The Chiayi City Council passed a motion to assess the possibility of establishing a regulated red-light district in the city. Chiayi Mayor Huang Min-hui (黃敏惠) said that the city government would examine the legality and feasibility of the proposal, but the most important thing is to consult the public.
In 2011, the Social Order Maintenance Act (社會秩序維護法) was amended to allow local governments to set up regulated red-light districts, yet no city mayor or county commissioner has done so. Establishing a red-light district is a sensitive issue, and no officials would want to go against existing social conventions. It is difficult to persuade the public to accept such an arrangement.
Undeniably, the majority of Taiwanese are bound by conventional norms of morality and customs, considering “sex” to be impure and regarding the sex industry with contempt. However, the truth is that the sex industry has existed for a long time in society. Indeed, it never went away.
Sex workers exist in every corner of the globe and have done so for some time. For one thing, people have sexual needs; for another, the sex industry does not disappear with economic growth. No matter how affluent a society is, there are women who live in poverty who face adverse circumstances, perhaps due to unforeseen changes to their lives, and need to take care of their families. To survive, they become sex workers.
Moreover, those who are unmarried, divorced or widowed have sexual needs, so too do the disabled and migrant workers. In this sense, there is a demand in place for such work. The problem is how the public considers this social issue.
In Europe, red-light districts have been established in cities including Germany’s Hamburg and Amsterdam in the Netherlands. Both areas have become popular sightseeing spots. These districts are regulated by the government, and so people’s sexual needs are met and sex workers are protected. With official governance, criminal rings do not have a chance to control and exploit sex workers, whose income and safety is therefore ensured.
Moreover, sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV/AIDS are more effectively managed. It is a triple-win situation for sex workers, clients and the government.
In Taiwan, the issue of establishing regulated red-light districts has been discussed for years. However, even though the Social Order Maintenance Act was revised to legalize it, no red-light district has yet been set up. One of the main reasons is that in Taiwan, officials are afraid of contravening social conventions and affecting children’s upbringing.
The truth is that in Taiwan, everyone knows where a “red-light” area is while pretending there is no such a thing. Everyone behaves as if there were no sex industry in Taiwan. In the cities, it exists in the form of a high-end hotel, guesthouse or club, and in rural areas, it is there, disguised as a restaurant or snack bar. These places are different in appearance and classified differently, but they all provide entertainment and sexual services.
Rather than hiding the issue and avoiding discussion, we should acknowledge it and deal with it. The sex industry should be institutionalized, legalized and brought to light. The most significant problem now is to change the public’s perceptions of the sex industry, which should not be discriminated against. The public’s needs should not be ignored either. The public should understand sex workers’ reasons for engaging in the industry.
The issue of setting up red-light districts must be discussed and considered in a rational and constructive manner.
Shiao Fu-song is a lecturer at National Taitung University.
Translated by Emma Liu
Concerns that the US might abandon Taiwan are often overstated. While US President Donald Trump’s handling of Ukraine raised unease in Taiwan, it is crucial to recognize that Taiwan is not Ukraine. Under Trump, the US views Ukraine largely as a European problem, whereas the Indo-Pacific region remains its primary geopolitical focus. Taipei holds immense strategic value for Washington and is unlikely to be treated as a bargaining chip in US-China relations. Trump’s vision of “making America great again” would be directly undermined by any move to abandon Taiwan. Despite the rhetoric of “America First,” the Trump administration understands the necessity of
US President Donald Trump’s challenge to domestic American economic-political priorities, and abroad to the global balance of power, are not a threat to the security of Taiwan. Trump’s success can go far to contain the real threat — the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) surge to hegemony — while offering expanded defensive opportunities for Taiwan. In a stunning affirmation of the CCP policy of “forceful reunification,” an obscene euphemism for the invasion of Taiwan and the destruction of its democracy, on March 13, 2024, the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) used Chinese social media platforms to show the first-time linkage of three new
If you had a vision of the future where China did not dominate the global car industry, you can kiss those dreams goodbye. That is because US President Donald Trump’s promised 25 percent tariff on auto imports takes an ax to the only bits of the emerging electric vehicle (EV) supply chain that are not already dominated by Beijing. The biggest losers when the levies take effect this week would be Japan and South Korea. They account for one-third of the cars imported into the US, and as much as two-thirds of those imported from outside North America. (Mexico and Canada, while
I have heard people equate the government’s stance on resisting forced unification with China or the conditional reinstatement of the military court system with the rise of the Nazis before World War II. The comparison is absurd. There is no meaningful parallel between the government and Nazi Germany, nor does such a mindset exist within the general public in Taiwan. It is important to remember that the German public bore some responsibility for the horrors of the Holocaust. Post-World War II Germany’s transitional justice efforts were rooted in a national reckoning and introspection. Many Jews were sent to concentration camps not
RSS