Underaged Compensated Dating – a form of prostitution involving young women who provide dating and sexual services in exchange for money or presents, remains a prevalent issue in Hong Kong
By Jovie Wong
Coming from a broken family and being cash-strapped, Ruomi Cheung has worked in “compensated dating” offering companionship, and even sexual favours to older men in return for money and luxury gifts since she was 16.
Now 18, Cheung reveals she has to do whatever it takes to escape from her family. Her parents are divorced, and her stepfather is abusive. The family owes more than HK$200,000 (US$25,525) in debt.
“I must leave this sick place,” she says, adding that she was bullied in school for three years starting at age 13. Then she was transferred to the Vocational Training Council (VTC) and has continued her studies to this day.
Living alone, Cheung says she has to make a living through compensated dating, since working as a maid cafe hostess and a bar hostess cannot make ends meet.
“I have to pay rent. It’s hard to live in a metropolitan city as an 18-year-old girl,” she says.
Sharing her life as a part-time girlfriend on Threads has attracted many followers. She sells photos, videos, and even her underwear, and dates men who contact her via Instagram and Threads for “Rewards”, usually money, sometimes luxuries.
“I post pretty pictures of myself, and they’ll come. It’s so effortless,” she says.
“I just have to post photos and wait for messages. Men pay me HK$150 (US$19) for 15 minutes of FaceTime, wearing shorts and a tight vest,” she adds, noting that it is not a small amount for a poor student who survives on only HK$250 (US$32) a week in living expenses from parents.
“Then people in the chat room offer HK$300 (US$38) for pulling down a bit of my vest, then HK$800 (US$102) for touching my breast when dating, then… more and more,” she says.
Cheung earns about HK$300 (US$38) from selling underwear and HK$500 (US$64) from posting photos and videos.
“At first, I didn’t realize I would go this far,” says Cheung, adding that she later offers sexual services (limited to manual and oral sex) in return for HK$1,300 (US$166) or more.
She also has a so‑called “sugar daddy”, who covers all her expenses and gives her an extra HK$15,000 (US$1,914) a month for her companionship and sexual services.
“I cannot resist such temptations, so I say yes to them,” Cheung adds.
Wong, another teenage compensated dater who mainly meets and serves clients in bars and clubs, thinks she was born for the job because of her love for drinking and high tolerance of alcohol.
“I knew I was made for this job,” the 17-year-old girl says.
Clients pay Wong to attend social events and fend off drinks for them. “I don’t need to do anything in those few hours, just drink. Then HK$2,000 (US$255) comes,” she says.
With a cigarette in her hand, a faint trail of smoke lingering in the air between words, Wong reveals she also comes from a divorced family.
“I have to live with my mom, but I cannot get along with her. Home is just a place to sleep,” she says. Her mother gives her no extra money. The relationship between them is more like that of roommates. So she has to earn on her own.
Unsatisfied with earning HK$2,000 (US$255) for hours of drinking followed by headaches or nausea, she began offering sexual services to earn the same amount in 30 minutes.
But she wants even more. She later becomes an agent, recruiting new girls into compensated dating. “Every time I introduce girls to jobs, I get extra commission. Now, I don’t even have to work, and money keeps rolling in,” she says, adding that she has made around HK$20,000 (US$2,553) in the past 20 days living on commission.
Tong Choi Chun, a social worker and founder of Ching Yin Centre, which mainly helps teenagers with special educational needs, says the economic factors are not the only reason why girls engage in compensated dating.
“Emotional needs, like not feeling loved and cared for, or being ignored or neglected by family, are also a strong factor,” Tong says.
Apart from money and luxury goods, Tong says special experiences that teenage girls can rarely encounter–such as a client-service provider relationship that mimics father-daughter bonding is also a reason behind it.
“Over time, many girls grow emotionally attached and struggle to quit the industry,” he says.
Tong says clients emotionally manipulate these girls, making them willing to meet any demand, even those close to sexual assault or violence, as long as the price is right. Many cases Tong has handled involve severe distress and depression.
In 2015, the Department of Social Work and Social Administration at the University of Hong Kong conducted a telephone survey on participation in compensated dating in Hong Kong and found that only three percent of interviewees had ever engaged in compensated dating, but many social workers, including Tong, note that there are many unknown cases and not many girls seek help.
To help these girls, Tong recommends combining financial education with personal growth programmes to help them understand their monetary value and develop a healthy self-perception.
Edited by Swara Kamble
Sub-edited by Jennifer Liu
