Different views on prostitution

By Chloe Chau

The Hong Kong Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood demonstrating against prostitution on 12 January 2003.

Ho Sau Lan, legislative councillor in the Frontier, is one of the persons who supports the legalization of prostitution.

She is worried that there might be more sex crimes if prostitution is banned.

“Prostitution is just a kind of job. If prostitutes are willing to provide the services for which the customers are willing to pay, why should we ban it?” asked Ms. Ho.

According to Leung Lai, rep-resentative of the Hong Kong Association for Democracy and People’s Livelihood, more women came to Hong Kong from Guangdong Province to work as prostitutes after the Hong Kong government simplified immigration procedures.

“The number of sex workers in Sham Shui Po increased by about 80 percent last year. This disturbed the residents in the district,” said he.

Therefore, the association held a demonstration against prostitution in Sham Shui Po on 12 January 2003.

The conflict between sex workers and residents remains unresolved.

Wong Yin Mei, a resident living in Sham Shui Po, said that on her way home, men looking for sex services often incorrectly identify her as a sex worker.

She said, “A man even asked me how much he should pay me in exchange for sex services. It was an insult to me.”

Besides, sex workers often disclose the security codes of residential buildings to their customers. This weakens security and the living conditions of the residents.

Ms. Ho said residents are undoubtedly disturbed while sex workers are working in the same neighborhood.

“Therefore, the government should set up a red-light district for sex workers to work in,” she said.

She said that setting up a red-light district would help in preventing the spread of venereal diseases.

“There is a danger of spreading sexual-related diseases. Unless we supervise prostitution, sex workers will not have body checks regularly,” she added.

However, Mr. Leung said that legalizing prostitution is no longer a solution to the problem.

“Even if the government legalizes prostitution, the law can only control local sex workers, not those illegal immigrants who account for over 80 percent of sex workers in Hong Kong.

“Instead, the Hong Kong government should cooperate with the mainland government to limit the number of illegal immigrants.

“This should be the first step in order to solve the problem of prostitution,” said Mr. Leung.