Migrant sex workers in China: massage parlours, hair salons, hotel rooms
21 October 2010 in migration, sex work by | 12 comments | 
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A reporter from the US, Laura Ling, investigates prostitution in China, finding many of the sex workers have migrated to cities for work. Whilst filming from a taxi, the group are stopped and threatened by local men, presumably because since the sex venues are not legal. I am always a little suprised at reporters who do these ‘covert’ investigations into illegal prostitution settings. Do they feel daring and brave when people running illegal businesses get upset? The confrontation with guys she calls ‘thugs’ provides melodrama that wasn’t there when women are being questioned about their motivation to sell sex. Because of the illegality, they creep around and try to guess what they are looking at in doorways and windows. It’s not uninteresting but it isn’t real reporting.
China Sex Workers, Vanguard TV, 2007
Tags: Asia-Pacific, media, migration, sexwork
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For god’s sake, these people have watched animal shows way too often. They seem to think it’s okay to stalk people. Like it’s difficult to spot sex workers in Asia (rolling my eyes).
Not only that, in the very first of the video where the girls are waiting in broad daylight for a their rides don’t actually appear to be sex workers, but look like average office and retail workers.
I’m not sure what purpose is being served by this invasive, disrespectful film.
XX
PS: Don’t they realize that 25yrs ago in China there was no visible ANYTHING???? Even now, it’s not a democracy.
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Yeah I agree it was kind of ridiculous. I expected more from her. It also didn’t feel like a respectful inquiry into the subject but more of a sensationalize one–like voyourism for the sake of the audience because they know trafficking is such a huge topic right now. All in all, I thought it was downright creepy.
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They looked like regular people. Leave them alone.
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I found this report to be overly invasive toward the sex workers, such as the questions about how much money they made. However, I appreciated that Lisa Ling used the term “sex workers” to indicate that these women are human beings making a living. All in all, I had mixed feelings and this wasn’t the worst report I’ve ever seen about sex work…but I didn’t think it was great either.
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Also, I did find it disrespectful when they videotaped people “believed” to be sex workers without their permission, even if they had the legal right to videotape. Like, when they were driving by in the taxi and videotaping certain people they passed, assuming they were sex workers.
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I don’t watch a lot of TV and I haven’t watched the Oprah show in a while. However, I remember that a few years ago, Oprah did a show about prostitution, in which Lisa Ling interviewed a 19-year-old mother working as a truck stop prostitute while this woman was being arrested in a sting operation.
Even after she told Lisa that she was a nursing student, this sex worker was asked about what she planned to do when she grew up. This was offensive on a couple of levels. First, this sex worker was already a grown up. Secondly, she already told Lisa that she was a nursing student. On the show, neither Lisa nor Oprah mentioned anything about how having prostitution on her permenant record could make it harder to become a nurse, as employers can do criminal background checks. In a field like nursing, I imagine criminal background checks would be very common, and perhaps even required by law.
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Sex at the Margins: Migration, Labour Markets and the Rescue Industry was published by Zed Books in 2007. Order from Amazon. Or get the ebook from Books A Million.
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