"Taiwan seeks to legalize small brothels"



http://www.seek4media.com/travel/8584-taiwan_seeks_to_legalise_small_brothels.html

Taipei was a 'wide open' city for pay for play.   The Hotel Roma, in particular, was an R&R stop for GIs from Southeast Asia.  Upon checking in and entering you room, your bags would not have hit the floor and quit rocking before a knock on the door would signal the arrival of the hotel's 'Enterainment Director' (I think her name was 'Susie' but it was a long time ago).  She would offer a varied menu of options for spending time with a lady (short time, long time, overnight, mulitiple days etc) and usually have two or three girls in tow for you to pick from.  

There were other hotels around town and out in the hills that had the same arraingement and were more upscale.  

The last time I was there was in 1978 after Jimmy Carter had cut relations with Taiwan in favor of making nice-nice with the boys on the Mainland.  The US Military was in the last throes of pulling out of there and the Roma was a pale shade of its former self largely just due to lack of customers.   Regardless, girls were available (hell of a story from that night but thats another story).  

Its just hard to believe that the Taiwanese ever had the fantasy that there were NOT brothels running in town!  The sex trade is as old as China and thats OLD.  It is an accepted part of their culture.  I was TOLD that often the girls were working to earn enough money for a proper dowery so they could marry, have kids etc and that Chinese men were quite willing and capable of (as only Asians can do I think) 'forgetting' where the dowery came from; "I say it did not happen, therefore it didn't!"  

MVR