自本土萌芽：重新思考1922年大稻埕自由廢業事件

From the Grassroots Up:Free Cessation Movement in 1922 Taiwan

臺灣漢人社會曾流行賣女為娼習俗，進入日本統治，更受到殖民者引進公娼制度影響，導致來自臺灣以外的婦女也出現下海賣身，包括日本婦女。直至1920年代，此一問題才開始受到島內外知識分子的關心。當時，除了以留日學生為首的新一代臺灣知識分子紛紛提倡婦女解放，日本廢娼運動團體也致力於擴大活動範圍到各殖民地。可惜臺灣知識分子未必真正瞭解性市場的實際狀況，討論主線仍不脫女子教育或婚姻自由；廢娼運動者從日本內地到臺灣，需要總督府的支援，導致其臺灣支部淪為官辦御用團體。如此一來，臺灣儘管出現過廢娼運動，其實際行動與成效也是微乎其微。
無論是日本內地運動者或臺灣知識分子，來自島外的廢娼運動，並未跨海為臺灣社會帶來實際成效。相對而言，同時期臺灣曾發展出另一廢娼相關的本土社會行動，則更顯實效――即1922年由大稻埕開展的「自廢潮」。當時在稻垣藤兵衛的宣傳下，不少娼妓們紛紛申請廢業，並且快速擴大至全臺煙花界，轟動一時。值得注意的是，其背後有臺灣土生土長的知識分子蔣渭水，從本土醞釀的人權關懷及實際支援。易言之，此股「自廢潮」與其說是外來者煽動的尋釁滋事，毋寧說是源自大稻埕新文化氛圍下，蔣渭水與稻垣藤兵衛二人交流與具體策劃的產物。更令人玩味的是，透過法院的公判審理，「自廢潮」也得以將廢娼的正當性與可行性有效滲透至臺灣社會內部。

The practice of selling daughters into prostitution was once prevalent in Taiwan’s Han society. Under Japanese colonial rule, this practice was influenced by the public prostitution system, which involved bringing women from Japan and elsewhere to Taiwan, to work in the sex trade. It was not until the 1920s, that this issue began to attract the attention of intellectuals both in Taiwan and abroad. In addition to successive calls for the liberation of prostitutes from the first-generation Taiwanese intellectuals studying in Japan, Japanese abolitionist groups also expanded their activities to various colonies. Nevertheless, Taiwanese intellectuals did not understand the actual situation of the sex market in Taiwan, and their primary discourse focused on women’s education and freedom of marriage, which did little to alleviate the suffering of women in the sex trade. Meanwhile, the abolitionists needed support from the colonial government to promote their movement, leading their Taiwanese branch to adopt favorable attitudes towards the Japanese regime. Consequently, although the abolition movement did exist in Taiwan, its actual operations and impact were limited.
In contrast, the 1922 Free Cessation Movement, an independent local social movement, also aiming at the abolition of prostitution, developed concurrently in Taipei and had a more significant impact. Encouraged by Inagaki Tōbei, many prostitutes in Taipei and red-light districts across Taiwan sought to resign from their work, causing a sensation. Notably, TsiúnnŪi-súi, a local Taiwanese intellectual participated in the movement out of concern for human rights. Rather than being a provocation instigated by outsiders, this Free Cessation Movement was indeed a product of exchange and concrete planning by TsiúnnŪi-súi and Inagaki Tōbei within the new cultural context of Taiwan in the 1920s. Even more significantly, the Free Cessation Movement was able to effectively establish legitimacy and viability for abolitionism within Taiwanese society through public judicial hearings and rulings.