红灯下的斗争：台湾的性产业

Red light fight: sex work in Taiwan

红灯下的斗争：台湾性产业

Plan to legalize prostitution has sparked debate between women's and worker's rights groups.

卖淫合法化的计划在妇女和工人权利组织间引发大辩论 / Jonathan Adams

By Jonathan Adams

Nadia, a Taipei sex worker, in the hallway of a former brothel. (Jonathan Adams/GlobalPost)

娜迪娅，一位台湾性工作者，走在一间从前的妓院的过道里。

TAIPEI, Taiwan — Massive debts pushed her into prostitution. Now, after several false starts, she's pocketing $3,000 in a good month, turning tricks as a self-employed Taipei street-walker.

台湾台北——巨额的债务将她推入卖淫的行列。现在，经过几次失败的尝试，她作为一个自由经营的站街女接客，行情好的时候一个月能赚到3000美金。

The money's good, she says, but there's just one problem: the cops. Prostitution is illegal in Taiwan, and the cops have several times hauled her in for three days in jail, or a fine up to $1,000.

If sex work is legalized in a year's time as now planned, though, she says her working conditions will improve.

她说，如果按照现在的计划，性产业在一年之内合法化，那么她的工作状况就会得到改善。

"I can be more relaxed at work," said the sex worker, who gave only the name "Nadia," in an interview in Taipei. "I won't have worry so much about the cops; worry that they'll come and catch me. I won't be afraid of anyone bullying me."

“那我就能更放松地工作了。”这位只给出“娜迪娅”名字的性工作者，在台北进行的采访中说道。“那我就不会这么担心警察，担心他们来抓我。我也不会害怕任何人威胁我。”

Nadia is one of an estimated 80,000 to 100,000 sex workers in Taiwan, including hostesses that offer services short of intercourse in clubs and karaoke halls. They're at the center of a debate over whether prostitution should be legalized as planned next year, and if so in what form.

娜迪娅是台湾数量估计在80000到100000的性工作者中的一个，这些工作者包括在俱乐部和卡拉OK包房中提供快餐式性服务的女招待。她们正处在争论的中心：卖淫是否应当如计划在下一年实现合法化，如果是的话应该以何种形式出现。

Taiwan's decisions could have implications for countries in Asia and beyond that are struggling to balance demands for social order with the protection of sex workers' rights.

台湾的决定对于亚洲国家具有暗示意味，除此之外，还要争取在社会秩序的要求和性工作者权利保护之间取得平衡。

Prostitution is legal in more than 70 countries worldwide, illegal in more than 100, and restricted in others. (See map from Chartsbin.com.) In Asia, Thailand and the Philippines are well-known sex tourism destinations, despite a legal ban on prostitution in both countries. China legally bans prostitution but lurches between looking the other way and harsh crackdowns, such as the public shaming of prostitutes and their Johns. Japan legally permits sex services short of intercourse, and hosts a thriving sex trade.

卖淫在全球范围内70多个国家是合法的，在100多个国家是不合法的，在其他国家是受限制的。（点这里查看分布图）在亚洲，泰国和菲律宾是著名的性旅游目的地，尽管在这两个国家都有针对卖淫的法律禁令。中国法律上禁止卖淫，但在寻求改变和严厉打击之间举步蹒跚。打击的方式如将卖淫者和嫖客示众（这里有报道）。日本法律允许短期交易的性服务，并有着发达的性产业。

In Taiwan, the legalization debate has pitted women's rights groups against workers' rights groups. The former say the sex trade exploits women, is plagued with trafficking and ensnares under-age girls.

在台湾关于合法化的辩论引起了妇女权益组织和劳工权利组织之间的对抗。前者认为性交易剥削妇女（相关报道），充斥着人口贩卖和诱骗未成年女孩的行为。

"We don't think it's just a question of workers' rights," said Wang Yueh-hao, from the Garden of Hope Foundation. "The sex trade does big damage to both sex workers and their families."

来自希望花园基金会的王悦皓说道：“我认为这不仅是工人权利的问题，性产业对于性工作者和她们的家庭都是巨大的伤害。”

But sex workers rights' groups say the sex trade isn't going anyway anytime soon, that bans are counterproductive, and that prostitutes deserve dignity and good working conditions as much as any other laborers.

但性工作者权益组织认为，性产业并不会很快发展到随时随地，禁令往往事与愿违，而卖淫应该得到像其他劳动一样多的尊重和好的工作条件。

"They contribute to society, but society gives them the lowest status," said the Collective of Sex Workers and Supporters' (COSWAS) Chien Chia-ying. "That's the most unacceptable part." Sex worker rights activists in many other countries agree.

“他们贡献社会，但社会却给他们最低的地位。这是最不能接受的事情。”来自性工作和支持者联盟（COSWAS）的简佳颖说道。很多其他国家的性工作者权益活动家赞同他们的看法（相关新闻）。

Part of the problem in Taiwan is that the laws don't make much sense. For decades prostitution was legal here. But since the 1990s, prostitutes have been punished under the Social Order Maintenance Act, COSWAS says. Pimps, middlemen and traffickers are dealt with under the criminal code, slapped with up to five years in jail or $3,300 fines. Johns aren't penalized at all.

在台湾这个问题的一部分原因是法律没多大意义。COSWAS说，卖淫在之前的几十年一直是合法的；但从1990年代开始，卖淫在《社会秩序维护法》的规定下受到惩罚。皮条客，中间人和人口贩子在刑法的范围内受惩处，最高处以5年监禁或3300美元罚款。嫖客则完全不受处罚。

That means it's perfectly legal to pay for sex, but illegal to sell it. Taiwan's courts found that arrangement unconstitutional in 2009, and demanded a change by November next year. So the government plans to scrap the penalty on prostitutes, and has mooted the option of legal "sex zones" in Taipei, or letting small brothels of five or six prostitutes run their own small business out of apartments anywhere in the city.

这意味着为付钱买性交易是完全合法的，但出售性确是犯法的。台湾法院在2009年发现该条款违反宪法（请看报道），并要求明年11月之前做出修改。所以政府计划废除对卖淫的处罚，并对一些做法进行了辩论，如在台北设立合法红灯区，或者允许有五到六个妓女的小型妓院在城市的任何公寓之外的角落开展他们自己的生意。

Women's groups take a dim view of either scenario. The Garden of Hope's Wang said that since 90 percent of sex workers are female, "We think it's an issue of gender inequality." They want the laws to remain as they are, at the very least, and ideally to make it illegal to pay for sex, too.

妇女权益组织对两种提议都不赞成。希望花园的王说由于百分之九十的性工作者都是女性，“我们认为这不是性别歧视的事情。”他们希望至少法律应该保持现状，或者最理想的情况是将付钱买性的行为也视为非法。

They say the government should do more to help prostitutes find a way out of the trade. "We need to give them other choices, so they don't think they have to sell their body to resolve their household problems," said Wang. And they say society has an obligation to curb a destructive trade as much as possible. "You can't improve their lifestyle and rights by legalizing prostitution," said Wang. "They will still face discrimination and be under gangsters' control."

他们说，政府应该做更多的工作帮助卖淫者设法脱离性产业。“我们要给他们其他的选择，这样他们才不会认为他们必须出卖身体才能解决家庭问题。” 王说。同时他们说，社会有责任尽可能地制止有破坏性质的产业。王说道：“你不可能通过使卖淫合法化来提高他们的生活和权利，他们仍然要面对歧视和被黑社会控制。”

Meanwhile, COSWAS is trying to improve sex workers' public image. Their ideal is a fully legal and open sex trade in which empowered prostitutes could hire third-party services to help them market their wares, and keep more of the profits. For that reason, they say the government's plans don't go far enough -- pimping and other third-party services need to be legalized, too.

但与此同时，COSWAS正在努力改善性工作者的公众形象。他们的理想是完全合法和公开的性交易，因此获得执照的妓女可以采纳第三方服务来帮助使其市场化，并获得更多的利润。

Nadia. (Jonathan Adams/GlobalPost)

娜迪娅 (Jonathan Adams/GlobalPost)

"You need to completely decriminalize the sex industry in order to protect sex workers' safety," insisted COSWAS' Wang Fang-ping. "If middlemen are still illegal, you will still have a lot of problems."

COSWAS的王芳平坚持认为：“你需要完全使性产业合法化，这样才能保护性工作者的安全。如果中间人仍然不合法，那你还是有一大堆问题。”

They say prostitutes kept 70 or 80 percent of the money when the trade was legal (giving the rest to pimps or other middlemen) — now it's more like 60 percent.

他们说，如果产业合法化，妓女们可以拿到70%到80%的钱（其他的分给皮条客或其他中间人），而现在大概只有60%。

In an interview arranged by COSWAS, GlobalPost interviewed Nadia to find out the reality on the streets.

在COSWAS安排的一次访问中，GlobalPost采访了娜迪娅来寻找现实的街头。

The interview took place in a former brothel dating back to the 1950s. It's tucked into a narrow street fragrant with incense curling out of a next-door temple, in one of Taipei's jumbled, old commercial districts. The building is now used for legal health and counseling services. Inside there's peeling wallpaper, claustrophobic rooms, bead curtains. Dim yellow lighting bathes the hallway. Photos of one-time madames dot the walls, scraps of the brothel's long-past heyday.

采访的地点是一所远在1950年代曾是妓院的房子里。它处于台北市一个混乱的旧商业区，挤在一个狭窄的街道中间，充斥着隔壁寺庙里飘出的熏香气味。这栋建筑现在用于合法的健康和咨询服务。里面是斑驳的墙纸，幽暗的房间和挂着珠子的帘子。

There are still seven or eight small, illegal brothels nearby, said Wang, but "you have to know where they are."

这里附近还有七八家非法的小妓院，不过“你得知道它们在哪”， 王说。

In the decades following World War II, this and other Taipei brothels and clubs did brisk business, helped in part by a steady supply of U.S. military men. Taiwan hosted huge U.S. bases before formal ties were broken in 1979, and the island was an R&R destination during the Vietnam War. Taipei still boasts a now down-on-its-luck bar district dubbed the "Combat Zone" by U.S. servicemen.

在二战后的几十年间，这里和其他台北的妓院和俱乐部曾有过忙碌的生意，部分是得益于美国军人们的稳定光顾。台湾在1979年与美国正式关系破裂以前有巨大的美国基地，而且在越战期间这个岛曾是休闲和娱乐目的地。

But in the 1990s, a Taipei mayor, inspired by New York City's Rudy Giuliani, backed an anti-smut drive as a way to gain support from conservative middle- and upper-class voters, according to Wang. Outside Taipei, only 20 to 30 legal brothels remain, still open under a loophole.

据王说，到了1990年代，受纽约鲁迪朱利亚尼影响的台北市长，为了获得保守的中高层选民的支持，将支持反淫秽行动作为一项宣传手段。在台北之外，只有20%到30%的合法妓院在法律空隙中仍能保持开放。

Wearing a bright pink, puffy winter jacket, Nadia took a seat in a small office, two gold rings circling bony fingers. She appeared to be in her 30s ("Why don't you guess my age," said the rail-thin sex worker, when asked).

穿着蓬松的亮粉色冬季夹克，娜迪娅坐在一个小办公室里，干瘦的手指上戴着两只金戒指。她看上去三十来岁。（当问到年纪的时候，这位骨瘦如柴的性工作者说：“你干吗不猜猜我的年纪？”）

Nadia's story doesn't easily lend itself to either side of the legalization debate. She rejected the womens' rights groups arguments, at least for self-employed sex workers like herself ("We are absolutely not exploited," she said. "We don't have bosses.") But she told a depressing tale that hardly speaks of empowerment.

娜迪娅的经历不能单纯支持合法化辩论的任何一方。她反对妇女权益组织的论点，至少对于像她这样的自我经营的性工作者而言。（她说，“我们完全没有剥削，我们没有老板。”）但她讲了一个令人难过的故事，也很难支持合法执照的方案。

Asked how she had started in the sex trade, Nadia's wary expression crumbled into choked-back grief. She said her husband left her in 2006, abandoning also a son, now 7. Saddled with huge debts (she didn't want to go into why), she turned to prostitution. But her initial attempts failed. "This work isn't as simple as it looks," she said.

当问到她是如何进入性产业的时候，娜迪娅小心翼翼的表情变成了带着哽咽的悲伤。她说她的前夫在2006年离开了她，并遗弃了一个现在已经7岁的儿子。背负着巨额的债务（她不愿解释是因为什么欠下的），她开始了卖淫。但她开始的尝试并不成功，“这工作没有看上去的那么容易”，她说。

First she joined a "Thai shower" joint, where customers picked girls out of a line and paid about $65 for an hour's shower, massage and sex. She only kept about $35 per customer, giving the rest to her bosses. The money wasn't enough, so she left after four days.

开始她加入了一个“泰浴”机构，客人在那里从成排的女孩们中选择对象并花大概65美元进行一个小时的沐浴，按摩和性交易。她从每个客人那里只拿到35美元，其他的要交给老板。这点钱太少了，所以她只干了四天就离开了。

Then she worked at a secret "spa" with a private elevator requiring a key. There the terms were even worse: $150 a trick, of which she kept only $50. After a month, she switched to a sex "studio," where she kept $65 out of $100 per customer. "No matter which place it was, my cut wasn't fair, and there was the problem of where to get customers," she said.

然后她在一家地下SPA工作，这家SPA有一个专用电梯，需要钥匙才能进入。这里的条件更差：一次交易150美元她只能拿到50美元。一个月以后，她转到一个性“工作室”，在这里她从每个客人的100美元中拿到65美元。“无论在哪个地方，我的抽成都是不公平的，而且还有到哪去找客人的问题。”她说。

So she began walking the streets. Now at least she can choose her customers, and reject any who seem too shady. She charges about $35 per 15 minutes and can clear up to $2,800 a month after paying her rent and all other expenses — although $1,500 to $1,650 per month has been more typical lately, she said.

所以她开始到街上站街。至少现在她可以选择自己的客人，拒绝任何看上去可疑的人。她15分钟收费35美元，除掉房租和所有其他费用一个月可以净赚2800美元——不过她说，后来通常的收入是1500到1600美元一个月。

She works 60-hour weeks, takes only one day off per week, and lives in a building with more than 50 other sex workers. Despite what women's rights groups say, she says she has no contact with gangsters, and said the only reason some sex workers sometimes have to get gangsters' help is that the trade is illegal.

她每周工作60小时，每周只休息一天，住在一幢还有其他50多个性工作者的房子里。不管妇女权益组织怎么说，她说她跟黑社会没有关联，还说性工作者不得不寻求黑社会帮助的唯一原因是这个行业不合法。

Sitting beside her, COSWAS' Chien said "I can't say there's no exploitation, but I think [sex workers] are exploited a lot less than most workers are." Chien added that do-gooder plans to switch prostitutes into other work typically offer them salaries a fraction of what they can make selling their bodies. Said Nadia: "I would like to change jobs, but I don't have the ability to do other work."

坐在她边上来自COSWAS的简说，“我不能说没有剥削，但我想她们比绝大多数工作者受的剥削要少得多。”简补充道，改良派想将妓女们转移到其他工作岗位的计划通常只能提供她们出卖身体所得收入的一小部分。娜迪娅说，“我愿意换份工作，但我没能力做其他的工作。”

Now, Nadia's top concern isn't gangsters or pimps, but police stings. She and COSWAS allege that Taipei cops routinely set up prostitutes for arrest by arranging for friends or a paid third party to approach them. Once a sex worker negotiates a price, she can be busted; meanwhile the customer is considered a "witness" to the infraction but is not fined or held.

现在娜迪娅担心的不是黑社会或者皮条客，而是警察的圈套。他和COSWAS声称台北警察会定期通过安排朋友或者付给第三方费用来接近妓女并设陷逮捕她们。一旦性工作者跟他们协商价格，她就会破产；而同时客人则被当作是违法行为的“证人”但免于罚款或拘留。

COSWAS led protests against such set-ups last year, drawing a pledge from the mayor to end them. But with new regulations on the sex trade still in limbo, the group — and Nadia — say not much has changed.

COSWAS去年组织过反对这类陷阱的抗议活动，呼吁市长终止他们。但基于有关性交易的新规定还处于不明朗的状况，该组织和娜迪娅说，现状并没什么大变化。

"I'm afraid of the cops, not my customers," said Nadia.

“我害怕警察，而不是我的顾客。”娜迪娅说。

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