The law in Hong Kong regarding prostitution is essentially thus - go for your life, but only the prostitute is allowed to profit from the endeavor. In other words, no pimps, no brothels, nada. Just bird, in bed and the money on the nightstand if you please, my good sir.
I tend to shy away from talking about prostitution. I’m never really sure what the feministic-ally acceptable take on the issue is meant to be. Is it degrading? Empowering? Immoral? Amoral? Sad? Would you like fries with that, sir? Sorry, wrong meeting!!!
But seriously folks...
The law in Hong Kong was originally conceived to prevent people - and for “people”, read “women” - from being forced into prostitution - which are noble and lofty aims. This article in The Economist points out, however, that due to an overly stringent interpretation, prostitutes may be more vulnerable than ever.
Case in point: what prompted the article was a string of murders perpetrated against prostitutes. The prostitutes, because they were unable to hire protection or involve anyone else in their activities, were easy targets. In other words, the law is overly general and as a result, prostitutes are suffering.
OK, Feminism out the window, I have no real issue with the concept of prostitution. I think that if you’ve got it, use it. I know that the majority of people who work as prostitutes do so because they have no other choice and I think that that is what needs to be focused on.
The actual act of trading cash for sex, as far as I’m concerned is no different than modelling, acting, dancing etc - it’s your body, do with it as you will. And please don’t tell me prostitution doesn’t involve any kind of talent - have you heard those stories about some of the special services you can get?
Interestingly enough, the problems with the exact text of the law are only the tip of the iceberg in Hong Kong. The bulk of the issue is this - it doesn’t work. The aim behind the law was to stem the tide of sex trafficking that was running rampant in Hong Kong - and it didn’t.
Hong Kong is one of the crown jewels of East Asia - much like Britain and America in the West, it’s seen as a shining example of the glory of capitalism and a better world where people can get rich quickly. Consequently people want to go there. Hong Kong is inundated with illegal immigrants from the Philippines, Thailand, North and South Korea and the rest of China. They enter on tourism visas and because, when they outstay these visas, they are undocumented, they are not protected by Hong Kong law. As with most illegal immigrants, they have to work off the cost of their immigration and a lot of them are subsequently forced into prostitution.
When people talk about prostitution and they argue in favour of legalisation, they reference countries such as the Netherlands, where prostitution is famously legal. What isn’t discussed as often is that in almost every country in the world, prostitution, in one form or another, is legal. Most of Europe, almost all of Asia, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, over half the South American countries - even Iran has laws which allow men to take “temporary wives” for a few hours at a time, as long as the proper paperwork is signed!!!
The main notable exception is the US, where prostitution in all shapes and sizes, is illegal. What’s even more noteworthy is that even in the famous exceptions - prostitutes are still not protected by the law. They can’t unionise, there are no codes of conduct pertaining to their trade, and they are not covered by minimum wage laws. From a consumer perspective, there are few countries which provide statutory rights for the people - men and women, because, lets not kid ourselves here - who use the services that prostitutes provide.
On a side note: The West Wing is without a doubt the greatest TV show of all time and there’s a really good episode in season three called “The Woman of Qumar” where they spend some time on the issue of prostitution and how it should be legally classified - I recommend it to everyone.
Image via Sky News