Women's Network and Training Center

Our center has been collecting data about the cases in which sex workers are hurt and killed in Mainland China since August 2006.

We got the number of 87 cases.

Among these cases, 51 sex workers were killed, 13 were killed, 3 were sold, and 20 were robbed.

These are outrageous number. In fact, this is only part of the story: they are the cases which police solved and reported in newspapers. We believe that there are more cases left unattended, in which sex workers are mentally and physically hurt.

Li is a street-based sex worker. One night a man approached her. She took him to her place after price negotiation. When he was done, he changed his attitudes saying he did not have money. He even tried to take her mobile phone away. Li never encountered this situation, in which the customer not only refused to pay for the service, also tried to take away her belongings. Li did not meet anyone that day. The man was her first customer. Sure Li did not allow the man to take her property, but he beat her. Li had no idea how long she had been beaten, but she knew her chin was bleeding. She lost her consciousness eventually. Her fellow found her and sent her to the hospital. She paid more than 10000RMB for the medical fees, which she borrowed from her fellows. Her mobile phone and money was taken away by the man.

I asked her why she did not call the police. She replied in one simple sentence, “Can I really do so? I am a sex worker”. What a simple reason. I am not sure if you feel bad for her reason.

In the night of Jan 10, this man paid 200RMB for Zhang Bei to stay overnight. He requested for another sexual intercourse, but Zhang rejected. He then strongly hit Zhang’s head. Zhang tried to defend and cried for help, but he further lost his temper. He grabbed her nose and mouth till she could never move again.

There is much discussion about this case on the internet. Many people showed their understandings and sympathy towards the deceased: she works for her child’s school fees at the expense of her health… She is undoubtedly a great mother who should not die in this way, deserving a longer life.

All of a sudden, the public becomes lenient towards sex workers. It is ridiculous to the way the public dichotomizes sex workers: those who live happily are whores, lazy money-grabbers who seduce good wives’ husbands; while those being killed or seriously hurt work for unspeakable reasons, with people in the society should show support and sympathy.

Yet, does sympathy really bring goods to sex workers? We still hear of tragedies about sex workers. Can we work further to stop these tragedies? If sex work is accepted as a kind of work, sex workers’ lives and properties can then be secured.

Work manual comes with every different job. People related to the job will be regulated by the manual. Nevertheless, as sex work is an underground industry without any work manual, conflicts are often resulted between customers and sex workers, leading to sex workers’ tragedies.

Customers can hardly accept any disadvantaged position. They understand so much the situation of sex workers, who dare not fight against others or say no to others, that they often abuse sex workers. If sex work is accepted as a job in the society, not only is there a work manual for sex workers, there are also laws protecting consumers’ rights. When the (sex) service provider fails to provide a per standard service, customers can then complaint to the ‘boss’ to fight for their rights without using any violence.

Zhang was killed during work, but she did not receive any insurance or social security. She did not leave much money to her daughter and son, who are still in college and primary school respectively. Though she was killed during work, she could not enjoy the insurance and social benefits. She may even lose all compensations for being a sex worker. It is meaningless for people to show sympathy. Zhang’s work and identity will also become a burden for her family. What is sad is that this is an inevitable outcome in the society today.

As a citizen, if sex workers are further aware of their rights…

We approached to many sex workers, in which the majority was robbed. However, almost every sex workers say, “We are supposed to be wrong to work in this job. It will be fine enough not to involve in another trouble. Things left unsettled causes less troubles.”

We sometimes think that it is probably the pessimistic attitudes among sex workers causing them bigger troubles from customers and risks.

We feel sorry for their sad stories, and we feel bad for them not voicing out their demands. Nevertheless, is it true that sex workers can really stand in front of the public to voice out their stories and demands?

It becomes very easy for them to do so if sex work is accepted as a conventional job.

I always remember this: flower blossoms no matter you want or not. As it is an undeniable fact to find sex work in the society, why can’t we accept it and let sex workers stand up for their basic rights without any fear or discrimination?

Due to the job nature, Zhang could not really rest in peace, but ‘created’ new topics for people’s further discussions.

Perhaps only when sex work is accepted as a job, we can stop the tragedy. It is already too late to do anything for the deceased, but we sincerely hope that people can understand more about sex workers, showing them genuine supports and care.

I believe this needs our joint action.