When I go to visit a friend of mine, I have to walk by this building. Not sure how clear it is, but it says "Girls Apartment" which makes you think it's an apartment building just for women. But with the layout of the sign, something about it just seems a little untoward.
The more fascinating thing is the answers you get depending on who you ask. If you ask a guy, they will usually agree that it's probably a female only apartment building. If you ask women, they will say "it's got to be prostitution." And yes, Taiwanese women seem to know the word prostitution in English.
The funny thing is just by looking at statistics, it would also seem to be for prostitution. In the city there aren't really any whole apartment buildings that are for women only. Some landlords will only rent to women, however no whole building does this. And really how could they? Essentially all the landlords in a whole building would have to get together and agree that they would cut out the chance of renting to half of the population.
The other part of the statistics is that there are a plethora of brothels and other such places around the city, which advertise with a wink and a nudge. With "Girls Apartment" seeming not too far from the kind of thing they would call themselves.
The sad thing is that we will never know. Because I will never turn my head as i walk by, to see what is exactly going on. Why? well let's just say that I lived by some brothels for prostitutes over the age of 50, and I very quickly learned to keep your eyes straight ahead as you walk. Some things you just can't un-see.
