Xenia Chan wrote this piece yesterday on a recent rescue of sex trafficking victims in Hong Kong. Besides the awesome storyline, it's really a great piece of journalism.
http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1282083/two-thai-sex-slaves-hong-kong-rescued-consulate
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Tonight was a good night, but also weird. I spent the evening with a couple friends in Wanchai, and we prayed intentionally on behalf of the Lockhart neighborhood, and for the men who come there to buy sex.
It was weird because I'm not usually faced with prostitution so obviously as I was tonight. There were several incidents, but here are three.
1. After our prayer meeting, we were walking through the red-light district. As we walked along, one girl asked me repeatedly, "Buy a drink?" She's one of hundreds of happy-looking "bar girl" prostitutes on Lockhart Road.
2. My friend needed money to buy dinner, and he went into an ATM room to get money. I noticed a scantily clad young lady standing by an ATM with a giant old European man. I also saw a few other "obvious" couples heading to nearby hotels.
3. Later, on my way home, I got on a minibus from the MTR station to my apartment. A smart looking 40-something British guy also got in, and sat directly in front of me, along with an extremely happy and flirtey Hong Kong girl, who seemed to be a new acquaintance of his. She was probably doing the "compensated dating" form of prostitution...doing it occasionally for extra cash, or because of some financial emergency. From all appearances, it's a happy and innocent arrangement, fairly common in Hong Kong.
All the women I saw tonight fit the popular image of prostitution. They are the "face" of the sex industry. Understandably, they all have very pretty and happy faces. Unfortunately, their faces are also a mask for the unseen victims of sex trafficking, who are rarely seen in public. Even as bad as some of the bar girls' exploitation may be, a far greater number of prostitutes are stuck inside massage parlors (servicing more clients, in worse working conditions) than are standing out on the sidewalks.
If those two Thai women hadn't escaped, they would still be trapped in a massage parlor in Yau Ma Tei. They would still be working day and night, along with the thousands of unseen prostitutes whose suffering will never be discovered--because it's hidden behind the sex industry's facade of happy bar girls.
http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1282083/two-thai-sex-slaves-hong-kong-rescued-consulate
Here's hoping that we see many more stories of rescue.
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Tonight was a good night, but also weird. I spent the evening with a couple friends in Wanchai, and we prayed intentionally on behalf of the Lockhart neighborhood, and for the men who come there to buy sex.
It was weird because I'm not usually faced with prostitution so obviously as I was tonight. There were several incidents, but here are three.
1. After our prayer meeting, we were walking through the red-light district. As we walked along, one girl asked me repeatedly, "Buy a drink?" She's one of hundreds of happy-looking "bar girl" prostitutes on Lockhart Road.
2. My friend needed money to buy dinner, and he went into an ATM room to get money. I noticed a scantily clad young lady standing by an ATM with a giant old European man. I also saw a few other "obvious" couples heading to nearby hotels.
3. Later, on my way home, I got on a minibus from the MTR station to my apartment. A smart looking 40-something British guy also got in, and sat directly in front of me, along with an extremely happy and flirtey Hong Kong girl, who seemed to be a new acquaintance of his. She was probably doing the "compensated dating" form of prostitution...doing it occasionally for extra cash, or because of some financial emergency. From all appearances, it's a happy and innocent arrangement, fairly common in Hong Kong.
All the women I saw tonight fit the popular image of prostitution. They are the "face" of the sex industry. Understandably, they all have very pretty and happy faces. Unfortunately, their faces are also a mask for the unseen victims of sex trafficking, who are rarely seen in public. Even as bad as some of the bar girls' exploitation may be, a far greater number of prostitutes are stuck inside massage parlors (servicing more clients, in worse working conditions) than are standing out on the sidewalks.
If those two Thai women hadn't escaped, they would still be trapped in a massage parlor in Yau Ma Tei. They would still be working day and night, along with the thousands of unseen prostitutes whose suffering will never be discovered--because it's hidden behind the sex industry's facade of happy bar girls.
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