Mama-san

The term mama-san or mamasan refers to a woman who works in a supervisory role in certain establishments in East Asia, typically those related to sex work, but sometimes in drinking places as well.

Related Topics:
East Asia - Sex work

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To at least some extent this can be considered the local equivalent of a pimp or madam, although the conventions of bar fine prostitution in Asia are quite different from those of either street or brothel prostitution in the United States.

Related Topics:
Pimp - Madam - Bar fine prostitution - Prostitution - United States

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The analogous term papa-san can be used to refer to a man in a similar supervisory role, such as is often found in massage parlors in Thailand. It can also refer to a style of chair.

Related Topics:
Papa-san - Massage parlors - Thailand

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The term originally comes from Japanese, where it is a term for a woman who works as a supervisor at a bar, nightclub, brothel, or similar business. The suffix -san is a polite honorific attached to a person's name or title. The familiarity with the term by U.S. soldiers in Japan after WWII probably has had some influence in its spread to other Southeast Asian countries.

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It should be noted that the term mama-san in Japanese is emphatically not a polite reference to a mother, and should never be used as such. Most Japanese children today call their mother mama, but the term does not persist into adulthood. The proper term to refer to a Japanese mother would be okaa-san.

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