An exhibition featuring past and present efforts to combat teenage prostitution opened yesterday in Taipei, with organizers hoping to raise awareness of the problem.
The two-month-long event showcases pictures and documents collected since 1987, when women’s rights activists in Taiwan first held a large-scale protest against teenage prostitution.
Visitors to the exhibition can also watch a US documentary, Very Young Girls. The 80--minute film portrays the situation of young prostitutes in the US.
Since 1987, one of the exhibition’s organizers — the Taipei Women’s Rescue Foundation — has been lobbying for women’s rights, including that of “comfort women” forced to provide sexual services to Japanese soldiers during World War II and young prostitutes, said Hwang Shu-ling (黃淑玲), chairperson of the foundation.
With the passage of Article 29 of the Child and Youth Sexual Transaction Prevention Act (兒童及少年性交易防制條例) in 2005, teenage prostitution has decreased substantially, but “it still exists, in different forms,” she said.
In the past, teenagers were forced into prostitution by their parents because their families were poor, Hwang said. Now, some think it is easy money and they do it so they can buy brand-name products, Hwang said.
“They don’t know the difference between wants and needs,” foundation director Kang Shu-hua (康淑華) said.
The free exhibition, held at the Taiwan New Cultural Movement Memorial Hall in Taipei, will run until July 31.
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