Abstract
This article discusses the adverse effect upon sex workers of China’s abolitionist policy that focuses on forced prostitution and launches anti-trafficking campaigns. The argument developed in this paper is based on over twenty months of fieldwork between 1999 and 2002 in Dalian. I will first discuss karaoke bar industry and China’s policy of anti-trafficking campaigns. I will then demonstrate the impact of this policy on hostesses in karaoke bars. I will follow it with an account of how, unlike the government’s perception of forced prostitution, hostesses voluntarily choose their profession and actively seek sex work in countries such as Japan and Singapore. I will conclude in the final section.
Recommended Citation
Zheng, Tiantian
(2008)
"Anti-Trafficking Campaign and Karaoke Bar Hostesses in China,"
Wagadu: A Journal of Transnational Women's & Gender Studies: Vol. 5:
Iss.
1, Article 6.
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.cortland.edu/wagadu/vol5/iss1/6
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