The boob scoop - Local women flash and tell

Comment: Was it a cheeky chat about cup sizes or a serious look at breast health? The headline left room for both. But given that it ran in October, also known as Breast Cancer Awareness Month, it likely nudged women to be more open about something rarely discussed. Whether for self-image or self-care, encouraging notoriously conservative Singaporean women to speak openly about breast health was a movement worth having.

August 2005

Cover line: Confession - “I slept with strangers to keep my bungalow”

Comment: This cover line made people stop and wonder – what pushes a woman to this point? Beyond the headline was a deeper cry for help, one that hinted at the silent struggles of financial desperation. It raised a tough but timely question: how can we better spot the signs, and support women before they feel cornered into such choices?

November 2005

Cover line: “I had sex with 10 maids” - A married man confesses

Comment: The headline was scandalous. But what truly disturbed readers was the sheer scale of betrayal of one married man with ten different domestic helpers. It pointed to something far deeper than infidelity: the troubling abuse of power within the home. And yet, it’s so often the domestic workers – or women in question – who are blamed, even when it’s the men who so clearly cross the line.

March 2007

Cover line: “I wanted to die with my baby.” One woman’s struggle to be a wife, mother, daughter

Comment: The cover was raw, heartbreaking and ahead of its time. Long before mental health became part of mainstream conversation, this story gave voice to the silent anguish many women carried. This admission hinted at postpartum depression, but also at the impossible weight of trying to be everything at once: a good wife, a devoted mother, a dutiful daughter. At a time when womanhood was being shaped by ambition, this piece cracked open the cost of it all, and gently pointed toward the need for help, compassion, and community.

July 2007

Cover line: Exclusive - Most feared women in Asia. They wield guns with babies on their backs

Comment: This reads like the plot of a war film, but the reality was far more sobering. These women were believed to be freedom fighters from conflict zones like Mindanao in the Philippines or rural parts of Myanmar – places where carrying a baby and a gun are not contradictions, but are necessities for survival.

October 2008

Cover line: Married but alone - Are you going through an invisible divorce?

Comment: In 2008, long before “ghosting” entered our dating vocabulary, Her World dared to spotlight a specific type of heartbreak: the invisible divorce. No infidelity or fights in the marriage… Just a creeping absence of intimacy, effort, and connection.

For many women, it gave language to the loneliness they felt while still wearing a ring. Was it worse than cheating? That was the uncomfortable question. And at a time when divorce still carried stigma, speaking up about emotional abandonment was both brave and taboo.