Prostitution in Taiwan: Map

Categories: Prostitution by country > Politics of the Republic of China > Crime in Taiwan

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This article is about Prostitution in Taiwan. See also Prostitution in Hong Kong and Prostitution in the People's Republic of China.

Historical background

During the Japanese colonial period (1895–1945), geisha houses and brothels had been authorized to operate in certain districts; later geishas evolved into "hostesses". As late as the 1950s, many girls who had been indentured by their parents into prostitution for financial reasons did so willingly, out of a feeling of filial piety. During World War II, the Japanese recruited or coerced women into serving as comfort women.

With the return to Chinese rule in 1945, the Chinese Nationalist government initially banned most hostesses and prostitutes, labeling prostitution as an immoral phenomenon encouraged by the Japanese, although at the same time the Ministry of Defense maintained official brothels on outer islands to provide sexual services to the many single military men who arrived from the mainland in 1949. In the 1950's, the government revived the policy of registering and licensing prostitutes.

Rapid industrialization in the 1960's brought an influx of young people into the cities, giving rise to a coffee-house subculture, where female hostesses catered to young male workers. At roughly the same time, the opening of two US army bases spawned bars and dance halls to cater to the American military population.Government concern over immorality led to increased police attention directed at intimacy in public and sometimes private. The sex trade became increasingly controversial; in 1974 the government stopped licensing new brothels, and in the 1980's, a campaign aimed at rescuing Taiwanese aborigine girls forced into prostitution grew into an anti-prostitution movement that successfully lobbied for outright banning of prostitution across Taiwan, culminating in the 1997 outlawing of prostitution in the city of Taipei

under then mayor Chen Shuibian.

Most recent policy

In June 2009, in response to sex workers’ demands, the Ma Ying-jeou administration announced that prostitution was to be decriminalized. Treating prostitution as a matter of human rights, the government concluded that punishing sexual transactions only forced them underground, leaving sex workers open to abuse. The government stated that while sexual transactions between consenting adults should be governed by personal, educational and religious considerations, rather than by laws, the sex trade should be regulated like any other occupation. It left the question of where people could engage in prostitution up to local governments.

International protest against legalization of prostitution

On November 25th, the 10th International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, Garden of Hope Foundation in Taiwan and Taiwan Anti-Sexual Exploitation Alliance together with several local and international allies around the world express our deep concern regarding the recent proposal to legalize prostitution, a form of violence against women, by the government of Taiwan. International and national women’s organizations from Canada, Korea, UK and US spoke in full support of Taiwanese women’s opposition to legalization of prostitution in Taiwan in the November 25th press conference in Taipei, Taiwan.

The alliance includes Garden of Hope Foundation; Taiwan Anti-Sexual Exploitation Alliance, Taiwan; Taipei Women’s Rescue Foundation; ECPAT-Taiwan; Taiwan Women’s Link; Asian Women Coalition Ending Prostitution, Canada; Canadian Association of Sexual Assault Centres, Canada; Coalition against Trafficking in Women, USA; Equality Now, UK; Pyeong-Taek Sexual Violence Relief Center, Korea; Sexual Assault Support Center of Ottawa, Canada; Vancouver Rape Relief and Women’s Shelter, Canada.

Below is the content of the joint statement:"In 2009, the Taiwan court has ruled that the existent regulation on punishing prostituted women is against the principle of equality and should become ineffective in two years. While welcoming the decriminalization of prostituted women, the impact of this ruling has misled the Taiwan government toward the establishment of the sex trade district and legalization of sex industry that are completely against women’s human rights. We believe that the Taiwan government has made a critical error by failing to recognize the highly unequal relationship that exists between men and women within prostitution.

We strongly urge the Taiwan government not to legalize prostitution for prostitution is violence against women. Changing the name of violence will not change the fact that men are enacting violence on women. Designating red-light districts where men can do legalized violence to women will not cover the fact that the government allows for legal violation against women’s basic human rights. In fact, legalization will allow men's commodification of women, and develops government's dependency on revenue generated by this practice. The Taiwan government will become known internationally as a country supplying women to other countries with sex industries and as a sex tourism destination. Many countries that had experimented with sex industry have now realized that it is a total failure: sex industry does not decrease sexual violence against women, but turns your country into the destination of international sex tourism and trafficked women.

The majority of women entered prostitution because of poverty. We strongly urge the Taiwan government to recognize the STATE REPONSIBILITIES to address exploitation of poor women and girls in prostitution and to enact progressive social, economic and political policies that benefit poor women and advance women’s equality. This brave step is recognized by many countries around the globe including Sweden, Norway and Iceland.

Taiwan is really at the critical point in promoting the rights of women and girls. We strongly urge the Taiwan government not to legalize prostitution at any circumstances and should take following actions to protect women against sexual exploitation:

1. Stop legalizing ‘sex industry’; prostitution is a form of violence against women, not a job.2. Decriminalize prostituted women who often enter sex trade out of desperate poverty; however prostitution should not be recognized as a ‘job’ or an ‘industry’. By doing so, it only denigrates women's value within the labor force as being primarily sexual.3. Initiate social, economic and political policies that benefit poor women and advance women’s equality. Prostitution should not become the only choice for women in poverty.4. Purchasers and third parties who profit from sex trade should be criminalized. The government should strictly prohibit any information and acts related to recruiting women into prostitution."