Sex workers like Mary, 45, see earnings dip in economic downturn, but who’ll help them?
The New Paper 11 November 2008
In a downturn, one group of workers are unlikely to get a helping hand.
Theirs might be the ‘oldest profession in the world’ but empathy for it is generally in short supply.
So, while ex-New York governor Eliot Spitzer got off the hook for his use of high-end prostitutes, there is no reprieve for the women of the street when they are nabbed.
The prosecutors concluded in Spitzer’s case that the ‘public interest would not be further advanced by filing criminal charges in this matter’.
However, those who breach soliciting or prostitution laws in many parts of the world are usually hauled to court, and even deported if they are foreigners.
Ask Mary (not her real name) who works undercover in Singapore.
Nine hours a day, seven days a week, she sits on her bed, smiling through the open door of her tiny room in a numbered brothel, waiting for someone to pop the question: How much?
CHARGES $20 PER SESSION
But even before they ask, she already has the answer on her hand - a V not for victory, but for her price.
‘$20,’ she said.
Mary is a sex worker in Flanders Square, a little known row of brothels in Little India that hit the news after the tragic murder of Coco.
Coco, a popular 41-year-old sex worker, had stumbled out of her room with a knife in her chest on 25 Oct and died later.
Like Coco, Mary is a Malaysian.
The 45-year-old has worked as a prostitute for nearly half her life.
Since she arrived in Singapore 10 years ago, she has worked only in Flanders Square.
‘When times were good, I used to charge $30. But times are really bad, so it’s down to $20 per shot,’ she said in a mixture of Mandarin and Cantonese.
She used to get 10 customers a day, but now, she gets five or six. Sometimes fewer.
While other red-light districts remain active late in the night, the women here start working at noon, and close shop by 9pm.
When there’s no business, they close even earlier.
One man, who appeared to work in the area, said: ‘No business, so why should they stay open?’
How is Mary coping with the downturn?
‘Like that, lor.’ That was all she would say. ‘What can I do?’
In the past, she had younger customers.
Nowadays they are mostly in the 40s and 50s, but she can still be picky.
Mary was the only one of nine prostitutes The New Paper on Sunday approached who was willing to speak.
Sorry, but we prefer not to talk about our painful past, some of the women said.
As Mary spoke, an ancient TV set, her companion for most of the day, buzzed and crackled in the background.
The brothel room where the interview was conducted is not much bigger than an HDB toilet. It is cramped, but air-conditioned and clean.
There is barely enough space, after the bed and TV, for a wash basin, a fan and a refrigerator.
TOOLS OF HER TRADE
CRAMPED: Mary’s brothel room is not much bigger than an HDB toilet. It is air-conditioned. There is barely enough space for the bed, TV, wash basin, fan and fridge.
Asked how life in Flanders Square had changed since Coco’s death, she replied: ‘I just sit inside my room and watch TV. I’ve no idea if there are more or less people outside.’
The brothel room costs her $50 a day. When she’s not there, she sleeps in a rented room near Mustafa Centre, that costs her $450 a month.
That’s nearly $2,000 in rent alone - which means she has to have 100 customers just to keep a roof over her head.
‘What can I do? Everyone needs to work. Everyone needs to eat,’ she said.
She doesn’t talk to the other sex workers much, she said.
She has no family here. She used to visit her family in Kuala Lumpur, where she was born, the fourth child in a brood of six.
She stopped when her mother died a few years ago.
Why?
Her siblings all have their own families now, she said. She maintained that she has good relations with them still.
Do they know what she does here?
‘No, I just tell them I am working in Singapore,’ she said.
She doesn’t send any money back.
‘I don’t even have enough for myself,’ she said.
She became agitated when The New Paper on Sunday asked about her parents. It turns out her father died when she was just 5. Her mother brought the children up by herself.
Mary was poor and she had no education. To make ends meet, she worked as a maid in households in KL.
But she found the work too tough, too tiring. So she turned to prostitution.
What it did to her is etched on her face.
She must have been a looker when she was younger. Now her cheeks sag and the ravages of her life have left deep lines on her neck and face.
Her angular features and sharp nose are framed by curly hair, and she has large eyes with double eyelids. She is petite at 1.5m, and still slim. WHERE SHE WORKS
It was 20 years ago that she got started. She declined to talk about those days.
‘I’ve forgotten already. These are bad things. What’s past is past,’ she said.
Three or four years later, she relocated to Segamat, Johor, to ply her service. She eventually moved to Singapore because she heard the money was good.
As for her future, she has no plans.
‘I’ll think about it when I get there,’ she said.
She said she has never married and has no children.
Alone and far from home. Isn’t she lonely?
‘No, I’m all right,’ she said.
On her face was the same smile she wears all day and every day.
1 comment:
No honour, no shame, no help
Sex workers like Mary, 45, see earnings dip in economic downturn, but who’ll help them?
The New Paper
11 November 2008
In a downturn, one group of workers are unlikely to get a helping hand.
Theirs might be the ‘oldest profession in the world’ but empathy for it is generally in short supply.
So, while ex-New York governor Eliot Spitzer got off the hook for his use of high-end prostitutes, there is no reprieve for the women of the street when they are nabbed.
The prosecutors concluded in Spitzer’s case that the ‘public interest would not be further advanced by filing criminal charges in this matter’.
However, those who breach soliciting or prostitution laws in many parts of the world are usually hauled to court, and even deported if they are foreigners.
Ask Mary (not her real name) who works undercover in Singapore.
Nine hours a day, seven days a week, she sits on her bed, smiling through the open door of her tiny room in a numbered brothel, waiting for someone to pop the question: How much?
CHARGES $20 PER SESSION
But even before they ask, she already has the answer on her hand - a V not for victory, but for her price.
‘$20,’ she said.
Mary is a sex worker in Flanders Square, a little known row of brothels in Little India that hit the news after the tragic murder of Coco.
Coco, a popular 41-year-old sex worker, had stumbled out of her room with a knife in her chest on 25 Oct and died later.
Like Coco, Mary is a Malaysian.
The 45-year-old has worked as a prostitute for nearly half her life.
Since she arrived in Singapore 10 years ago, she has worked only in Flanders Square.
‘When times were good, I used to charge $30. But times are really bad, so it’s down to $20 per shot,’ she said in a mixture of Mandarin and Cantonese.
She used to get 10 customers a day, but now, she gets five or six. Sometimes fewer.
While other red-light districts remain active late in the night, the women here start working at noon, and close shop by 9pm.
When there’s no business, they close even earlier.
One man, who appeared to work in the area, said: ‘No business, so why should they stay open?’
How is Mary coping with the downturn?
‘Like that, lor.’ That was all she would say. ‘What can I do?’
In the past, she had younger customers.
Nowadays they are mostly in the 40s and 50s, but she can still be picky.
Mary was the only one of nine prostitutes The New Paper on Sunday approached who was willing to speak.
Sorry, but we prefer not to talk about our painful past, some of the women said.
As Mary spoke, an ancient TV set, her companion for most of the day, buzzed and crackled in the background.
The brothel room where the interview was conducted is not much bigger than an HDB toilet. It is cramped, but air-conditioned and clean.
There is barely enough space, after the bed and TV, for a wash basin, a fan and a refrigerator.
TOOLS OF HER TRADE
CRAMPED: Mary’s brothel room is not much bigger than an HDB toilet. It is air-conditioned. There is barely enough space for the bed, TV, wash basin, fan and fridge.
Asked how life in Flanders Square had changed since Coco’s death, she replied: ‘I just sit inside my room and watch TV. I’ve no idea if there are more or less people outside.’
The brothel room costs her $50 a day. When she’s not there, she sleeps in a rented room near Mustafa Centre, that costs her $450 a month.
That’s nearly $2,000 in rent alone - which means she has to have 100 customers just to keep a roof over her head.
‘What can I do? Everyone needs to work. Everyone needs to eat,’ she said.
She doesn’t talk to the other sex workers much, she said.
She has no family here. She used to visit her family in Kuala Lumpur, where she was born, the fourth child in a brood of six.
She stopped when her mother died a few years ago.
Why?
Her siblings all have their own families now, she said. She maintained that she has good relations with them still.
Do they know what she does here?
‘No, I just tell them I am working in Singapore,’ she said.
She doesn’t send any money back.
‘I don’t even have enough for myself,’ she said.
She became agitated when The New Paper on Sunday asked about her parents. It turns out her father died when she was just 5. Her mother brought the children up by herself.
Mary was poor and she had no education. To make ends meet, she worked as a maid in households in KL.
But she found the work too tough, too tiring. So she turned to prostitution.
What it did to her is etched on her face.
She must have been a looker when she was younger. Now her cheeks sag and the ravages of her life have left deep lines on her neck and face.
Her angular features and sharp nose are framed by curly hair, and she has large eyes with double eyelids. She is petite at 1.5m, and still slim.
WHERE SHE WORKS
It was 20 years ago that she got started. She declined to talk about those days.
‘I’ve forgotten already. These are bad things. What’s past is past,’ she said.
Three or four years later, she relocated to Segamat, Johor, to ply her service. She eventually moved to Singapore because she heard the money was good.
As for her future, she has no plans.
‘I’ll think about it when I get there,’ she said.
She said she has never married and has no children.
Alone and far from home. Isn’t she lonely?
‘No, I’m all right,’ she said.
On her face was the same smile she wears all day and every day.
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