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Neither “Bad” nor “Dirty”: High-end Sex Work and Intimate Relationships in Urban China

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 May 2017

Eileen Yuk-ha Tsang
Eileen Yuk-ha Tsang*
Affiliation:
City University of Hong Kong. Email: eileen@cityu.edu.hk; tsangeileen@gmail.com.
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Abstract

The relationship between sex workers and their clients is generally characterized as being based entirely on the direct exchange of sexual favours for money. However, this received wisdom cannot account for a nation such as China which attaches significant value to “face,” social status and interpersonal dignity. This paper draws parallels with high-end sex workers elsewhere in Asia as well as globally. With a focus on the high-end sector, I examine how workers and their clients engage not only in pecuniary transactions but also in genuinely intimate and non-remunerative relationships. High-end sex workers make use of their earned economic capital to acquire cultural capital, and use online apps as marketing tools to target local elites and expats to forge longer-term intimate relationships. Male clients in more commercialized, post-industrial cities in China continue to seek diverse types of sexual experiences, with some clients seeking genuine intimacy. Furthermore, I explore how Chinese and foreign clients overcome social barriers to develop such relationships with sex workers. Building on this sociocultural perspective, this paper analyses ethnographically both sides of the female sex worker–client relationship in high-end karaoke lounges and bars in Dongguan, southern China.

摘要

般大众对性工作者与客人关系的认知, 是建基於性与金钱的交换。是次研究旨在探究性工作者与客人的关系会否超越金钱交易, 从而产生亲密关系。中国社会着重面子, 地位和尊严, 这与其他国家文化有所不同。本文将会探究中国高级性工作者与亚洲或世界各地高级性工作者的异同。本文的研究重点是中国的高级性工作者与她们客人之间的关系, 本文发现高级性工作者与客人投放了真实的亲密情感以及超越金钱的关系。高级性工作者会利用赚取的经济资本去获得更多文化资本, 以及利用美貌作为营销工具, 从而建立长期亲密关系 (Hoang 2010; 2011)。同时, 男性客人亦开始在较商业化及後工业化的中国城市, 追求不同类型的性经验。本文亦探究中国和外国客人怎麽排除万难的与性工作者一起建立更加复杂的亲密情感关系。本文透过社会文化学的视野, 以民族志方法来分析中国现代性工作者与她们客人之间的亲密情感关系。

Keywords

sex workcultural capitaleconomic capitalemotional labourbounded authenticityChina性工作文化资本经济资本情绪劳动有界真实性中国
Type
Articles
Information
The China Quarterly , Volume 230 , June 2017 , pp. 444 - 463
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Copyright
Copyright © SOAS University of London 2017 

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