對小說家張大春而言，小說的「冒犯的力量」來自於書寫本身那多了一點點的自由，因此中規中矩的寫實主義在本質上少了冒犯禁忌的潛能。然而，寫實小說記錄了「過去」被接受的倫理價值，在歷經時空變遷，可能成了「現在」讀者的另類知識。在侯孝賢《童年往事》(1985)、王禎和〈素蘭要出嫁——終身大事〉(1985)和楊青矗〈在室男〉(1969)等寫實主義作品中，妓院是合法的社會機制，妓女扮演男性性啟蒙者或性治療師的角色，嫖客反倒是在性關係中必須承受壓力、不安與焦慮的患者。這些寫實主義的作品，一方面再現了妓女複雜、矛盾、多元的工作與生活經驗，反倒「冒犯公設禁忌」，挑戰與顛覆了主流社會對妓女所持的刻板印象；另一方面，妓女在男性性啓蒙所扮演的獨特角色與形成的社會關係，提供了另類倫理學，質疑當下社會生活中廣泛接受的倫理規範的正當性與必然性。

According to the writer Zhang Dachun, the novel enjoys the freedom to invent alternative knowledge and challenge the social norms that have been taken for granted. From this perspective, Postwar Taiwanese literature with its realistic impulse is deemed to be conservative. Nonetheless, the social norms of the past that realistic literature has recorded could turn out to be rather alternative and challenging to the readers at the present. In Hou Hsiao-hsian’s film A Time to Die A Time to Live (1985), Wang Zhenhe’s “Sulan is Getting Married” (1985), and Yang Qingchu’s “A Male Virgin” (1969) prostitution is a legitimate social institution wherein prostitutes perform the ritual of sexual initiation for male virgins while the males often suffer sexual anxiety and problems in need of experienced women’s help. This conception of prostitution thus challenges the stereotype of prostitutes as either powerless victims under the rule of patriarchy or unredeemable sexual deviants with the false consciousness of consumerism. Because of their commitment to realism, these three texts ironically provide alternative knowledge to our commonsense and challenge the mainstream discourse about prostitutes.