Governance Student Bonnie Berry Discusses Hong Kong Field Program

Bonnie_Berry

Bonnie Berry is a GPIA student from a suburb outside Philadelphia. Upon graduating high school she attended George Washington University’s Elliot School of International Affairs where she majored in International Affairs with a dual concentration in Asia, and Conflict and Security with a minor in Mandarin. During the summer of 2013 Bonnie had the opportunity to participate in the International Field Program (IFP) to Hong Kong where she partnered with Zi Teng, an NGO concerned with the advancement and recognition of sex worker’s basic human rights in Hong Kong.

interview conducted by Benjamin Ace 

What was it about the Graduate Program in International Affairs at The New School that made you want to attend?

I was really drawn to The New School because of the International Field Program. While I already had an educational background in international affairs and had taught English abroad, I had not worked abroad in the field of international affairs.  The IFP seemed, and was, a great chance to use skills and knowledge learned in the classroom while conducting valuable work for an NGO abroad.

I was also very interested in The New School because of its progressive values and attitude. The program explores a lot of areas that are outside the scope of traditional international affairs programs.

 

Each student in the GPIA program chooses from one of five different concentrations. What concentration have you chosen?

It was a difficult choice between Governance and Rights and Media and Culture, both of which I thought were fairly unique to the New School but in the end it was my interest in human rights, the core concentration class, and my work for Zi Teng that contributed to my decision to concentrate in Governance and Rights.

 

Why did you choose the IFP to Hong Kong over the other IFP sites?

I’ve been interested in Asia since early undergrad. I studied abroad in Beijing and taught English in Shandong Province after graduation. While many people participating in the IFP choose to go to a part of the globe that is new to them, I really wanted to go to Hong Kong because I knew I wanted to continue to focus on Asia. The IFP in Hong Kong provided me the opportunity for hands on experience working in human rights in an Asian city so it was an easy choice for me.

 

What about Zi Teng made you decide you wanted to work with them?

During my first year at GPIA, a lot of my research was focused on women. I had taken a class on human trafficking during my undergrad and while it is an issue that deserves a lot of attention, it often detracts from the discourse surrounding voluntary participation in sex work. I wanted to push myself during the IFP to explore new ideas and work, and challenge the stereotypes that persist in our culture towards sex work.

 

What did your tasks with Zi Teng entail?

I was tasked with a variety of projects with Zi Teng but the most consistent duty was conducting outreach. Each afternoon at my internship, I would go to various districts within Hong Kong and the New Territories with either another volunteer or my internship supervisor and go door to door to massage parlors. We would distribute our newsletter, which contained information regarding Hong Kong’s laws, how massage workers can protect themselves from abuse by customers or police officers, and local news about incidents relating to police stings, violence, theft and other abuses at unlicensed massage parlors.

Sometimes we would be invited in to have a talk with the massage workers. Our goal was to establish a trusting and friendly relationship with the workers and their parlors so that they would be more open to reaching out in times of need as well as encourage them to learn more about the laws and how to guard themselves. As they opened up to us, we would discuss the laws more as well as news about what they had experienced themselves or what they had heard about from workers at other local parlors. Information collected would be used to warn other massage workers as well as to draft reports and complaints against the police.

Zi Teng also sold condoms and lubricant at wholesale prices and would deliver them to sex workers so that they would not be subjected to stigmatization had they gone to a store. Sometimes during deliveries we would have the opportunity to talk with the sex worker about business, hardship and other happenings.

My other tasks included designing and teaching English lessons for sex workers and massage workers relating to their work. I assisted in the translation of Zi Teng materials to be used for applying for grants and reporting to international NGOs that provide assistance to Zi Teng. I conducted research and created materials for a planned seminar series on sex work in Hong Kong for foreigners wishing to learn more and/or volunteer.

On two occasions, I was invited to go to court to learn more about Hong Kong’s legal system and help Zi Teng provide emotional support to massage workers who were arrested for allegedly having violated Hong Kong’s massage ordinance.

 

What were some of the issues that negatively impact the lives of sex and massage workers in Hong Kong?

Sex workers and massage workers face discrimination and harassment from many members of the community in Hong Kong. Police have abused their power and exploited sex and massage workers for free services. Because the laws relating to sex and massage work are complex and operate in gray areas, some customers use the law to diminish the bargaining power of the women, especially those working illegally in Hong Kong. Fear of arrest and/or deportation often prevent sex workers from reporting violence and theft to the police.

 

You differentiate between sex workers and massage workers. Are the issues concerning sex workers and massage workers different?

Yes and no. There are ordinances related to both massage and sex workers but both fall prey to exploitation by both police and clients. Not all massage workers participate in sex work but some do and many massage parlors and saunas also double as brothels.

 

What do Hong Kong’s laws and policies have to say about the work of sex and massage workers and their human rights?

Sex-work is legal in Hong Kong as long as it is conducted in an apartment used by only one worker. It is illegal to solicit on the street or advertise sex work in public. It is also illegal to work with other individuals and family, boyfriends, etc. are not allowed to live off the proceeds of sex work. This prevents sex workers from hiring security or working in pairs thus making them vulnerable to clientele. Family living with or being supported by sex workers are thereby subject to legal action.

Hong Kong also has antiquated laws that restrict the massaging of the area below the shoulders and above the knees for members of the opposite sex, unless the place of business holds the massage license, which is not only very expensive to get but also made impossible because of stringent facility requirements. These restrictions cause economic hardship and diminish potential earnings for massage workers at unlicensed parlors (the majority in Hong Kong). Undercover police officers often conduct sting operations and request the prohibited full body massage at these parlors, and massage workers often end up in jail or deported if they comply.

Police also arbitrarily search parlors or the possessions of sex workers and use condoms or lubricant as evidence that the female in question has been “soliciting for an immoral purpose”. For this reason, sex workers who work on the street are less likely to carry and use protection.

The treatment of sex and massage workers in police custody and during sting operations is particularly degrading and denies individuals of their dignity. It is legal in Hong Kong for police to receive hand-jobs as evidence collection. In one documented instance, a police officer frequented an unlicensed massage parlor twelve times for manual stimulation before he arrested the massage worker.

The rights of Mainland Chinese sex workers are violated when they are denied their right to fair and impartial trials and instead rounded up and deported without being convicted of any crime. Zi Teng has collected evidence of women being harassed and arrested for just standing on the street even though they had not broken any laws. In 2005, over one hundred suspected sex workers from the Mainland were arrested and caged in an area visible to reporters and the media. The cage did not have a toilet and the women sat on the floor for up to 12 hours.

 

Why is there an influx of sex and massage worker immigrants coming from Mainland China to Hong Kong, and how or why do people get involved in sex and massage work?

Since the turnover of Hong Kong to Mainland China in 1997, it has been easier for Chinese to travel to Hong Kong. Women from the Mainland, often from poor rural areas, travel to Hong Kong to do sex work on 7-day tourist visas because they can earn more money in Hong Kong than they can working legally in other industries at home. Some women also enter into arranged marriages through brokers in order to get the Hong Kong ID cards so that they may work legally. I met one such woman in Hong Kong who had done so and was working in a massage parlor to earn money to send home to family in China.

 

What other hardships did the immigrants you met face?

There is a lot of discrimination against people from the Mainland China in Hong Kong, being a sex worker makes women doubly discriminated against. Even sex workers from Hong Kong stereotype and treat sex workers coming from the Mainland poorly. Many are taken advantage of by gangs and customers who threaten to report them to immigration. They will work for lower wages and are thus resented by local sex workers who accuse them of undercutting their business.

Migrant sex workers face a lot of risks and work under the most unsafe conditions. Many often cannot afford to rent apartments so they are at higher risk of being arrested for street-work which is illegal in Hong Kong. A lot of the migrant sex workers work day and night to earn as much money as can before they have to return to China. They have little bargaining power and are often goaded into having sex without condoms (or they do not carry them out of fear that it will be used against them if they are arrested), thereby increasing their risk of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases.

 

What was most challenging about your work with Zi Teng?

There are a lot of superstitions in Chinese culture – many of the massage parlors we approached feared talking to Zi Teng because they believed it would bring them bad luck. There were many times when the door was shut in our face by newly opened massage parlors. It was very frustrating for me at times because our purpose was to assist them by giving them the knowledge necessary to protect themselves and make informed decisions about massage work, but many choose to operate under ignorance.

It was also very emotionally draining to hear the stories of the women who had opened up to me. There were times when I wanted to cry or felt powerless to help change their circumstances. However, it was these emotional and personal experiences that motivated me and helped give me a purpose in my internship.

 

What were you most nervous about going into the IFP in Hong Kong?

My biggest fear was the language component. Hong Kong is a Cantonese speaking society but Zi Teng has begun to focus its work on the sex and massage worker community from Mainland China so they needed a Mandarin speaking intern. I was really nervous that the language would not come back to me and I would make a fool of myself.  Fortunately I hadn’t forgotten as much as I feared and I was able hold conversations and at times even help translate for the Cantonese volunteers.

 

How did your colleagues’ perception of you change from the start of the internship to the end?

I got the impression when I first started that some (not all thankfully!) of my colleagues didn’t think I was capable of much since I was a white girl from America and therefore privileged. After a few days of showing them my eagerness to learn, work hard, and challenge any preconceived notions I may have had about sex work they accepted me and trusted me with more and more work. They became very encouraging and helpful with my research project as a component of the IFP program.

 

How did the sex and massage workers respond to you as an outsider come to work in Hong Kong for just two months?

At times it was precisely because I was a foreigner that I was so useful during outreach. The first goal of outreach for Zi Teng is to build trust and friendship between the organization and the community so that in times of need, sex and massage workers would be willing to reach out to Zi Teng for help. Going door-to-door we could gain entry because of their curiosity surrounding my association with them. My being foreign provided an entry into conversation, the loosening of relations, and cooling of potential distrust or resentment (many massage workers do not consider themselves sex workers and are therefore hesitant to associate with Zi Teng because of their reputation of being an organization for sex workers).

Some sex and massage workers were shy and ashamed to provide personal information about themselves and what they do (not just because I am a foreigner but also because of greater stigmatization in both Hong Kong and other cultures about sex work) but there were several who wanted to be heard and wanted greater acknowledgement of the hardship faced by sex and massage workers in HK. They were more willing to open up to me. I was incredibly impressed by the strength and resolve of those women who shared their stories and desire for change with me.

 

How has your experience in Hong Kong influenced you?

My opinion on sex work and women’s issues has completely changed. Stereotypes so easily creep up on us and shape our opinions. Zi Teng is made up of an incredibly strong group of feminists who helped me challenge my beliefs and recognize the inherent discrimination in the system and society’s treatment of sex workers. I would love to continue to work towards the advancement and recognition of the rights of sex workers as well as fight the harmful stigmatization of them that makes violence and discrimination against them both pervasive and acceptable in American society.

 

What advice would you give to students who are going on the 2014 IFP to Hong Kong who are currently trying to decide among several partner organizations?

Next year’s IFP in Hong Kong will be run very differently than it has in past years because of the media component. That said, my advice to students going to Hong Kong this summer would be to try things you never believed you could do. Challenge your thinking and what you believed you were capable of. It sounds cliché but don’t let fear hold you back from doing whatever it is you really want to do while in Hong Kong (or any IFP site), you’ll regret the lost opportunity later.

 

Are you doing a thesis or the practicum option?

I am about to begin the thesis workshop next semester and I am planning to write my thesis on structural violence against women. My experience working with massage and sex workers in Hong Kong, as well as former research I have conducted on trafficking, has made me think a lot about inequality in job opportunities and education. Many women fall prey to trafficking, or choose to enter sex work because of a lack of economic opportunity. There are a variety of reasons women enter sex work, and while I do not believe there is anything wrong with this type of work, we must recognize there is a problem when women choose this line of work because they feel they have no other means to provide for themselves. When sex work is the result of a structure where women are under appreciated, under educated, and do not have the same economic opportunities as men, then “choosing” to do sex work is not much of a choice at all.

 

What are you looking forward to during the spring semester 2014?

During the spring semester I will be taking the course Human Rights Research and Reporting. I’m excited to learn more about interviewing victims of human rights abuses and how to present their stories in ways that will help contribute to awareness and policy change. It is my goal to work with an NGO that does human rights advocacy after graduation.

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