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Public Shaming of Prostitutes Misfires in China

washingtonpost.com — Police in China parade sex workers in China to humiliate them publicly, the ploy backfires and they end up getting criticized for violating the rights of the sex workers. Public humiliation has been used as a punishment in China since ancient times. But the times... they are a-changin.

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  • crexor, on 10/12/2007, -1/+52when will the washington post start including pictures with articles, sheesh.
  • Azur2, on 10/12/2007, -1/+28People in China have rights when in conflict with the state? Since when?
    • irieKEN, on 10/12/2007, -0/+12Since it's not reported by Chinese media.
    • mrASSMAN, on 10/12/2007, -10/+35Sounds like they're gaining freedom as we're losing it. They'll surpass us soon..
    • Muyoso, on 10/12/2007, -13/+9Yea, I'm sure they will surpass us soon. /sarcasm

      If the western media didnt report this, they would crush any resistance without remorse.
    • neko, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3@Muyoso
      oh RTFA before spouting the drivel that your democratic government feeds you. Makes you feel safe and secure to believe that you have more freedoms than they do, does it? This may be true - but at least they're making progress.
    • imperium2000, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4@neko
      In what way is China making progress? The most jailed journalist in world? The most heavily censored internet in the world? Increasing riots by peasant farmers? Just because they have a semblance of catching up economically doesn't mean they are any better off politically or in terms of human rights.
    • Aumaden, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2@mrASSMAN

      The ultimate effect of outsourcing or:

      Hey, who printed "Made in China" on the back of my freedom?
  • dicerandom, on 10/12/2007, -0/+34Sounds like free advertising for the hookers to me.
    • sakuraz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I was assuming that to be the reason for backfire.

      Oh well, a better result all around.
  • nipuL, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8From the title I was expecting the story to say that the public shaming ended up just working as free advertisement for the prostitutes and caused prostitution to increase.
  • mordraken, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3You know...the second I saw this headline, the first thing that popped into my head was "Free advertising." I was obviously disappointed when I read about the much less ironic backfiring.
  • Spirork13, on 10/12/2007, -3/+4Dugg for Bob Dylan lyric.
    • deceased88, on 10/12/2007, -5/+0took my line!
    • jarvelated, on 10/12/2007, -4/+3An article about prostitutes and you digg it because it has a lyric from Bob Dylan...

      For shame
    • lonelycanuck, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2I dugg for the same reason.

      So Dont Critisize What You Can't Understand
  • cezar, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I was actually in Shenzhen for a few days. It's a great place. And when they say din of vice, they mean it.
    • irieKEN, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Nah, those girls are just there because people really need haircuts at 2am:P
    • maxium, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Don't they say 'Den of Vice'?

      ~M
  • Kallius, on 10/12/2007, -8/+1In Soviet China, shame me once, fool on you!
  • SmashA444, on 10/12/2007, -0/+19I thought the title said "Public Sharing of Prostitutes....".
    This is much less interesting.
    • kylebrothert, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I thought the same thing. And I was like... "no kidding."
    • foobar5892, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2My first thought was, "Wow, communism does pay off!". And then I read the caption...
    • pcmacman, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Well, I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought that.
  • StephenChow, on 10/12/2007, -4/+1Bullocks
  • maxium, on 10/12/2007, -4/+1isn't that just FREE advertisement?

    ~M
  • RobotKing, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I thought this was going to be about prostitutes that got their faces drawn on with markers. Like this: http://www.collegehumor.com/picture:1729039/context/tag:shaming
    • imperium2000, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1China doesn't ban pornography and prostitution on religious grounds. It does so from a "moralistic" point of view. It doesn't want the people to be 'corrupted' by 'evil' influences.
  • ronaldst, on 10/12/2007, -12/+1"Sex workers" (aka whores) need to get a real job. It's the 21st century. FFS evolve.
    • 0b501373, on 10/12/2007, -6/+5How else is your mum supposed to pay the bills??
    • koushi, on 10/12/2007, -4/+3Try getting a "real job" in a society where it is almost impossible to elevate yourself without bribing and whoring yourself out to government scumbags.

      More like you need to get a taste of the real world.
    • ronaldst, on 10/12/2007, -5/+1Are you guys for real? O_o
    • SuperCujo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3What has prostitution got to do with evolution? Come on, I really want to know.
    • molochi, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2You really gotta know?

      O.K. Since everydamnthing influences evolution, I'll take a stab at it. Horny people with money use prostitutes. Those people pass their genes on if they or the pros don't use contraceptives. Evolution is influenced, one way or the other.

      Now what I really want to know is why an atheistic state like China has a problem with the prostitution in the first place. Are they really still communist and anti-commerce or is this just a cultural, sex is sacred thing? I mean really, you can't produce 99cent toasters without a booming sex slave market... can you?
    • XopherMV, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2China is a communist state first and foremost. It is an atheistic state by a distant second, only because Marx considered religion the opiate of the masses and a sign of an oppressed culture. Looking back at the dark ages, it's arguable whether he was right or not.

      It appears that the communist nations only keep their atheistic roots around in order to prevent religious leaders from taking any power from the communist leaders. I sincerely doubt that modern Chinese leadership care one way or the other what Marx thought. They only want to maintain their power and don't want to share it with religion.
    • Digitalwingx, on 10/12/2007, -2/+0@XopherMV
      China - check
      Commuist - hmmm, argueable; at least the word really means something different than it did 40 years ago.
      Marx - sorry, how is Marx related to prostitutes?
      Religion? Dark ages? What?
    • Zique, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Or maybe it's just the society that needs to evolve and start treating prostitutes like people who have the right to decide what they do with their time.
    • rootneg2, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1*real* job?

      prostitution is *the* oldest known profession. Some archeologists even believe that the very concept of a wage and physical coinage or money was born out of necessity from this very same profession.
  • ZippidyDoo, on 10/12/2007, -6/+3Everyone below this comment should post a witty reply to how this was free advertising for the hookers.
  • ahurt000, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1Hos gotta eat too...
  • zephc, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3Cmon people, they're human beings too, you know.
  • mos6507, on 10/12/2007, -4/+2Nice logic. They need the right not to humliate themselves in public so they can humiliate themselves in private with their degrading profession.

  • urbandistrict, on 10/12/2007, -1/+712:21pm "For today's lunch special we'll be serving yellow-tail."

    thank you, thank you, hold your applause...
  • darkfish, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3@mos6507

    It's called compassion - learn the word and practice it. You don't know jack ***** until you've been where they've been.

    BTW, even convicted criminals should be spared such humiliation. These people were *suspects* - they were not yet proven guilty, so this whole show was barbaric.
  • john87, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1am i the only one who read the title as Public SHARING of prostitutes in China? yes.. no?

  • LungGravy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6The worldwide sex ratio is estimated to be 101, meaning that there are 101 men for every 100 women.
    In 1993 and 1994, more than 121 boys were born in China for every 100 baby girls.
    This is due to female infanticide and foeticide, their preference for sons.

    So, if every female partners up in a "moral", monogomous relationship with a male, that leaves hundreds of thousands of males ***** out 'o luck, as far as a hope of ever getting laid. The fact that there's a serious market for prostitutes, falls into the "no ***** duh" category.

    In India the ratio is even worse.

    On the issue of shame tactics, here in the US many cities such as Denver, Chicago, Oakland, Peoria,... have used similar tactics though they usually target the solicitors. They post your picture on a website, billboard or make you stand on the side of a street wearing a sign. IMO, prostitution should be made legal and properly regulated.

    references:
    http://chronicle.com/free/v50/i34/34a01401.htm
    http://americancityandcounty.com/news/government_denver_uses_shame/
    http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=aomB5Mjf9OE0&refer=us
    http://www.pjstar.com/stories/030506/TRI_B94D6S8Q.013.shtml
    http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/03/13/ING8CBNC1J1.DTL
    http://www.law.ku.edu/lawrev/Huschka.pdf
    • Leo2002, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Thanks for sharing the information. I was ashamed to know a local Chinese police department was doing this pre-history public shaming stuff.
      The knowing of same practices in USA make me feel a little bit better.
      Anyway, Chinese are catching up in terms of the awareness of human rights.
  • phenolholic, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2i think this may be good marketing for the prostitutes.
  • liuite, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2they should strip the corrupt bureaucrats and force them to parade down the street...they are the real whores
  • jammrk, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Ho's have human rights too...
  • ShrimpCrackers, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Thing is you've got to read between the lines. I know for a fact that the investigation of prostitutes (well police investigations in general) is VERY SHAKY in China. Sure, some of these people are indeed prostitutes, many others are public enemies of China. You'll find an interesting cadre of women that happen to be prostitutes.

    One young girl (whom had controversial parents) was a virgin and yet was convicted of prostitution, she was tortured to confess. Police basically wired her up to a car battery until she confessed to anything they demanded.

    After a very public outcry, the Chinese courts reversed their decision and found her not guilty, and compensated her a measly $25 USD; probably to discourage future persons from suing the government even if proof was definitive.

    This is why there is that line in which a man says if prostitutes are paraded what about those convicted of graft and corruption. Corrupt politicians commonly suffer light fines, and at worst suffer house arrest when they fall out of favor of their party. The thing is, house arrest for many of these politicians is luxurious versus many of the Chinese citizens in general.
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