Every day, Taiwan's electronic media take their audiences on a voyeuristic study of teenage girls' bodies. From bottom to top, the swaying camera lasciviously leads the viewer's eyes from the girl's feet, on to her thighs, her buttocks, her navel and her breasts. Young women's bodies -- their most private asset -- are salaciously discussed by the media.
Almost every TV channel carries programs masquerading as in-depth news or variety shows -- self-proclaimed defenders of social justice which use news reporting as an excuse for airing coverage of betel-nut girls, pole dancers and "enjokosai" girls (援助交際 a euphemism for "prostitute") once every couple of days. Some TV operators have told me frankly that they need to rely on young women to make money. They say viewer ratings rise immediately when they cover anything to do with betel-nut girls and that you are done for if you do not pay heed to these ratings.
Such programs project an inaccurate image of young women in Taiwan. Apart from the shaking camera gloating at the womens' bodies, we also have shallow reporters who deliberately lead the girls into giving phony tell-alls. Then we have arrogant, gender-unconscious male chauvinist anchors who say things to be fresh toward the girls. The most intolerable features of all this are the extremely exaggerated asides, background music and subtitles.
What image of Taiwan's young women is being shaped by this pile-up of "effects"? That of a brainless Barbie doll? An artificial beauty? A slutty spice girl? A fat girl to be laughed at? A seductively eloquent "enjokosai" girl? In fact, Taiwan's media has continuously shaped a negative image of young women by way of pornographic labeling.
Taiwan's journalists are extremely deficient in the rudiments of human rights and gender consciousness. They do not view young women as human beings. Instead, they adopt male chauvinist postures and view them as objects, intentionally or not. Young women are innocent creatures. They won't complain or fight back. There's no harm in exploiting them a bit. Some journalists may even justify themselves, believing that they are providing a stage for young women to publicize themselves.
Also, viewer ratings have become the determining factor behind the survival of Taiwan's TV channels because advertisers judge their value on the basis of such ratings.
But then, what about Taiwan's TV audience? Is it really so rotten that it creates high ratings for rotten programs? In fact, the audience cannot avoid responsibility. People may think that TV programs that gloat at young women's bodies are inappropriate, but they still quietly watch such programs, boosting their viewer ratings. This makes them accomplices.
The UN conventions on communication rights stipulate that citizens have the right to be free from the influence of inappropriate content as well as from exploitation by political and commercial ideologies. In other words, the media must safeguard the images of all citizens so that they may not be subject to discrimination or exploitation, but rather are presented in a comprehensive and objective manner.
The rights of Taiwan's young women in the media have been seriously neglected. I wonder if the women who are commercially exploited by the media will be dumped like broken dolls? Taiwan needs to promote love for these girls and respect for their communication rights. I hope the government will put great effort into educating viewers so that one day it may allay concerns about government control of the media.
Chi Hui-jung is chief executive officer of the Garden of Hope Foundation.
Translated by Francis Huang
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