The Gender Sexuality Rights Association (
The association's secretary-general, Wang Ping (
The recent string of incidents targeting female politicians -- be it verbal violence or privacy infringement -- have seriously defiled these women's right to enjoy their sex life and the right to keep their sexual activity private, Wang said.
"These incidents also demonstrate that the rights of women to political participation have been undermined due to a breach of their right to engage in sex," Wang added.
Josephine Ho (何春蕤), an advisor to the association and also coordinator of the Center for the Study of Sexuality at National Central University (中央大學), shared the same view.
The right to sex means unmarried female politicians should not have to face public doubts or questioning over their single status, Ho argued.
"Adultery is not necessarily tantamount to a moral deficiency and should be decriminalized since those acts should not have been criminalized in the first place," Ho said.
Adults' sexual relations that occur on the basis of mutual consent -- such as adultery and working in the sex trade -- should be respected and not viewed as criminal in nature.
As a result, "using the word `prostitute' to insult a woman simply denigrates sex workers," she added.
Wang Fang-ping (
She said that DPP lawmaker Lin Chung-mo (林重謨) was out of line to call independent legislator-elect Sisy Chen (陳文茜) a prostitute.
Wang, who has long championed the rights of sex workers, said "Sex workers are not the shameless women that Lin thinks they are. Their profession should be legalized and they should not have to bear a social stigma"
Commenting on the recent Scoop Weekly case -- in which the magazine distributed VCDs allegedly featuring a female former politician's sexual encounter with a married man -- all of the women's rights activists present expressed their utmost support for the victim and called for the decriminalization of adultery.
Even Vice President Annette Lu's (呂秀蓮) single status has been the subject of jokes, Ho said, adding that society must end discrimination against unmarried women.
THREATS: Naval facilities have been built in Shanghai and Zhejiang, while airbases have been expanded in Xiamen, Fuzhou and Zhangpu, across the Strait from Taiwan The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is building large-scale military infrastructure at five sites along the eastern coast of China, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said in a recent report. The latest issue of the council’s Mainland China Situation Quarterly said satellite photos showed military infrastructure such as air force and naval bases being constructed along the eastern coast of China. That means the CCP might be preparing for potential conflict in Taiwan, it said, adding that there are five such construction sites from north to south. A naval base has been built in Shanghai’s Pudong New Area, with underground oil storage tanks, railway
MILESTONE: The foreign minister called the signing ‘a major step forward in US-Taiwan relations,’ while the Presidential Office said it was a symbol of the nations’ shared values US President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed into law the Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act, which requires the US Department of State to regularly review and update guidelines governing official US interactions with Taiwan. The new law is an amendment to the Taiwan Assurance Act of 2020 focused on reviewing guidelines on US interactions with Taiwan. Previously, the state department was required to conduct a one-time review of its guidance governing relations with Taiwan, but under the new bill, the agency must conduct a review “not less than every five years.” It must then submit an updated report based on its findings “not later
A trial run of the north concourse of Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport’s new Terminal 3 is to commence today, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday. The eight additional boarding gates would allow for more aircraft parking spaces that are expected to boost the airport’s capacity by 5.8 million passengers annually, Deputy Minister of Transportation and Communications Lin Kuo-shian (林國顯) said. The concourse, designed by a team led by British architect Richard Rogers, provides a refreshing space, Lin said, adding that travelers would enjoy the tall and transparent design that allows sunshine to stream into the concourse through glass curtain walls. The
The Presidential Office today thanked the US for enacting the Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act, which requires the US Department of State to regularly review and update guidelines governing official US interactions with Taiwan. The new law, signed by US President Donald Trump yesterday, is an amendment to the Taiwan Assurance Act of 2020 focused on reviewing guidelines on US interactions with Taiwan. Previously, the department was required to conduct a one-time review of its guidance governing relations with Taiwan, but under the new bill, the agency must conduct such a review "not less than every five years." It must then submit an updated
RSS