英文摘要 |
A combination of historical texts, interviews, questionnaires, and participant observations is used to analyze Taiwan's 'flower-drinking culture' (sex-service establishments frequented by groups of men) as a social institution that molds, supports, and reinforces masculinity. The reproductive mechanisms of the culture are discussed according to Bourdieu's male domination theory and Goffman's dramaturgical perspective. The five themes addressed in this paper are a) how the flow of global capital into Taiwan in the 1960s contributed to the rapid growth of flower-drinking, and how it supported the emergence of hegemonic masculinity as represented by small- and medium-sized business entrepreneurs; b) how the flowerdrinking culture promotes two important characteristics required of boys to cross the threshold into manhood: sexual vigor and participation in social games that support the preservation and accumulation of capital; c) how masculinity rites associated with flower-drinking are reliant upon hostesses who blend images of promiscuity and purity to support their customers' sense of masculinity, to exaggerate their feelings of sexual vigor, and to promote fraternal bonds; d) how flower-drinking is positioned within the symbolic struggle over distinctions between social classes; and e) how Taiwanese women, in the absence of the symbolic power attached to redefining masculinity and femininity, acquiesce to the flower-drinking culture. |