Juicy matters

I've been planning this post for a while, but finally now gathered enough data and visuals to put it up.( Make sure to read all the way until the end of the post for them, the videos are the best part) The topic for today will be sex and other sensitive matters.

So, from my limited knowledge and experience, the attitude towards said sensitive issues here is... rather controversial. Split up. Let me illustrate a few examples.

Sex shops virtually don't exist here. Having lived for years in the city of Prague, where there is an Erotic City to be seen virtually every 50 meters, the few tiny shops and stands, clustered in Hwaxi lane and Guangzhou St. night market, selling vibrators, DVDs and other equipment, are barely worth mentioning. However, vibrators can be freely purchased in any Watson's or Cosmed, two big chains of personal care stores.

The same thing, and same comparison with Prague, can be said of prostitution, brothels and night clubs. There are a few of them here, disguised as "saunas", "barber shops" and "massage parlors". I've heard stories of foreigners trying to get a haircut in one of these barber shops. However, many newcomers to Taiwan mistake the binlang beauties (selling betel nuts, see my February post) for hookers. I can't say I'm surprised, as they bear striking resemblance to the Amsterdam Red Light District or hookers on display somewhere in Dubi on the infamous E55.

One of the explanations I've heard about the girls' and guys' dormitories at universities being strictly separated is that "We're supposed to study, not have sex!". The large poster ads for a 'motel' with hearts and male/female symbols in the vicinity of universities indicate the rule may not be followed that well.

The Taiwanese society in general is said to be rather conservative and innocent. Parents often expect the children in their late 20's to come home from a night out by a certain hour. Despite all that, bikinis and extremely short miniskirts are the fashion in clubs. In a dancing competition among the clubbing girls (the winner gets consumption vouchers worth several thousand NTD), it is not unusual for the bras to come off as a part of the effort to secure first place.

And finally: every even remotely sexual scene on TV is censored or simply cut out. Not only the explicit scenes, but pretty much any 'bed scene'. But at the same time, a different channel is showing the following 'male performance pill' commercials.