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    Prostitution in AsiaAuthor(s): Paul SnyderSource: The Journal of Sex Research, Vol. 10, No. 2 (May, 1974), pp. 119-127Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3811281 .Accessed: 20/03/2013 03:06

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    120 PAUL SYNDER

    three to six months, even less if the owner's original investment iskept down. This writer saw a girl come off the farm with one dress.After the completion of each night's work, she washed it, hung it inher room to dry, and slept naked in the bed. She did her own nailsand hair, thus owing very little money, and was a free agent within amonth. Most girls stay beyond the first financial obligations howeverbecause prostitution is one of the few ways for women in the East tomake any money. This total picture also explains why most mencomment on how beautiful the Oriental prostitute is compared toother girls over there in different lines of endeavor. There is thatinitial selection process for attractiveness in her home village, then,

    becoming a professional prostitute, she must learn how to makeherself more alluring, and finally there is the purchase of artificialbeauty aids.

    The usual path then is that she continues to work and send moneyhome until she loses her beauty and thereby her value as a prostitute.She then returns to her family, who have grown much moresubstantial as a result of her efforts, and they take care of her for therest of her life. The other path if the girl is more independent-is to

    freelance as soon as the house debt is paid. She streetwalks aroundU.S. military bases, frequents the places G.I. 's do, and chargeswhatever the traffic will bear. She will still send part of her proceedshome just in case, for it is very difficult for a girl raised in the Orientto ever completely shake the feeling that she will be someone'sdependent. The advantages of being one's own boss however, eventemporarily, is that it affords a freedom of choice as to partners. Italso affords the girl a chance to become the "paid wife" of a G.I. sheparticularly likes. In

    many cases the girl succeeds in getting him toeventually marry her officially.The social structure in virtually all the nations of the Far East is

    such that it places the prostitute at the lowest level of esteem. Therealso exists a stratification system within the ranks of the prostitutes.Among them, highest esteem is awarded to the girl who is bought tobecome someone's permanent mistress. The second order of prestigeis granted to the girls who work in established houses. The lowestrank is reserved for the street girls. They are called "Suzie Wongs" bythe others, and it is meant as an extremely derogatory sobriquet. Thenickname did not come from the Americans as might be guessed. Itoriginated with the British who were over there in force at an earliertime.

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    1 911fi1PROSTITUTION N ASIA

    The third generality s that throughout continental Asia there is awidespread belief that sex saps one's strength. This factor affects themen as well as the women. Asians really think that sex weakens hem

    and that too much sex is dangerous o their health and physical wellbeing. Even the prostitutes strongly believe this. That is why manywill not take more than three short-time customers n one tour ofduty or will not let an all-night lient do it more than three times. Ifmore is attempted they will often complain of not being strongenough for it.

    Another generalization s that noncoital sex is relatively difficult toget in the Orient. One can get everything anywhere, of course, but

    the variations were not easy to locate in Japan, Korea, SouthVietnam, and Thailand. Most of the prostitutes there are dead setagainst t. The best chance for that kind of action in those places swith a girl who had been living with you, or with another Americanor European, or a long penod of time. The only place oral and analsex are easy to find in the Far East is in the Philippines. The majorreason that fellatio is so hard to obtain elsewhere is that thedominant religion states that it offends the Buddha and those who

    engage n the act will be reincarnated s dogs.In the recent past there have been attempts by some militantblacks to set up "soul-brother" places. Similar attempts atsegregation have been made by red-neck whites. But none were evertotally successful. There were always some white faces in the mostpredominantly black places and some black patrons in thepredominantly white spots. It is also not true as some think? hat allthe Asian girls prefer white customers over blacks. Some doS but

    some others cater strictly to the Afro trade. Most don't care actuallyIt is also a fact that Asian men have tried to get some establishmentsto service only the local national males and no others. But, with thepossible exception of Japan, this hasn't worked out eitherProstitutes are first and foremost business women, and, with theexception of Japanese, Americans and Europeans ust have moremoney to spend. Asian men may not like this kind of competition,but since it has nothing to do with their wives at home, they don'tworry about it too much. They will not marry prostitutes or anyother woman who has been with a Western man. That Westernersalso use their prostitutes does not worry them too much, althoughthey often do feel intimidated when Americans are present in thesame cat-house at the same time. Some of this is due to the money

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    122 PAUL SYNDER

    angle, but there might also be something else. There is a popularsaying among them: "When the Americans come to our country theywiden two things, the roads and the pussy."

    Now we shall turn our attention to specific Asiatic nations:KOREA: Let's take the established houses first. This author has

    visited every one in the Itewan section of Seoul, every one in theglasshouse and barstrip area of Taegu, and every one on Texas Streetin the port of Pusan, and all more than once. They are usuallysupervised by mama-sans who are normally addressed as Mama-Lee,or Mama-Moon, etc. Neither of those I knew was an evil taskmaster.Their futures were secure, so they often allowed their girls to go out

    on dates or to the movies or any place they wanted with no businessstrings attached. Of course, if the escort did short-time them or havethem sleep with him all night, he would be required to pay therequired won for that part of it. Nowhere in Korea did the authorfind prostitution rigidly organized. It was always a loose affair andthe girls enjoyed a great deal of personal freedom. This enabled themto meet men under other circumstances in the area and facilitatedtheir becoming paid mistresses later. A Korean girl in this

    relationship is called the man's "Yobo", the man is also referred to asher Yobo.It is important to be on guard against thieves in Korea, just as it is

    in the Philippines and South Vietnam. The people of those threecountries, unlike the Chinese, do not conceptualize theft in the samelight as Westerners. They do not consider it sinful, rather they tendto think of it more in terms of taking advantage of a foolish person.After all, the "victim " must be able to afford losing the thing

    anyhow, otherwise he would not have left it unattended.In Korea, sexual promiscuity is found at all levels. The lastobservation about Korea is that the girls there have the best lookinglegs of any females in Asia.

    JAPAN: Japan has the least commercialized sex in the Orient.Most single girls have well paying jobs in industry or other businesses,which accounts for the scarcity of whores in that country. MostAmerican men who were there on occupation duty in the late 40's orvisited there on R. & R. leaves from Korea in the early 50's wouldnot even know the Japan of today. Japan now, all of Japan_ includ-ing the small towns and outer islands is more expensive than anypart of Asia, as well as most of the United States and Europe. Tokyo

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    PROSTITUTION N ASIA123

    is the most expensive city in Japan and perhaps the world. In Tokyo,the sections are divided into districts called chomes. The Ginzachome is the most expensive area of Tokyo. The Akasaka chome is alittle cheaper. However, the girls in the clubs there, as is the case allover Tokyo, are hostesses only and are not generally available for funand games after closing at any price. The only place in theAkasaka where one can purchase sex is Nikko-Gino's restaurant; and,it is $100 short-time. Moreover, the girls are not Japanese, but are allforeign passport holders. The reason that Japanese entertainmentprices are so sky high is because the government allows taxexemption for pleasure costs and these include sex.

    'rhe bath houses and massage parlors in Tokyo are strictly that andno more. If one is looking for steam baths that also give "specialmassages" or for bar hostesses that double as prostitutes, he has to goto the outlying communities in the Kanto Plain area or to otherJapanese islands.

    A final note on Japan is that a tourist need not ever worry abouthaving anything stolen. The Japanese consider stealing not only mostshameful for themselves, but also as a dishonor to their family.

    OKINAWA: Okinawa should be treated as part of Japan since itbecame a home island of Japan effective 12 May 1972. Howeversmany American men remember it as a separate entity for 27 years;albeit its language and culture has been the same as Japan sthroughout. Okinawa is an island about 100 miles long and 25 mileswide, with approximately one million inhabitants. The two largestcities are Naha in the south and Kosa City in the center. This writerhas cruised the red-light districts of Naminui in the former city and

    B.C. street in the latter.TAIWAN: Taiwan is an island about 400 miles long and 100 mileswide with approximately fifteen million inhabitants. The capital andlargest city is Taipei with a population of one million. Taipei hasboth prostitutes and bar hostesses. The basic difference is whetherthe establishment is a bar or a club. If it is named a club such as"Mam'selle Club" or "Playgirl Club" the girls are hostesses only (andwill chat or play cards for drinks) but cannot leave that place untilclosing. Most of these hostesses then go home to their families, and,quite often, their husbands. If the establishment is called a bar, suchas "Shanghai Bar," "O.K. Bar," "Miami Bar," etc., the girls can bepaid for and taken out by the customer anytime the place is open.

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    124 PAUL SYNDER

    But they never can go into business for themselves as long as they areemployed by that bar. If a bar girl tries to work anything on the side,she will not be in trouble with any illicit infrastructure; she will be in

    trouble with the legal authorities since prostitution in Taiwan isgovernment controlled. The bars do not open until 1:00 PM. To takea girl out one must sign a contract with the State that she is notobligated beyond 1:00 AM. That's a 12-hour maximum and thesecontracts cost 600 NTD (New Taiwan Dollars about 15 dollarsU.S.). Of course, if the man's hotel room is nicer than her sleepingquarters, has a hot bath, and he 's been nice to her so far, andpromises a little tip in the morning, she will usually condescend to

    sleep with him all night.In Taipei there's a notorious and enterprising panderer known as

    "George" who seeks out Americans at the depots with a standardline. He explains that the girls he knows are not really professionalwhores but are merely presently forced to moonlight because ofsome temporary financial crisis in her family. Then he offers to takethe customer(s) to the best hotel that allows girls in (as if anywouldn't) and even is so helpful as to pick out the right taxi-cab.

    "The others are cheats," he says. He delivers you to the hotel, bringsyou a girl for $20 or $30, which he has contracted for fifteen. Hethen collects a tip from the hotel, the cabbie, the girl, and quiteoften the customer who is pleased with his services.

    REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES: In Angeles City, prettyteenage girls will do for 30 pesos (about four dollars) for twenty-fourhours anything a customer may want her to do. What's more, she willappear to enjoy every minute of it.

    The only thing to be on guard against in the Philippines is robbery.Unlike the Korean "slickee boys " who rob by stealth (burglary,pickpocketing, etc.), the Filipino men will commit armed larceny byholding a bolo knife at the neck or a pistol at the head of the victim.

    SOUTH VIETNAM: South Vietnam is a unique situation becauseof the thirty years of warfare that has raged there. The Americanswho were there could not get to town except in the Saigon area. Thismotivated many of the females in the labor force on most of themilitary outposts to pinch-hit as prostitutes. Anomie (normlessness)is so high due to the prolonged military conflict, that even thewomen and children steal and do not consider it bad behavior.

    Furthermore, the fear of venereal disease is higher in Vietnam thanit is anyplace else. Americans were even told that the Vietnamese

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    125ROSTITUTIONN ASIA

    prostitutes ave some V.D.'s that medical science has not been able

    to lassify yet let alone find a cure for. The truth about this strange

    sickness eems to be that prostitutes--through massive sexual

    experience ith countless partners have built up so high a resistanceto enereal nfection that they are practically mmune o it. At least,

    theydo not seem to have the characteristic ymptoms. Military

    medicseport repeatedly hat they examined he girls n places where

    soldiers nder VD treatment claimed o have picked up the infection

    but ound that none of the girls were infected. This, however, does

    notprevent the girls from transferring enereal disease. Because hey

    take ne man after another without any precautions, one man may

    deposit he germ in the vagina where it remains and is picked up bythenext customer of the prostitute.

    THAILAND: Thailand s like Spain n that all people who go there

    like t and long to return. It is beautiful and there is something or

    everybody here. The forms of prostitution are unique too. An

    interesting nnovation s that the client picks his girl from behind a

    one-way mirror. The procedure is common to all establishments.First one selects the lady he wishes by the number she is wearing.

    She is called out and joins the client at a table.A drink is

    immediately erved unless the man says beforehand hat he does not

    want t. If, after a brief conversation he man decides that this is the

    girlhe wants, they go to a room which contains a bath, a steam box,

    and a massage able. There is a charge by the half-hour ust for the

    room. If the customer uses the steanl there is an extra charge. He

    then undresses and the girl will bathe him then administer standard

    massage on the table. If he needs a "spot reduction" of an "extra

    tense muscle" (masturbation), he will accomplishhis for an added

    charge. If the client can't be satisfied with anything ess than total

    intercourse, he will accommodate him right there on the massage

    table for still another ee.To pick up a girl for a whole night one has to turn to the

    independents hat sit around n the coffee shops in Bangkok and the

    nightclubs in Utapao, Pattaya, Korat, Ubon, or Udorn. It is these

    freelance pickups that usually become "Tealock" relationships.

    Tealock s synonymouswith the Korean word Yobo. A man shacking

    up with a Thai woman s called her Tealock and she his. After a timeof living together in a bungalow, hese relationships requently end

    up in legitimate marriages.OTHERS: A few of the remaining Asian nations will be discussed

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    126 PAUL SYNDER

    briefly under this category. What occurs as one moves far south orfar west on the Asian continent is a change in religion. Buddhism isnot the majority religion. In Singapore the Hindu and Moslem

    influences are felt very strongly. In India the Hindu religion ispredominant, in Turkey it is the Moslem religion. Both thesereligions are much against premarital or extramarital sex and demandthat women dress modestly and not display sexuality. Bars andnightclubs become increasingly difficult to find in these asceticcultures. Unescorted ladies are never on the streets at night. This hascreated a lot of overt homosexuality and covert prostitution. TheArab and Hindu societies, much like the early American Indian, will

    allow a man, who wants to, to live like a woman. That is to dowomen's work, to take female type jobs, to let their hair andfingernails grow long and to wear dresses. Transexual operations arecommon in these cultures and the surgery is performed at a low priceby the local surgeons. These types of "females" often roam thestreets after dark. They look exactly like women and are used assexual outlets on the side by the men there. The term for them inthat part of the world is "Katoy." The most outstanding example oftheir

    activities can be viewed after midnight on Bugi Street inSingapore. The Katoys there are very feminine and goodlooking. Ifone did not know it would be hard to imagine that they are men.They are only curiosities to the Buddhists who don't use them butnot to the Moslems who do. Most Americans and Europeans like toobserve them but would not touch them, however the Australiansand New Zealanders stationed there do use them as sex partners.

    It is just as easy to turn down the real women who work asprostitutes. There are not many and even the large cities

    in the regionhave only a couple of houses. They are usually staffed by ancientstaintoothed widows who have no value whatsoever in the local area.Prostitution is more controlled in India and Turkey. It takes placemainly in special walled compounds outside the cities similar tomany "boys' towns" in old Mexico. The girls are younger and betterlooking and only cost about 75 ¢ in India and about $1.50 inTurkey.

    And now, finally, another question. What about the men who dolive with and marry Oriental prostitutes? Why do they not wait untilthey return to the U.S. and marry from the current crop of youngAmerican girls? It is most assuredly obvious that these men are not

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    confirmed bachelors, but are, indeed, the marrying kind. Apersonality profile of these men might hypothetically display aperson with a strong sex drive and who is not afraid to experimentsexually, one who usually is a good and skilled worker. In fact, theyhave to be sure and competent enough to contest authority just tocontract these marriages. The military authorities attempt todiscourage these unions, although it's not as difficult for a G.I. tomarry overseas now as it was in earlier wars. One of the prerequisitesis that the spouse must not be a prostitute. This borders on beingludicrous since 95 percent of all the G.I. brides, throughout theOrient, have been prostitutes; and everybody knows it includingthe grooms But the bride need merely swear that she isn't one nowand will not become one in the States, and no one questions herfurther. The question still remains as to why they do not wait andseek out a bride when they get home. There may exist a sociologicalexplanation for this. There is a strong antimarriage ethic growingamong present day women in America; and among many who doagree to marry, there is an equally strong anti-childbearing ethicbuilding. There is also the neofeminist movement which demandsthat the husband share the housework, etc., and which also demandsthat the wives be allowed considerable freedom of movement outsidethe home. The tough proud man described above who wants tomarry would also want children, and is more than likely a sexist whowants his wife to stay at home. Oriental women, for the most part,are still perfectly willing to play this type of secondary role in life.To be sure, such a man may also wish his wife to be virginal, or atleast close; but there's little chance of that now in the U.S. (or

    northern or western Europe, for that matter most especially in thecircles that such a man might run) so what difference does it make ifthe prospective bride has had more men than "just a few?" Finally,there is that Oriental femininity that means beauty, grace, and charmeven in a prostitute. Very few Occidental women can pull off being alady and a tramp at the same time, they 're generally much tooflakey; whereas most Oriental ones can, and with dignity