Mainland sex workers in Hong Kong seek money, travel and tend to be married with children
Sunday, 14 December, 2014
Lana Lam
Mainland sex workers in city and Macau tend to come from rural areas, seek travel, work long hours and often face exploitation, study shows
http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-ko ... and-tend-be-married
She's 32 years old, married, has children and wants to see the world.
That's the typical profile of a mainland woman who chooses to work as a prostitute, according to a new report based on a study of more than 300 migrant sex workers in Hong Kong, Macau and Shenzhen. It also included a small number of women working in Jinan in Shandong province.
The year-long study was a collaborative effort of four groups that provide support for sex workers including Zi Teng in Hong Kong, Chi Tang in Macau and two similar groups in Shenzhen and Jinan.
The report was released just days before the International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers on Wednesday and follows a series of sex-related murders in Hong Kong.
While the insights from the report are limited, it is one of the few studies in recent years to give a comprehensive insight into the working conditions for mainland migrant sex workers.
In Hong Kong, most women arrested for vice-related offences are from the mainland; 96 per cent of those arrested for sex work between 2010 and last year were from there, police figures show. While working as a prostitute is legal in the city, sex workers can fall foul of the law if they operate in groups or solicit clients in public. Mainland prostitutes on visitor visas have been known to violate immigration laws.
The report, based on questionnaires completed by 344 women, highlights key issues faced by mainland sex workers such as being intimidated, exploited or abused. Researchers called for more sexual health services and better legal support.
"Sex workers should be protected and granted the same rights as those in other industries," said Dr Eleanor Cheung Pui-kei, a co-author of the report. "It's is a job, and these are labour issues."
The women interviewed were aged from 17 to 71. Some 41 per cent were married, 33 per cent single, and the rest divorced. About two-thirds had children.
The women were most likely to be from rural areas with more than half (57 per cent) holding an agricultural hukou, a household registration document that separates rural and urban dwellers. It contrasts with a 2001 report by Zi Teng, which found that most sex workers were from cities.
"There is the economic motivation to become a sex worker, but also other things like opening their horizons and travelling the world," Cheung said.
Most moved for sex work after being told about it by a friend in their home village though some women became sex workers so they could follow their husbands when they moved for work.
In Hong Kong and Macau, the profit margins were not as lucrative compared with few years ago for three key reasons: mainlanders can now stay as visitors for only seven days in Hong Kong, 14 in Macau; the relative strength of the yuan; and the influx of more sex workers, which had driven prices down.
A recent crackdown on vice in Dongguan - long a popular destination for Hong Kong men seeking cheap sex - had seen many sex workers re-locating to Hong Kong, Macau and also Shenzhen.
Transport connections were also a factor. One-third of women working in Shenzhen were from Hunan , which has a direct train route.
Most of the women surveyed worked as "street sex workers" with one-woman brothels the second most common setting. Others included hairdressing salons, guesthouses, massage parlours and foot massage spas.
Sex workers in Hong Kong worked the longest hours, an average of 16 a day, seven days a week. Those in Macau worked for 11 hours every day.
The main risks were assaults, clients refusing to wear condoms or to pay, robberies, being asked to pay "protection fees".
