翩跹入世： 战后新加坡舞女劳动形态和社会实践的两面性

Whirling into the World: The Duality of Dance Hostesses' Labor and Social Praxis in Postwar Singapore

Abstract

“舞女”这个称说指涉的社会群体具有复杂多面的特点，使其内涵及身份难以被界定。新加坡的舞女群体自1930年代诞生之后，逐渐在商业化舞厅的操作下与色情行业发生勾连，因而在社会论述中遭受抨击与批判。与此同时，她们却也通过社团组织和公益实践，建立起她们热心奉献的正面形象。本文以战后新加坡舞女为研究对象，试图从社会史的研究视角出发，主要借助前人尚未援用的报章、档案等第一手历史材料，重绘战后新加坡舞女的历史面貌、社会存在、和生活形态，观察她们社会身份的暧昧性所带来的种种困境，并探究她们自我赋权的过程。

Due to the ambivalent connotations propagated by print media, it is challenging to define the identity and positionality of Singapore dance hostesses. Since the advent of commercial dance halls in the 1930s, Singapore dance hostesses as a distinct social group has been subjected to public criticism for their sexualized image. At the same time, they have also established a positive social image for their enthusiastic dedication to social causes. This essay attempts to reconstruct Singapore dance hostesses of the postwar period from news articles and archives, discovering the historical and social features of the dance hostesses, and to observe the various dilemmas brought about by the ambiguity of dance hostesses’ social identity, and exploring the process of their self-empowerment.

Keywords: postwar period, Singapore dance hostesses, yellow culture, empowerment