Part 1 — Women’s Stories

31

Singapore

Prostitution: are women made for men’s pleasure?

Singapore SCM

This article is reprinted from the April 1983 edition of In God's Image, Christian Conference of Asia, Singapore.

Prostitution is an age-old problem, and certainly not a fringe problem—as many of us would like to believe. Venereal disease is but one of the many social ills related to prostitution. According to a recent annual report of the Middle Road hospital, 11319 patients were treated for sexually transmitted diseases in 1981, and many of these patients cited prostitutes as their primary contacts. The top five social groups affected were:

prostitutes semi-skilled workers army personnel skilled workers unemployed people

5771 1547 1003 968 610

The Sunday Times of December 12, 1982, also reported that fights were common at the Clifford Pier Red Lantern beer garden. Most of the prostitutes working at Clifford Pier are Thai women, and many of them are really young. Except for a few, they are dressed quite simply. They stand around in dim corners, usually in twos or threes, some of them apparently nervous or uneasy. Most of them come from northern Thailand; each time they come to Singapore they are allowed to stay for two weeks. They earn between seventy and 150 Singaporean dollars per customer¹ , and are very thrifty with their earnings. Normally, three or four of them will share a room, and save all that they can earn to send home to their families. They are prostitutes because the jobs which they can get in Thailand do not pay enough to feed themselves, let alone their children or other family members.

Singaporean or Malaysian prostitutes can be found in a number of places, both in low- and high-class areas. In Johore Rd, they are mainly older women, in their mid to late thirties. The conditions to be found at Johore Rd are repulsive: dark, narrow lanes, and smelly drains where men relieve themselves. Because of their age, many of these women get only ten or fifteen dollars² from each customer. Most of them went into prostitution because of financial difficulties. After having been in it for a long time, and not knowing any other skill, they have no choice but to continue in this business. Some of them suffer intense guilt feelings, but cannot see any other way out.

32

The men, both young and old, richly and poorly dressed, walk around and inspect the women from head to toe, making comments to one another as we do when we go shopping: "this one is nice, but how about that one?" Just listening to their conversation, one would think they were buying a piece of furniture or a stereo set. Being a woman, I felt both disgusted and angry.

While there are a few women who turn to prostitution for the "easy money", usually most of them are forced into it by circumstances beyond their control (sick or aged parents, husbands who deserted them, unemployment or dependent children). Not only do prostitutes have to put up with the humiliation of selling their bodies but they also face social prejudice. It is easy for us to make judgements from our comfortable positions—"immoral", "dirty", "shameful"—but we never bother to find out the reasons behind prostitution.

What about the men who patronise prostitutes? Popular opinion has it that men naturally want some fun, want to satisfy their sexual urges. That indeed is an insult to women! Do women exist just to serve the needs of men? Why do so many advertisements show pictures of scantily dressed women who have little relevance to the products advertised? Some people say that if there were no prostitutes, crime and rape would increase. However, according to various studies, rape does not occur primarily because of lust but rather out of frustration and anger. It is an act of violence rather than a. sexual act. Even if it is true that the crime rate will increase in the absence of prostitution, does this mean that we can conveniently close our eyes? Rather, we should ask ourselves why there is this need for men to vent their frustrations in such violent ways. What is wrong?

During the past few weeks, many Thai prostitutes have been arrested and sent home. and there have been raids on several other prostitution areas. In spite of this, the industry is still very much alive. Why? Laws can, to a certain extent, curb prostitution, but they can never eradicate it totally unless the more basic causes are recognised.

How are prostitutes viewed in the gospels? To answer this, we could look directly to some account in the gospels involving a prostitute, and then try to deduce general principles about the way in which Christians should treat prostitutes. Another approach, however, would be to examine as a whole the attitudes of Jesus to sexuality—as conveyed in his teachings about the kingdom of God. We have chosen this latter approach, for it seems more liberating in its conclusions and scope.

When Jesus announced the kingdom of God, he was not merely speaking of a kingdom to come in some particular space or time in the future, but of the rule of God—which came in his person and is still happening here and now. In God's rule we can achieve the fullness of our physical, spiritual, and mental selves. What, then, is our task as Christians in terms of our bodies and our sexual selves? One possible way of understanding this is to look at the parable of the unforgiving servant in Matthew's gospel. In this parable, a servant who has been given a second chance unexpectedly lashes out at a fellow servant, a debtor to him. The parable shows us that we are given the freedom to choose and act as we please in God's kingdom. We may be like the master: kind and gracious in our dealings with other people, never forgetting that others are

33

human beings like ourselves. Or we can be like the unforgiving servant, and simply disregard the humanness in the other person, seeing him or her primarily as a tool, an instrument in our hands. Similarly, we can treat prostitutes as commodities, or we can try to establish meaningful and genuine relationships with these women.

If Christ were here this very day, what would he do? Would he walk by the prostitute and pretend that he just didn't see? Perhaps he would chastise her with all self-righteousness and declare her to be immoral? Perhaps he would castigate her from the pulpit? Or maybe he would do what he asked others to do in relation to himself, to "come and see where I live", and, based on that understanding, build a relationship of forgiveness and love.

All this is not to say that we condone prostitution; but in all honesty, what would we—as followers of Christ—do? Shall we, like the woman in Luke 7:44-48, with our many sins, express that we too need to be forgiven, or shall we be the first to cast a stone at her?

Notes

1. About $US33 — $US70

2. About $US5 — $US7