“Military Paradise” Brothel Is Now Museum In Taiwan

We all know that military men like to party when they are on leave and can end up with sex workers. But did you know that in Taiwan the military even went so far as to have its own brothels designated for servicemen?

There were up to 11 brothels on the island of Kinmen, where up to 100,000 men lived during the Cold War, which were finally all shut down in 1990 after women’s rights groups complained.

The justification the military used for having these was that ”local Kinmen women would not be safe from harassment unless special attention was paid to the requirements of the isolated all-male garrison.”

It’s this sense of entitlement that really bothers me about some men. They expect that they should be allowed to have sex with any woman they want and they have no worries about cheating on any partners they might have back home. And with the fact that the military encouraged this sense of entitlement, it’s no wonder the women on the island weren’t safe. How about encouraging a sense of respect, equality, and women’s rights? If only the men had been encouraged to behave nicely then the women would not have been at risk and there would have been no need for government sanctioned brothels.  

One of the old brothels is now set up as the “Special Tea House Museum.” The tourist board says, “the purpose of the museum is to give visitors a rough idea about the background of the so-called ‘Military Paradises’ and what their function was.”

They do this by having displays of posters and photographs, as well as tickets that the men had to buy in order to get a turn with the women.

I think this could be a very interesting museum and I’d love to see how they do it. Will it just show what fun and good times the men thought they were entitled to when on leave from work? Or will it actually tell the real story of the women who worked as prostitutes?

Contact the author here: mack@morningquickie.com