According to CNN, a trend has been developing among Hong Kong teens, in which young girls have been visiting online chat rooms in order to secure male dates for "compensated dating." For a fee, young girls offer to accompany men, usually older, on dates that usually include sex. CNN's Pauline Chiou spoke with a 19-year-old young woman, who chose to be identified only by her nickname "Sze," because her family was not aware of the way she started earning money when she was just 16 years old. Sze's heartbreaking story details the way in which she got involved with the practice of "compensated dating" after she saw how her classmates were able to buy expensive designer fashions, bags, and cosmetics with their quick, "easy" earnings. According to the article, Sze was paid $350 per date and arranged rules with her clients via phone beforehand, even going so far as to verbally clarify the number of times she was willing to have sex with them. Still, she admitted, some customers pushed or even broke the rules--asking for more sex or refusing to use protection.
Sze's testimony in the CNN article is incredibly sad, as she admits that she sometimes felt shame but often overcame the feeling quickly, as she could "relax when [she] wanted to buy something." Even worse still, apparently the young girls engaging in this practice do not consider themselves to be prostitutes. They think that they can quit at any time, and that they are in full control of their own actions and choices when it comes to going on these dates and with whom. And, as most cases are consensual, it is difficult for the authorities to track and pursue punishment or any other response.
Stories like these are terrifying. The practice of "compensated dating" is inherently dangerous, but it can become explicitly so as soon as a young girl is physically overpowered by her date. With girls like Sze being picked up, taken out, and left alone with strangers whom they meet online, there is no telling what can go wrong... but there are definitely thousands of ways for this practice to become deadly. Leaving aside the immeasurable risks of contracting sexually transmitted infections and being emotionally/psychologically damaged by such casual sexual encounters, Sze herself admitted that clients have not always abided by the rules. And why should they? I think it is fairly safe to say that someone who solicits and pays for sex does not have the deepest respect for a young woman's health, safety, or body.
The CNN article mentions that, last year, a 16-year-old Hong Kong girl was brutally murdered by a 24-year-old man she had met for a compensated date. The man is now serving a life sentence in prison because, not only did he murder her, but he literally dismembered her body before flushing her remains down the toilet.
Luckily, Sze found help and realized that there are other ways to earn money... ways that do not involve sacrificing her health, dignity, and innocence. We hope other young women, like Sze's friends who resisted her efforts to get them out of the compensated dating game, can come to respect themselves and their bodies and leave compensated dating behind.
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