| Revision as of 22:47, 24 August 2006 editNikkicraft (talk | contribs)817 edits →Types: removed the statemtent about the PTA being the biggest opponent to prostitution. It might be true, but I don't think it is and it needs to be substantiated. Also added relevant resources← Previous edit | Revision as of 23:13, 25 August 2006 edit undoWAS 4.250 (talk | contribs)Pending changes reviewers18,993 edits →Relevant Articles and Links Critical of Prostitution: delete POV spam that isn't even specific to the article topicNext edit → | ||
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| === Types === | === Types === | ||
| The sex industry in Japan uses a variety of names. ]s are bath houses where customers are soaped up and serviced by staff. ] shops and ]s are notionally massage or esthetic treatment parlors, and ]s are themed versions of the same. ]s operate via ] services. Freelancers can get in contact with potential customers via ] (telephone clubs), and the actual act of prostitution is legally fudged by terming it as '']'' or "compensated dating". | The sex industry in Japan uses a variety of names. ]s are bath houses where customers are soaped up and serviced by staff. ] shops and ]s are notionally massage or esthetic treatment parlors, and ]s are themed versions of the same. ]s operate via ] services. Freelancers can get in contact with potential customers via ] (telephone clubs), and the actual act of prostitution is legally fudged by terming it as '']'' or "compensated dating". | ||
| ==Relevant Articles and Links Critical of Prostitution== | |||
| * Andrea Dworkin Keynote Speech at International Trafficking Conference, 1989. ''(Audio File: 22 min, 128 Kbps, mp3)'' | |||
| * on Pornography and Prostitution | |||
| * — list of resources on the sex industry (primarily focused on prostitution) | |||
| * feminist activism against various forms of prostitution | |||
| * Human Trafficking website | |||
| * helps prostituted women recover. Located in Washington, D.C. | |||
| * See ] | |||
| * ''Prostitution Recovery Program. Excellent articles, resources and information.'' | |||
| * by Melissa Farley 2004 ''Violence Against Women'' 10: 1087-1125. | |||
| * by Andrea Dworkin | |||
| *. D. Brewer et. al. ''Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A.'' 2000 ]; 97(22): 1238512388. | |||
| * by Catharine A. MacKinnon | |||
| * by Melissa Farley, Ann Cotton., Jacqueline Lynne, Sybile Zumbeck, Frida Spiwak, Maria E. Reyes, Dinorah Alvarez, Ufuk Sezgin 2003 Journal of Trauma Practice 2 (3/4): 33-74. | |||
| * by Melissa Farley, ''Violence Against Women'' 1(7): 971–977, July 2005 | |||
| * “Prostitution, Trafficking, and Cultural Amnesia: What We Must Not Know in Order To Keep the Business of Sexual Exploitation Running Smoothly” by Melissa Farley 2006 Yale Journal of Law and Feminism 18:109-144. | |||
| * by Melissa Farley and Jacqueline Lynne 2005 ''Fourth World Journal'' Vol. 6 No. 1, pp 1-29. | |||
| * by Melissa Farley 2005 | |||
| * - A Marxist analysis of prostitution | |||
| {{Asia in topic|Prostitution in}} | {{Asia in topic|Prostitution in}} | ||
Revision as of 23:13, 25 August 2006
| Prostitution in Japan | |
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Prostitution in Japan has a long and varied history. While the Anti-Prostitution Law of 1956 made organised prostitution illegal, various loopholes, liberal interpretations of the law and loose enforcement have allowed the sex industry to prosper and earn an estimated 2.5 trillion yen a year.
Terms
Many terms have been and are used for the sex industry in Japan.
Baishun (売春), literally "selling spring", has turned from a mere euphemism into a legal term used in, for instance, the name of the 1956 Anti-Prostitution Law (Baishun-bōshi-hō (売春防止法)); the modern meaning of the word is quite specific and is usually only used for actual (i.e., illegal) prostitution. Mizu shōbai (水商売), the "water trade", is a wider term that covers the entire entertainment industry, including the legitimate, the illegal and the borderline. Fūzoku (風俗), lit. "public morals", is commonly used to refer specifically to the sex industry, although in legal use this covers also eg. dance halls and gambling and the more specific term seifūzoku (性風俗), "sexual morals", is used instead. (This rather odd-sounding term originates from a law regulating business affecting public morals; see Legal status below.)
History
Shinto does not regard sex as a taboo, while the impact of Buddhist teachings regarding sex has been limited.
Shogunate era
In 1617, the Tokugawa Shogunate issued an order restricting prostitution to certain areas located on the outskirts of cities. The three most famous were Yoshiwara in Edo (present-day Tokyo), Shinmachi in Osaka and Shimabara in Kyoto.
Prostitutes and courtesans were licensed as yūjo (遊女), "women of pleasure", and ranked according to an elaborate hierarchy, with oiran and later tayū at the apex. The districts were walled and guarded to ensure both taxation and access control. Rōnin, masterless samurai, were not allowed in and neither were the prostitutes let out, except once a year to see the sakura cherry blossoms and to visit dying relatives.
Meiji era
The Opening of Japan and the subsequent flood of Western influences into Japan brought about a series of changes. Japanese novelists, notably Higuchi Ichiyo, started to draw attention to the confinement and squalid existence of the lower-class prostitutes in the red-light districts. In 1908, Ministry of Home Affairs Ordinance No. 16 penalized unregulated prostitution.
Escaping poverty in their own land, many Japanese women, known as Karayuki-san (唐行きさん) (lit. "gone to China"), worked (or were sold) as prostitutes into South-East Asia (esp. Singapore), Siberia, Hawaii, Australia and even some parts of India and Africa.
War era
During WWII, the Japanese military forced women as procured prostitutes for its soldiers in China. Many if not most of the so-called "comfort women" were tricked or coerced into service. The women were kept until they contracted diseases and then discarded. They received no compensation, and many survivors are still seeking compensation in Japanese courts.
Postwar
After the war, SCAP abolished the licensed prostitution system in 1946. In 1947, Imperial Ordinance No. 9 punished persons for enticing women to act as prostitutes, but prostitution itself remained legal. Only the Anti-Prostitution Law of 1956 (No.118, passed May 24th, 1956) — reportedly spurred by alarming rates of venereal disease among troops — made organised prostitution illegal.
Prostitution today
Legal status
The Anti-Prostitution Law of 1956 (No.118, passed May 24th, 1956) did not make practicing prostitution illegal. It did prohibit the following: soliciting for purposes of prostitution, procuring a person for prostitution, coercing a person into prostitution, receiving compensation from the prostitution of others, inducing a person to be a prostitute by paying an "advance", concluding a contract for making a person a prostitute, furnishing a place for prostitution, engaging in the business of making a person a prostitute, and the furnishing of funds for prostitution.
However, the definition of prostitution is strictly limited to coitus. This means sale of numerous sex acts such as oral sex, anal sex, and other non-coital sex acts are all legal. The Businesses Affecting Public Morals Regulation Law of 1948 (Fūzoku eigyō torishimari hō (風俗営業取締法)), amended in 1985 and 1999, regulates these businesses.
Types
The sex industry in Japan uses a variety of names. Soaplands are bath houses where customers are soaped up and serviced by staff. Fashion health shops and pink salons are notionally massage or esthetic treatment parlors, and image clubs are themed versions of the same. Call girls operate via delivery health services. Freelancers can get in contact with potential customers via telekura (telephone clubs), and the actual act of prostitution is legally fudged by terming it as enjo kosai or "compensated dating".
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