Sexual inactiveness

Do you know that Hongkongers are sexually inactive?

How “inactive”?

Well, inactive enough to alarm the sex experts and researchers.

I am serious!

Be it Durex’s not-so-scientific survey, or Family Planning Association of Hong Kong’s poll, or even Agence-France Presse’s report, they all seem to point out that Hongkongers are lacking when it comes to sex, both in quantity and quality.

They try to explain the situation with the lack of privacy space in Hong Kong resulting from the horrendous house price, as well as Hongkongers’ stressed life from their work. Some researchers pointed out that psychological elements are also accountable because traditional Chinese culture treats “sex” as a big taboo and people are shy about that as they see sex as something “dirty” and think that are not supposed to have sexual desire. Even if they do have sex, not many of them can experience orgasm every time, and the situation is especially bad for females.

That’s just unhealthy.

Sometimes I wonder if it has anything to do with that hierarchy of needs…Who would waste time thinking about sex when you have lots of livelihood issues to worry about? I know that most Hongkongers are more or less mentally sick under the daily stress to begin with, but who knows the problem is so severe?

No wonder the Family Planning Association are concerned that it may harm the overall fertility rate in Hong Kong… 

Compensated dating in Hong Kong

Do you know that there is a way for Hong Kong teenage girls to make quick cash?

That is called “compensated dating”. (媛助交際)

It’s not something wholesome, though.

The concept originates from Japan. It is a practice of older men giving money or luxuries to females in exchange for some kind of “make believe dating”, or even sexual favors. Though sex is not always involved, and sometimes the role is reversed.

But the situation for that in Hong Kong is much worse. “Compensated dating” has more or less become the euphemism for teen prostitution. The girls can make excuse about how these “dating” are “helping each other”, but that will still boil down to sex in the end.

What’s terrifying is the girls don’t think this is prostitution because they “get to choose the clients” and can “decide to stop at any time they want”. The fact is some of them ended up being raped, and some were even blackmailed with their own nude pictures / videos. In some extreme cases, they got murdered, like the case of Wong Ka Mui in 2008.

Police are worried that the problem would become more uncontrollable because with the advancement of social media and smartphone apps, it is very easy for the teenagers to look for clients online.

It is very sad to see Hong Kong has become a society like this. We Hongkongers used to be proud of being civilized, educated and ethical. However, lots of people seem to see materialism more important than anything else. Even the youngsters, the future of our society, are willing to sell their bodies for money. Maybe I can’t really blame them if they are just trying to ease their families’ financial problems (even though it’s still not a good way), but those who simply want extra pocket money should definitely be criticized. Money IS important, but it doesn’t mean we should give up everything to earn it.

This reminds me of an old saying 笑貧不笑娼, when we “laugh at the poor, but not the prostitute”. People will admire you as long as you can make money, no matter how dirty your methods are.

Is this what Hongkongers believe in?