Betel Nut Beauty 火辣檳榔西施

Betelnut girls (Binlang Xi Shi) are a unique part of Taiwan culture. They sit in brightly-decorated glass booths wearing skimpy outfits, and sell cigarettes, drinks and betelnut to passing drivers. It’s a controversial trade but not actually illegal. The question of whether the girls are exploited is open to debate – certainly their own perception is mostly that they are doing a job like any other, and the less they choose to wear, the more they sell.

Betel nut girls are usually from working-class backgrounds. Some are secondary-school dropouts; others may have been forced into the work by their families, in which they are the primary wage-earners. Most have had difficulty finding jobs in such places as chain convenience stores owing to their low levels of education or their youth; or else they (or their relatives) prefer the comparatively higher wages earned from working the kiosks.