Introduction

Welcome to Hong Kong! The above quote is taken from the Guide to Adult Travel in Hong Kong, found easily – free-of-charge, warning-free, and question-free – on the Web (http://hongkong.worldsexarchives.com/, retrieved 15 November 2007). The excerpt is part of the author's – JustJoe's – prelude to the ‘real’ guide. In this virtual tour guide's perception, Hong Kong is a sexual city. Subjects of erotic fantasy are just everywhere. In the main body of his guide, he provides detailed information on the where, what, how, how much … – practically all one wants to know about sex and the city.

This sharing of sex tour experiences is only one of the many diverse Internet usages that relate to the trading of female bodies and their images online. New communication and information technologies have brought about a global revolution in the access to, and exchange of, information on practically all branches of the economy. The sex industry has been eager and effective in adopting every new IT technology to enhance their business. With the advancement of the Internet technologies and the aid of the expanding coverage and power of the cyber network, women and children are being traded, both in physical and virtual forms, more quickly and over longer distances than ever before. Women, men and children's bodies can now be marketed in prostitution or related activities with new means, including online strip performances, sex shows and commercial voyeurism.