Cambodia blacklists home-wrecking songs: media

TOKYO, March 17 (Reuters Life!) - Cambodian entertainment watchdogs have blacklisted three songs, arguing that they could encourage women to pursue other women's husbands, a Japanese news agency reported on Monday.

The Khmer Arts Association and the Cambodian Television Association said the songs -- "If I Can't be Your First Wife, Can I be Your Second?", "I Love Another's Husband" and "May I Have a Piece of Your Heart?" -- were demeaning to women, Kyodo news agency said in a dispatch.

"The songs are meant to put down women and their dignity," Kyodo quoted Ieng Sithol, president of the Khmer Arts Association, as saying. "As lovers of the arts, artists should act properly or we will be criticized by the public."

Artists are banned from singing the songs at concerts, on radio or television. Kyodo said the decision had upset some fans who felt that it unfairly targeted female singers.

Similar songs sung by men, such as "How beautiful! Whose Wife is She?" and "Even If She is Someone Else's Wife, That's OK" can still be performed freely.

(Reporting by Sophie Hardach; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)