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A female colleague asked me the other day,

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"What dose it feel like to know
that people think you are a weirdo?"

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(Laughter)

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And not wanting to admit that I didn't
know people thought I was a weirdo,

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I said: "Well, I think that weirdos
look at the world in a different way,

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and they try to see a little bit behind
that which everybody accepts."

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So if that's the definition of a weirdo,
then I'm happy to be called one.

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So, I arrived in Taiwan 12 years ago,

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and I learned about
the thing called "betel nut."

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And I was really surprised
and interested in this

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because I'd never come
across anything like this before.

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And, for the uninitiated, betel nut
is in fact a fruit, it's not a nut.

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It grows on the areca palm tree.

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And it actually is chewed all over Asia.

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It's very popular and very
common all over Asia.

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It is a stimulant.

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It contains something called arecoline,
which gives you a little bit of a rush.

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Chewing a betel nut is little bit like

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drinking three cups of espresso coffee
immediately after each other.

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It needs to be activated,

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so it gets wrapped in a leaf
which gives it some taste,

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and then on the inside of the leaf
they put some paste -

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a white lime paste which actually
activates the active ingredients.

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So, this then is a product
which doesn't look like very much.

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So how do you sell this product
to people who are driving by your store?

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Right?

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You could stand out there
and wave your betel nut

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but I don't think that
is going to work, all right?

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(Laughter)

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You could put some
bright lights on your store,

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but hey, every store in Taiwan
has bright lights on it,

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so that's not going to
help very much either.

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So, then somebody about
somewhere around the 1980s,

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hit on the idea of getting a pretty girl
wearing a skimpy outfit

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to sit by the roadside
in your store with the bright lights

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and entice passing drivers to come into -
and stop, and buy your betel nut.

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So, when I arrived in Taiwan,

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and I saw these glass boxes
by the side of the road

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with pretty girls sitting inside,

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what did I think?

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"Are they prostitutes?"

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(Laughter)

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"Is it so open here in Taiwan?"

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(Laughter)

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That was - Obviously everybody
has that thought at first.

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But I asked my foreigner friends:
"What is the story here?"

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They say, "No, no,
they just sell betel nut,

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they sell drinks, and they sell
cigarettes, and nothing else."

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I'm like, "Oh yeah, really. Right."

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(Laughter) OK.

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And when I asked the locals,

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they all said: "Oh, bad girls, bad girls.

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Don't even think about it.
Don't even talk about it. OK?

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No. They will do all kinds of things
in those betel nut stores of theirs."

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But then I started looking
at this, and I thought,

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"How does it work? I don't understand.

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How can a girl sitting in a glass box
by the side of the road brightly lit

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actually engage in sexual activity?"

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It doesn't actually make sense.

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And so I thought I wanted
to find out more about this.

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Being a documentary filmmaker, 
I'm interested in how things work

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and how people think 
and how people operate

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what's going on in the world.

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And so I decided I'm going
to look at this subject, research it,

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find out more about it,

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and try and tell this interesting
and fascinating and totally unique story.

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But, as any filmmaker will tell you,

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access to your subject
is the most important thing.

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And I found it very, very difficult
to connect up with the betel nut girls.

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They did not want to talk to me.

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They would generally -

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They actually don't want to
talk to anybody.

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They don't want to be photographed.

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They say things like:
"It's a shameful job."

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They say things like: "My boss won't
let you take photos of me or talk to me."

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Or they say: "My parents or my family
doesn't know that I do this job."

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But finally I met one girl
by the name of Jane.

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At that time she was called Ada,

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as Taiwanese girls sometimes do,
they change their names.

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And she was the first girl to agree
for me to take her photo,

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to interview her,
to tape her, to record her.

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And it was really a breakthrough for me.

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And I found that she was,
in many ways, a typical betel nut girl -

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dropped out of school; was doing
this job for several years already,

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complained about being
harassed by men, things like that.

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But in many ways she was also
against expectations.

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She was very smart,
and she spoke really well.

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And she had a very good unstanding

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about exactly what it is that she's doing.

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And in that way she helped
to introduce me to this business.

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And that, in fact, is one of
the very first photos I ever took

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of a betel nut girl with her consent.

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So, 
(Laughter)

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and that's about 2003 or 2004.

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So I managed to work out a strategy

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for dealing with the betel nut girls,
getting them to talk to me.

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I would become a customer first.

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I would buy coffee and cigarettes
from them, chit-chat,

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and then if I'd get a feeling
that they would be interested to talk,

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I'd get a female, Chinese-speaking
assistant to go with me,

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and we go and chat to them
and explain to them what I do.

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And I found that when you
approach them in that way,

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that all of us, everyone here
has a story to tell.

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that's why we are here today, right?
because we have a story to tell.

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And if you show a genuine
interest in someone's story,

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they will generally
be happy to tell it to you.

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So I wanted to make a film.
I couldn't get funding for it.

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The government wouldn't 
give money for a film

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that promotes this part
of the Taiwanese culture.

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But eventually it sort of transformed
itself into a photography project.

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2007, I had my first photo exhibition.

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And for some reason, that photo
exhibition just sort of hit a nerve.

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And the media picked it up
and went crazy about it.

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This foreigner, being in Taiwan,
and looking at betel nut girls,

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and showing Taiwanese people
something about their culture,

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and looking at it in a different way,

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the girls became very famous,

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and the stores down the road complained
that I hadn't photographed their girls,

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because these ones are getting more money.

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(Laughter)

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And so it went.

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Discovery did a program on them,

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and National Geographic did some stuff,

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and some of them ended up on TV shows.

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And it was really just interesting.

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As I say, it really just hit a nerve.

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I started to get a very good idea

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about what people in general
think betel nut girls are,

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and what the realities are.

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And I found that
they are different things.

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And I found that the betel nut girl issue

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has many, many layers;

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it has many, many sides;

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there are no simple and clear answers.

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And those are the kinds of things
that I enjoy dealing with,

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and having conversations about.

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It's all about the conversation.

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So let's see, what is
the betel nut girls business in?

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Is it prostitution?

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Is it girls who actually
are just prostitutes?

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Is the business run by gangsters?

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The girls are all exhibitionists?
They all like to show off?

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Or not?

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Is it some deep-seated and long-running
culture expression in Taiwan?

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How about female exploitation?

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Are these girls exploited or are they not?

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On the scale of exploitation
that perhaps all of us have to deal with,

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where do they fall?

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Is it maybe a form of female
empowerment? Who knows?

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Is it just a blight on the landscape
and a heath issue, a health problem?

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Is it just a job like any other?

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Or is it actually a form of urban art?

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So, the answer lies somewhere
along in that whole spectrum.

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So let's take the first one, prostitution.

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As I mentioned,

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doing business in a glass cage
is probably not going to actually happen.

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But I do believe that, in general,

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the business is not, in fact,
around prostitution.

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The business is around a pretty girl
sitting in a glass cage

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and selling betel nuts girls -
betel nut, um -

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(Laughter)

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Freudian slip there -

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(Laughter)

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etc., to passing motorists.

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Is it a business run by gangsters?

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Well, if you asked to take
some of those bosses' photos,

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they'll say: "Yeah,
but just don't show my face."

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So yes, there are certain elements.

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But I find these days, more and more,
the stores are actually run by women.

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So this woman in red is Ada's former boss.

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And she runs the business
completely by herself

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together with their Indonesian maid
who helps to prepare the betel nut there.

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Some of the other women like May,
for instance, manages the store.

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She manages three other girls
and the store.

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The boss almost never comes there.

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She's totally in charge
of the place there.

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Do the girls have some
element of exhibitionism to them?

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So, for sure, girls like to dress sexy.

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They have competitions
with each other to be sexy.

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So sometimes, in some places,
in some areas they will look like this,

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or they would look like this.

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And then all the girls
in the street complain

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because they have to compete against that.

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And they don't like it, all right?

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This, for instance, was quite
an interesting incident.

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One of the few times that I saw

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really sort of overt behavior
from a betel nut girl,

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because normally they're very prim.

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They're sexily dressed
but their behavior is very prim.

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This was during a typhoon
about three or four years ago.

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The girls were actually working
in the middle of it.

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I stopped and took photos.
It was amazing.

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This girl was like jumping
up and down all the time,

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and the wind's catching
her dress, lifting it up.

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After two or three times I'm like,

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"You're doing it on purpose,
aren't you? I could tell."

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(Laughter)

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But, generally speaking, as I say,
the manner is actually quite prim.

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It's that balance between being sexy
and yet being somehow innocent

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that I think men find interesting too.

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How about culture?

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So Taiwan,

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or betel nut has been used
in Taiwan for hundreds of years

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by the Aboriginal people,

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it's a part of their love rituals,
marriage rituals,

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and also just simply
hospitality, you know.

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When somebody visits your home,
you are supposed to give them betel nut.

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And there has been some research done.

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My friend Daniel did his PhD.

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And he had some really
interesting information about

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during the Japanese period, for instance,

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betel nut was completely
eradicated in Taiwan.

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Only the Aboriginal people
could have one or two trees in their area

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to keep going

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because the Japanese 
wanted to stamp out this habit.

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But after the Japanese left,
there was a resurgence in betel nut.

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And it became, to some extent, a very
Taiwanese thing to chew betel nut.

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It became part of the Taiwanese culture.

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And even more recently, we have
this idea of "Tai-Ke," right?

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which is very Taiwanese.

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It's very earthy; it's very down-to-earth.

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Of course, there's a large group
of people who call it low class.

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But people like this guy, for instance,

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he's the chairman of the betel nut
business association in Taoyuan area.

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I interviewed him, also from my phone.

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And yeah, he's very typical of that very
go-getter, businessman kind of guy,

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and who's prompting
his business in everything

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and very proud of being Taiwanese.

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The girls themselves have a certain
manner which I find quite interesting.

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Just a little bit of idea from the way
they talk, and the way they react.

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(Video) (Chatter)

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(Video ends)

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This is just to show again

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that the betel nut girls can sometimes
wear very little clothes

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but can actually be shy.

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And it's also about the boundaries
that they set up for themselves.

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I found that these girls
very strict, very clear

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about what they're prepared to show,

239
00:12:19,984 --> 00:12:21,665
and what they're prepared to do,

240
00:12:21,665 --> 00:12:22,776
and what they're not.

241
00:12:22,776 --> 00:12:25,688
And for instance,

242
00:12:25,688 --> 00:12:29,184
Ada, one day, came out
of her store when I stopped,

243
00:12:29,184 --> 00:12:32,284
and she was wearing her usual
pretty see-through top,

244
00:12:32,284 --> 00:12:34,878
so you could see her bra,
but with a short skirt.

245
00:12:34,878 --> 00:12:38,432
And when she stepped out, the wind
caught her skirt and sort of blew it up.

246
00:12:38,432 --> 00:12:41,058
And I thought, you know, nothing of it,

247
00:12:41,058 --> 00:12:42,758
but she was so ashamed,

248
00:12:42,758 --> 00:12:47,154
she crouched down
with her face in her hands

249
00:12:47,154 --> 00:12:48,950
because she was so embarrassed.

250
00:12:48,950 --> 00:12:50,443
I was really surprised by this,

251
00:12:50,443 --> 00:12:53,677
but I realized that there was
a boundary that had been crossed

252
00:12:53,677 --> 00:12:55,717
in that moment being I stopped there,

253
00:12:55,717 --> 00:12:59,318
and her skirt blew up
so that one could see her underwear.

254
00:12:59,318 --> 00:13:01,705
And so I found that really interesting.

255
00:13:01,705 --> 00:13:06,322
The girls have to deal with things like
harassment from customers, for sure.

256
00:13:06,614 --> 00:13:10,326
The guys will talk to them, they'll
try to get them to go out with them,

257
00:13:10,326 --> 00:13:11,454
things like that,

258
00:13:11,454 --> 00:13:13,216
or will try to touch them sometimes.

259
00:13:13,216 --> 00:13:17,144
And also, occasionally,
some of the girls complain

260
00:13:17,144 --> 00:13:20,914
that guys will stop their cars and will
actually expose themselves to the girls.

261
00:13:20,914 --> 00:13:25,906
So one of the girls, Shao Wen,
has this board on her wall,

262
00:13:25,906 --> 00:13:27,900
so she will write the registration number

263
00:13:27,900 --> 00:13:30,266
of any cars of any guys
that give her trouble

264
00:13:30,266 --> 00:13:33,629
so that next time when they come,
she just doesn't go out of her stand.

265
00:13:33,629 --> 00:13:35,805
Most of the stores
also have security cameras.

266
00:13:35,805 --> 00:13:37,247
And the word on the street is,

267
00:13:37,247 --> 00:13:42,074
if you give a betel nut girl trouble,
her boss will see to you.

268
00:13:42,074 --> 00:13:43,459
(Laughter) And then -

269
00:13:43,812 --> 00:13:46,559
Shao Wen, who actually
also owns her own store,

270
00:13:46,559 --> 00:13:51,804
also has something else that she can use
in case anybody gets frisky,

271
00:13:51,804 --> 00:13:54,267
though she does say
she's never had to use it.

272
00:13:54,712 --> 00:14:00,143
But then I also like to show
a little bit more closely sometimes,

273
00:14:00,143 --> 00:14:06,587
show the girl and give you
the opportunity to stop and look,

274
00:14:06,587 --> 00:14:08,807
because normally
you'd just drive past, right?

275
00:14:08,807 --> 00:14:11,672
All your interactions
with betel nut girl would be fleeting,

276
00:14:11,672 --> 00:14:13,097
would be just driving past -

277
00:14:13,097 --> 00:14:16,323
those of you who don't buy betel nuts
from betel nut girls.

278
00:14:16,903 --> 00:14:20,229
So just looking at her
and seeing this girl,

279
00:14:20,229 --> 00:14:22,157
this is like two o'clock in the morning,

280
00:14:22,157 --> 00:14:24,357
and you can see
the hours are getting long.

281
00:14:24,531 --> 00:14:27,861
It tells you something, it shows you
something about the person.

282
00:14:27,998 --> 00:14:29,725
Then, others, for instance,

283
00:14:29,725 --> 00:14:32,774
you can see there's a friendliness,
there's a happiness -

284
00:14:32,774 --> 00:14:34,925
I have not met any betel nut girls

285
00:14:34,925 --> 00:14:38,443
who complain about
being coerced into doing this job

286
00:14:38,443 --> 00:14:41,959
or coerced into wearing
clothes in a particular way.

287
00:14:41,959 --> 00:14:44,102
The turnover in the stores is very high.

288
00:14:44,102 --> 00:14:47,556
If she doesn't like what her boss
wants her to do, then she just goes.

289
00:14:47,556 --> 00:14:48,922
She goes to the next store.

290
00:14:48,922 --> 00:14:50,514
There's not a problem with that.

291
00:14:50,514 --> 00:14:51,805
OK, about the health issue,

292
00:14:51,805 --> 00:14:53,565
I would just like to say very clearly

293
00:14:53,565 --> 00:14:56,001
that chewing betel nut
is not good for your health.

294
00:14:56,001 --> 00:15:00,006
It's a very strong part

295
00:15:00,006 --> 00:15:03,526
of getting esophageal and mouth cancer

296
00:15:03,526 --> 00:15:04,983
for people who use it a lot.

297
00:15:04,983 --> 00:15:06,362
You do have to chew it a lot.

298
00:15:06,362 --> 00:15:09,642
It's not like you chew one and you
are going to have cancer tomorrow.

299
00:15:09,838 --> 00:15:14,152
And especially when combined with
cigarettes, it's definitely a major issue.

300
00:15:16,152 --> 00:15:19,092
So in that part I want to say very clearly

301
00:15:19,092 --> 00:15:22,622
that I support the troops
but I don't support the war.

302
00:15:22,622 --> 00:15:24,323
My issue is about the girls.

303
00:15:24,323 --> 00:15:26,793
And most importantly then,

304
00:15:26,793 --> 00:15:28,102
I just want to say

305
00:15:28,102 --> 00:15:33,672
when you look at the girl's
interaction with the customers there ...

306
00:15:33,672 --> 00:15:35,282
girls getting bored...

307
00:15:35,282 --> 00:15:38,102
Oh, of course, I always take
some photos to the girls

308
00:15:38,102 --> 00:15:39,982
to show them or to give to them.

309
00:15:39,982 --> 00:15:41,092
They like that.

310
00:15:41,452 --> 00:15:45,672
And - just going to skip through -

311
00:15:51,252 --> 00:15:52,262
OK.

312
00:15:52,262 --> 00:15:55,803
And so, I think the conclusion
I want to come to

313
00:15:55,803 --> 00:16:01,792
is that this business
has many, many layers,

314
00:16:01,792 --> 00:16:03,332
and just as with life.

315
00:16:03,332 --> 00:16:07,226
Somebody asked me before I started,
when I was preparing for this,

316
00:16:07,226 --> 00:16:09,662
they said, "So, what is
this idea worth spreading?"

317
00:16:09,662 --> 00:16:11,977
You know, the TED
"ideas worth spreading."

318
00:16:11,977 --> 00:16:15,392
"What is the idea worth spreading
about the betel nut girls of Taiwan?"

319
00:16:15,392 --> 00:16:17,611
I thought that's actually
a very good question.

320
00:16:17,611 --> 00:16:21,520
And so what I want to say is
that in today's world,

321
00:16:21,520 --> 00:16:26,412
we are living in a world
that is increasingly polarized.

322
00:16:26,412 --> 00:16:30,585
We are constantly being told
that things are black or white.

323
00:16:30,585 --> 00:16:34,718
With the information age,
we have more and more information,

324
00:16:34,718 --> 00:16:37,502
but somehow the conversation
is getting lost,

325
00:16:37,502 --> 00:16:39,512
the nuances is getting lost.

326
00:16:39,512 --> 00:16:43,449
So, what I do with the betel nut girls
is to look at all the layers -

327
00:16:43,449 --> 00:16:46,681
realize that there's a spectrum
from black to white

328
00:16:46,681 --> 00:16:48,921
on all those issues that I mentioned.

329
00:16:48,921 --> 00:16:52,948
And it's not all good and all bad
on any one of those.

330
00:16:52,948 --> 00:16:55,815
And I think if we can keep
the conversation going -

331
00:16:55,815 --> 00:16:57,406
I have people come to me and say:

332
00:16:57,406 --> 00:17:00,095
"I think you should stop
taking photos of betel nut girls

333
00:17:00,095 --> 00:17:03,522
because it's a bad image for Taiwan"
or "bad for them" or whatever it is,

334
00:17:03,522 --> 00:17:05,580
I'm happy to be part of that conversation.

335
00:17:05,580 --> 00:17:07,791
That conversation doesn't have to end.

336
00:17:07,791 --> 00:17:10,094
And while we are having conversations,

337
00:17:10,094 --> 00:17:13,412
we can find the best solutions

338
00:17:13,412 --> 00:17:16,112
to the problems that face us
like climate change,

339
00:17:16,112 --> 00:17:18,002
like leaking government information,

340
00:17:18,002 --> 00:17:19,492
like going to war, you know,

341
00:17:19,492 --> 00:17:21,544
all the things we are dealing with today.

342
00:17:21,544 --> 00:17:23,625
Because while you
are having a conversation,

343
00:17:23,625 --> 00:17:25,942
while you are talking,
you cannot swing a sword.

344
00:17:25,942 --> 00:17:31,743
So, I'd like to invite all of you
to consider the grey areas.

345
00:17:31,743 --> 00:17:34,517
Consider all the lovely layers
that there are in the world

346
00:17:34,517 --> 00:17:37,768
and not just accept
the given on any one side.

347
00:17:37,768 --> 00:17:39,846
And let's all be "weirdos" together.

348
00:17:39,846 --> 00:17:40,850
Thank you.

349
00:17:40,850 --> 00:17:42,616
(Applause)