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Betel-nut beauties not alone in baring all

Regardless of what happens these days, be it a natural or manmade disaster or major political or economic happenings, most TV news programs are likely to end with the same images: a tall, thin, world-famous model showing her breasts, belly and legs, and sometimes even other unmentionable parts of her body, gliding down a catwalk.

These images have become so familiar and so natural that if we go awhile without seeing them, we start worrying that we are not keeping up with international fashion. Not even feminists who typically complain about the commodification of the body seem to be overly concerned about this phenomenon.

For a country doing its utmost to step onto the world stage, or for a society doing its utmost to reverse a slumping economy, a never-ending sequence of trade shows is very important. No trade show, be it computer, furniture, wedding gown or food shows or even shows for cars, motorcycles, hygiene and bathroom equipment, can afford not to have a line-up of young women decked out in various costumes, working hard to wiggle their breasts, bellies and legs, in order to help sustain the Taiwanese economic miracle by stirring up purchasers.

At a time when political pawns hold fewer and fewer cards, these vital and vibrant beauties can still cause the waning fortunes of politicians to rise from the ashes. In elections a few years back, sexy dancing girls helped an average, street-wise political party successfully transform its image. When Taiwanese politicians were unable to open up new channels of negotiation with China, A-Mei's (張惠妹) motor-powered hips wrapped up in a minimum of stage attire were able to shake up hundreds of million of Chinese. When will people accept the fact that the country has been saved by sexy women?

A generation of physically-confident girls is looking for new ways to display their charm and attractiveness. Dance uniforms worn by girls at the opening and closing ceremonies of athletic games and other big events used to trace their curves in a straightforward manner, the short skirts and tall boots of the honor guard or marching band gesture toward the forbidden paradise at the end of those long slender legs.

Similarly, the g-strings or small tattoos peeking out from low-cut jeans and skirts is a declaration of the surging desire of youth. Walking through any night market or clothing wholesaler, one sees that the dress of young women for a long time has been telling very different stories about these youthful bodies.

Jealous adults have not completely given up hope. Throughout the year, at dinner parties for large and small companies, at community activities held to improve corporate image, at school festivals and at media shows during dull legislative sessions, adults from company presidents to school principals seek every opportunity to find legitimate, intellectual-sounding reasons to compare the sexiness of young women in spicy outfits, singing the praises of the aesthetic of betel-nut beauties.

Now Taoyuan County has sought to bar betel-nut beauties from showing their breasts, bellies or buttocks. These local betel-nut beauties, the pioneers of bodily beauty and autonomy, have been stripped of their confidence and right to develop their self-image. Have they now served their historical mission and are to be dismissed from public view?

It is not only the right to dress freely, not only the room for women to affirm the attractiveness of their own bodies that is being frustrated here. What is really suffering is the chance for women to actively strive for economic gain and the opportunity for young women to make an honest and hard-earned living.

Josephine Ho is coordinator of the Center for the Study of Sexuality at National Central University.

Translated by Perry Svensson
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