{"id":3275,"date":"2002-11-25T23:32:25","date_gmt":"2002-11-25T15:32:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sex.ncu.edu.tw\/jo_article\/?p=3275"},"modified":"2021-01-07T22:13:48","modified_gmt":"2021-01-07T14:13:48","slug":"%e5%b0%88%e8%a8%aa%e4%bd%95%e6%98%a5%e8%95%a4%ef%bc%9a","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sex.ncu.edu.tw\/jo_article\/2002\/11\/%e5%b0%88%e8%a8%aa%e4%bd%95%e6%98%a5%e8%95%a4%ef%bc%9a\/","title":{"rendered":"\u5c08\u8a2a\u4f55\u6625\u8564\uff1aBetel-Nut saleswomen"},"content":{"rendered":"

\uff08\u9019\u662f\u7f8e\u570bSan Diego\u7684Mercury News<\/em>\u5c0d\u6211\u9032\u884c\u7684\u6709\u95dc\u53f0\u7063\u6ab3\u6994\u897f\u65bd\u8863\u8457\u4ee4\u7684\u63a1\u8a2a\uff0c\u520a\u767b\u65bc2002\u5e7411\u670825\u65e5\uff09<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

CRACKDOWN ON TAIWAN STREETS \u00a0BETEL-NUT SALESWOMEN MUST COVER UP<\/p>\n

Published: Monday, November 25, 2002<\/p>\n

Source: BY JOHN BOUDREAU, Mercury News<\/em><\/p>\n

They are called ”betel nut beauties.” All across this island, scantily clad young women in brightly lit plexiglass booths along busy streets sell the tobacco-like stimulant to passersby.\u00a0 But in the future many of these women will have to dress more modestly, thanks to the ”three-no’s” law just passed in one northern county — no exposure of breasts, bellies or buttocks.<\/p>\n

The crackdown — or in this case, cover-up — is the Taiwanese government’s latest salvo against a well-established, multibillion-dollar betel-nut industry that is causing deep embarrassment to a country with a sophisticated economy and vibrant tech sector. More than 300,000 Taiwanese sell 15 million betel nuts a year, but the growing trade has led to high rates of oral cancer, environmental damage from the betel-nut trees and the image problem posed by the saleswomen.<\/p>\n

Taiwan has become ”world famous” for its betel-nut saleswomen, Taoyuan Deputy Magistrate Liao Cheng-Ching said in an e-mail. ”We are not really proud of that,” he added.\u00a0 The betel-nut saleswomen are everywhere in Taiwan, especially near freeway on-ramps. They dart out of their booths to sell betel nut, cigarettes and drinks to mostly men, who drive up in cars, in trucks and on motorbikes. They are also selling what looks like, but usually is not, sex: They wear bikini tops, skimpy shorts and sometimes what appears to be lingerie.\u00a0 Under the new law in Taoyuan county, which went into effect in mid-October, those who bare too much skin face a fine of up to $171.<\/p>\n

Authorities say the new law will make the streets safer from accidents caused by distracted male drivers. They worry that in some cases the betel-nut selling could lead to prostitution, and to robberies and sexual attacks against the workers.<\/p>\n

”The less these women wear, the more business they have,” Liao said of betel-nut sales. The women, he added, are wearing ”less and less — even nothing.”<\/p>\n

Indeed, the more restrictive policy is hurting business.\u00a0 ”It’s caused a great slump,” said one betel-nut saleswoman in the city of Chungli, not far from Taipei. On a recent afternoon she appeared in violation of the law: Her stomach was exposed. Her boss, dressed in slacks and a tie, prevented his employee from saying more. He said he did not want to provoke local authorities to closely watch his operation.<\/p>\n

At another betel-nut stand, Hsiao-Ru, 23, said that sales were down since she stopped wearing a tank top and shorts.\u00a0 Instead, she was wearing a short dress.\u00a0 She disagreed that her outfit put her in danger. At night, her stand is well-lit. She and other betel-nut sellers keep an eye out for each other.<\/p>\n

”This is just my uniform at work,” Hsiao said.<\/p>\n

Betel nut, dubbed ”Taiwanese chewing gum,” is a stimulant popular for centuries in Asia and other parts of the world. It is grown on areca trees, also known as betel-nut palm trees.\u00a0 It contains a red dye that creates red spit.\u00a0 Government officials estimate that more than 3 million Taiwanese a year — about 13 percent of the population — chew betel nuts.\u00a0 Users say betel nuts give them a sense of ”well-being,” something akin to a caffeine rush.<\/p>\n

But the acorn-shaped seed contains arecoline, which health officials say can lead to mouth, throat and stomach cancer.\u00a0 As the popularity of betel-nut chewing grew the last decade, so did the incidence of mouth cancer, and Taiwanese authorities have launched a campaign to educate the public about the health hazards of the stimulant.\u00a0 Environmentalists say over-planting of betel-nut trees on mountain slopes also has triggered extensive mudslides.<\/p>\n

Josephine Ho, a professor who has studied the betel-nut trade, maintains the new regulation singles out the working class,<\/p>\n

the main market for the stimulant. ”The other classes have learned to drink coffee,” said Ho, from the National Central University in Chungli.\u00a0 For betel-nut workers, who will never have elite jobs because they lack college educations, it’s relatively well-paid work, Ho said.\u00a0 It does not come with the hazards associated with some factory jobs. And the women’s encounters with men are usually quick and harmless, she said.\u00a0 It’s much less humiliating than working in bars, where women are expected to drink alcohol and become friendly with male customers, she added.<\/p>\n

Betel-nut worker Hsiao said she can make more selling betel nuts, about $714 a month, than working in a factory, which would pay $530 to $700 a month.\u00a0 ”If you treat the job professionally,” she said of selling betel nuts, ”it’s no different from any job.”\u00a0 The high-school graduate said she was a good student, but her parents could not afford to send her to college to pursue her dream to be a flight attendant.<\/p>\n

For men working long hours as truck drivers, a visit to a betel-nut stand is a chance for a brief flirtation with an attractive young woman who does not look down on him because he is working-class, Ho said.\u00a0 Ho understands the new regulation is ”an effort to upgrade our cultural image,” for an island whose economy is now ranked 14th in the world.\u00a0 But the government, she added, thinks ”we should all look like Americans.”<\/p>\n

\u8f49\u8f09\u672c\u6587\u8acb\u4fdd\u7559\u7db2\u9801\u8a3b\u8a18\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\uff08\u9019\u662f\u7f8e\u570bSan Diego\u7684Mercury N<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[286,420,268],"class_list":["post-3275","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-22","tag-286","tag-420","tag-268"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sex.ncu.edu.tw\/jo_article\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3275","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sex.ncu.edu.tw\/jo_article\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sex.ncu.edu.tw\/jo_article\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sex.ncu.edu.tw\/jo_article\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sex.ncu.edu.tw\/jo_article\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3275"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sex.ncu.edu.tw\/jo_article\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3275\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6103,"href":"https:\/\/sex.ncu.edu.tw\/jo_article\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3275\/revisions\/6103"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sex.ncu.edu.tw\/jo_article\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sex.ncu.edu.tw\/jo_article\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sex.ncu.edu.tw\/jo_article\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}