The Executive Yuan on Thursday approved a Ministry of Justice proposal to change the word “whorehouse” to “locations for sexual services” in Article 9 of the Enforcement Act of the Criminal Code of the Republic of China (中華民國刑法施行法).
The ministry said it began a review of laws after Taiwan promulgated the Enforcement Act of Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (消除對婦女一切形式歧視公約施行法) on Jan. 1, 2012.
It said the amendment was proposed to observe Article 5 of the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), which says: “States Parties shall take all appropriate measures: (a) To modify the social and cultural patterns of conduct of men and women, with a view to achieving the elimination of prejudices and customary and all other practices which are based on the idea of the inferiority or the superiority of either of the sexes or on stereotyped roles for men and women.”
The wording of the enforcement act could be derogatory toward women, as it suggests that all those engaged in sexual services are women, which could lead to stereotyping, the ministry said.
The motion is to be forwarded to the Legislative Yuan for further review.
The proposed amendment assists in reducing discrimination against women and upholds the spirit of CEDAW, the Executive Yuan said.
The word “whorehouse” has mostly faded from legal documentation in Taiwan.
For example, Nantou County’s last legal location for sexual services received its permit to operate in March 1960. It received its permit to operate in March 1960, and closed in 2009, following the death of its owner, surnamed You (游).
The term “whorehouse” officially vanished from legal documentation in Nantou after the county government on Jan. 8, 2014, abolished the Nantou County Regulations on Prostitute Management and Autonomy (南投縣娼妓管理自治條例).
Liang Chih-chung (梁志忠), a history and culture enthusiast in the county’s Caotun Township (草屯), said that someone left the original plaque of the last sex-trade venue at his house.
The plaque witnessed an era when the sex trade was legal, and whoever delivered the plaque to him must have hoped to preserve an item that could stand testament to such a period, he said.
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