Sat, Jul 28, 2001 page8

• It is time for `dancers' to vacate the stage

  • By Bonnie Hsieh
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  KMT Legislator Tseng Tsai Mei-tso (曾蔡美佐) recently held a press conference in order to draw attention to the threat posed by imported pornography. She was particularly incensed over the large amount of Japanese pornography that pours into Taiwan every month, and she argued that customs should block the importation of material that contributes to moral decay among the nation's youth.

  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.
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