In the 19th and early 20th centuries there was a network of and Japanese prostitutes being , in countries such as China, Japan, , Singapore and , in what was then known as the "Yellow Slave Traffic.
The precise role prostitution played in various camps depended on the sex ratio in specific population groups of colonial society as well as racial attitudes toward non-whites.
The Cihuacalli was a closed compound with rooms, all looking over a central patio.
The BBC wrote in 2007 that devadasis are "sanctified prostitutes.