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Policing and Regulating Commercial Sex in Taiwan: A Review from Gender, Culture and Legal Perspectives

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 August 2020

Chih-Chieh (Carol) LIN ,
Fang-Yi SU  and
Ping-Hsuan CHUNG
Chih-Chieh (Carol) LIN
Affiliation:
National Chiao Tung University
Fang-Yi SU
Affiliation:
Lin & Partner
Ping-Hsuan CHUNG
Affiliation:
National Chiao Tung University
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Abstract

Commercial sex has been a complex and controversial issue in Taiwan. It was banned several times and finally partially legalized in law when the Congress finally amended Article 80 of the Social Order Maintenance Law and authorized local governments to establish red-light districts. Unfortunately, in reality, until now, no local government has established a red-light district. Therefore, all commercial sex is still illegal in Taiwan. By reviewing this issue from gender, culture, and legal perspectives, this paper discusses the regulation of commercial sex in Taiwan in three parts. In the first part, this paper provides a historical view of the development of commercial sex and how the government regulated it in different periods. In the second part, this paper introduces the debate and various perspectives of feminist legal theories on this issue. Finally, compared with the regulation models of Japan and Singapore, this paper proposes an empowerment approach in response to the current Social Order Maintenance Law. Focusing on sex workers’ autonomy and subjectivity, the new approach hopes to balance the interests between the rights of sex workers and the needs of social order and public health.

Keywords

sex workerprostitutecommercial sexregulationdiscriminationfeminist legal theory
Type
Sex Work in Asia
Information
Asian Journal of Law and Society , Volume 7 , Issue 2 , June 2020 , pp. 231 - 263
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press and KoGuan Law School, Shanghai Jiao Tong University 2020

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Footnotes

•

First, I want to thank my co-authors who did this controversial and complicated research together with me. Second, I would like to express my very great appreciation to Professor Hiroshi Fukurai for his encouragement and advice to me. I also want to thank the Asian Journal of Law and Society and Dr Vanhullebusch’s assistance in publishing this paper. Thank you to all my research assistants, especially Yi-Ting Yang at NCTU School of Law, for your contribution to the research and editing this paper. My grateful thanks are also extended to Professor Shang-Jyh Liu, who has highly supported law and society studies and hosted the 2017 Asian Law and Society Conference in Taiwan. Special thanks should be given to my family members: my parents, my sister, my son George, and my husband Professor Chih-Hsiung Thomas Chen, an outstanding scholar in medical law and legal education. I would not accomplish my goal of legal reform without their support. Finally, I want to thank all people who stand out and fight for social minority groups. As I always believed: courage and action speak louder than words.

*

Distinguished Professor, School of Law, National Chiao Tung University, Taiwan; SJD, School of Law, Duke University, USA. Correspondence to Dr Chih-Chieh (Carol) Lin, No. 1001, Daxue Rd., East Dist., Hsinchu City 300093, Taiwan (R.O.C.). E-mail address: cclitl@gmail.com.

**

Attorney of Law, Lin & Partner; LL.M. Candidate, School of Law, Stanford University.

***

LL.M. Candidate, School of Law, National Chiao Tung University, Taiwan.

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