红颜祸水?——二战前新马华人女招待的污名与困境

Femme Fatale? Eroticization and Stigmatization of the Chinese Waitress in Singapore and Malaya prior to WWII

论文主要利用20世纪二三十年代新马华文报刊有关"女招待"的报道,梳理这一时期"女招待"职业的兴衰与殖民地政治经济及与政府限制措施的关系,探讨其如何被"色情化"和"污名化"以及"女招待"的困境及其根源。研究显示,新马华人"女招待"兴盛于20世纪30年代初,与两个因素密切相关。一是1929年爆发的世界经济危机导致新马经济不景气,为吸引顾客,咖啡馆、茶馆等服务行业竞相雇用"女招待"。二是殖民地政府禁娼,一些娼妓转向咖啡馆、茶馆充当"女招待"谋生。"女招待"的职业定位是以女性魅力招徕生意,从一开始就被"色情化"了。"色情化"的结果,导致这一职业的"污名化",女招待要承担"伤风败俗""诱人堕落""祸水"的污名,成为殖民地政府限制和禁止的对象。当局的出发点是道德、禁娼和治安,而不是"女招待"的权益,也不将"女招待"视为正当职业,于是,不是"色情化"主要推动者的"女招待"承担了最大的"污名",陷入困境。

Based on reports about waitresses by the Chinese-language newspapers published in Singapore and Malaya between 1920s and 1930s,this article traces the rise and decline of the occupation of“ waitress” and colonial political economy and government restrictions associated with the occupation.It explores the origin of eroticization and stigmatization of waitresses and their dilemma.The findings show that two factors contributed to the flourishing of the“ waitress” in Singapore and Malaya in the early 1930s.One was the 1929 Great Depression,which resulted in a downturn of the Malaysian economy.In order to attract customers,cafes,teahouses and other service sectors competed to recruit waitresses.The other factor was the colonial government’s restriction of prostitution,thus some prostitutes moved to cafes and teahouses to work as waitresses.From the very beginning,the occupation of‘ waitress’ was defined in connection with eroticism.It led to stigmatization of waitresses,who became the target of restrictions and prohibition by the colonial government,which aimed to keep social order,but did not protect waitresses’ rights.As their occupation was considered abnormal,waitresses had to bear the worst stigma,although they were not the main promoters of the sex industry.