KMT Legislator Tseng Tsai Mei-tso (
I would be the first to agree that pornography exploits and objectifies women, and Japanese pornography is particularly vile, as it often portrays acts of violence and sadism that would never make it past even the most liberal of European or US censors.
We need, however, to realize that imported pornography is not the only factor contributing to the erosion of moral standards among Taiwan's youth. We have some home-grown habits that are equally repugnant, and before we start blaming all of our problems on degenerate foreigners, let us take a closer look at our own behavior.
We have all been to weddings where the entertainment included a bevy of scantily clad beauties. I remember watching these performances when I was a child, but at that time, performers wore rather modest costumes. In recent years, however, it seems that the costumes are shrinking faster than Taiwan's economy. I recently attended a wedding in the company of some foreign friends, and I was horrified when the girl singing onstage suddenly unzipped her dress and continued her performance clad in nothing more than a tiny bikini. As one foreigner put it, if this had happened at a western wedding, the happy couple would likely have wound up going off to a divorce court instead of their honeymoon.
There is nothing wrong with watching beautiful women sing songs, but is it necessary to shift the focus onto their bodies by having them prance around in bikinis? This merely encourages men to see women as nothing more than an object of sexual fantasy.
And what about the women in the crowd? I guess women in Taiwan are a rather spineless lot, for we allow the men to choose this type of entertainment for weddings and then we sit back and watch as our husbands and sons ogle the girls on stage. I know I felt embarrassed, but then perhaps I have been "contaminated" by exposure to Western feminist thinking.
Weddings are not the only occasion for such performances. The media recently featured a report on Tsao Tun township's recycling program. In order to encourage residents to participate in the program, organizers used some of the profits to hold a free concert. Incredibly, the entertainment included a group of go-go dancers who pole-danced in string bikinis in front of the crowd of men, women and young children.
Pole dancing involves having nearly nude women writhe around a vertical pole while striking various erotic poses. The practice originated in North American strip clubs and is considered adult entertainment there, for the pole is an obvious phallic symbol and the dancing is clearly designed to be sexually provocative. This sort of performance is not harmless, for it conveys clear messages to the youngsters who are exposed to it.
A few months ago, the papers were full of stories about a university graduation party where a group of male students hired some "dancers" to provide entertainment. Commentators expressed horror over what they saw as immoral behavior on the part of the students, but no one thought to ask how they came up with the idea of hiring exotic dancers in the first place. Well, look around -- how can we condemn these young men when they have been taught that "wedding singers" and "pole-dancing" are acceptable forms of family entertainment?
Bonnie Hsieh is a freelance writer based in Taipei.
Saudi Arabian largesse is flooding Egypt’s cultural scene, but the reception is mixed. Some welcome new “cooperation” between two regional powerhouses, while others fear a hostile takeover by Riyadh. In Cairo, historically the cultural capital of the Arab world, Egyptian Minister of Culture Nevine al-Kilany recently hosted Saudi Arabian General Entertainment Authority chairman Turki al-Sheikh. The deep-pocketed al-Sheikh has emerged as a Medici-like patron for Egypt’s cultural elite, courted by Cairo’s top talent to produce a slew of forthcoming films. A new three-way agreement between al-Sheikh, Kilany and United Media Services — a multi-media conglomerate linked to state intelligence that owns much of
The US and other countries should take concrete steps to confront the threats from Beijing to avoid war, US Representative Mario Diaz-Balart said in an interview with Voice of America on March 13. The US should use “every diplomatic economic tool at our disposal to treat China as what it is... to avoid war,” Diaz-Balart said. Giving an example of what the US could do, he said that it has to be more aggressive in its military sales to Taiwan. Actions by cross-party US lawmakers in the past few years such as meeting with Taiwanese officials in Washington and Taipei, and
Denmark’s “one China” policy more and more resembles Beijing’s “one China” principle. At least, this is how things appear. In recent interactions with the Danish state, such as applying for residency permits, a Taiwanese’s nationality would be listed as “China.” That designation occurs for a Taiwanese student coming to Denmark or a Danish citizen arriving in Denmark with, for example, their Taiwanese partner. Details of this were published on Sunday in an article in the Danish daily Berlingske written by Alexander Sjoberg and Tobias Reinwald. The pretext for this new practice is that Denmark does not recognize Taiwan as a state under
The Republic of China (ROC) on Taiwan has no official diplomatic allies in the EU. With the exception of the Vatican, it has no official allies in Europe at all. This does not prevent the ROC — Taiwan — from having close relations with EU member states and other European countries. The exact nature of the relationship does bear revisiting, if only to clarify what is a very complicated and sensitive idea, the details of which leave considerable room for misunderstanding, misrepresentation and disagreement. Only this week, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) received members of the European Parliament’s Delegation for Relations