(Han-)Chinese Cultural Appropriation of Sexual Legal Politics: Postcolonial Discourse on Law Controlling Sex Work in Hong Kong

Abstract

Hong Kong law, following the Anglo-American liberal legal private/public dichotomy, through decriminalization, imposes strict regulations on the development of the sex work industry. The legal regulations, besides failing to suppress the industry, reproduce a context where female sex workers are (re)pathologized and (re)marginalized by the mainstream patriarchal society. In the article, I will critically examine the underlying theories of the contemporary Hong Kong legal discourse from both the Lacanian psychoanalytic and Buddhist vijnanamatra perspectives, and argue that the Foucauldian resistance subverting the patriarchal agenda on the representation of the sex work industry could be reproduced and localized within the specific cultural context of Hong Kong, which is a predominately (Han-)Chinese society.

Stigma and sex work from the perspective of female sex workers in Hong Kong

“…Phetersen 1993, Scambler and Paoli 2008). In Hong Kong, it is likely that the cultural norms underpinning this labelling process are strongly influenced by local Christian and Chinese conservatism based on a post‐colonialist mentality which emphasises that only sex in marriage is acceptable, making sex work (and sex workers) by definition immoral (Chiu 2006).…”

“…The prohibition of sex work can therefore be understood as both a facilitator/perpetuator of stigma and the negative, moralistic stereotypes associated with such employment. In Hong Kong this is explicit, with moral judgements demonstrably being made and used at times in rulings against (suspected) sex workers (Chiu 2006).…”

“…In Hong Kong the prevailing public discourse surrounding sex work exhibits elements of these beliefs. The legal status of sex workers has been significantly shaped by the region’s colonial past, with laws controlling sex work emulating those in the UK, commencing with the enactment of the Venereal Disease and Contagious Disease Ordinances in the 1850s and continuing to the current laws introduced in 1978, which adopted recommendations from the 1957 Wolfenden Report (Chiu 2006, Howell 2004). These were used to justify the regulation and surveillance of the sex industry on the grounds of public health, a process that contributed to the marking of ‘prostitutes’ as exemplars of ‘deviant and dangerous sexuality’ (Howell 2004).…”

“…These were used to justify the regulation and surveillance of the sex industry on the grounds of public health, a process that contributed to the marking of ‘prostitutes’ as exemplars of ‘deviant and dangerous sexuality’ (Howell 2004). The Wolfenden Committee, while agreeing that private activities (including sex work) were not the concern of criminal law, argued that a function of the law was ‘to regulate the sex workers’ activities which offended (mainstream) public decency or exposed the average citizen to what was offensive’ (Chiu 2006). As a consequence of these precedents, while sex work is not illegal in Hong Kong, nearly all related activities are, such as living on the earnings of prostitution, keeping a establishment of vice or soliciting for immoral purposes.…”

Sex Work and the Karmic Wheel: How Buddhism Influences Sex Work in China

“…In the work of Marra (1993), there are examples drawn to numerous Buddhist philosophers in medieval Japan that make reference to the act of prostitution as an expression aimed at the realization of the supreme truth, namely, “This doctrine justified the courtesan’s song as an expedient provided by the Buddha for the enlightenment of common people” (p. 52). Chiu (2006) argues that Vijnanamatra, the Buddhist doctrine of consciousness, is the originary of human subjectivity and strategy of resistance against oppression that is “on the life cycle of an individual and proposes that the karmic seed is the determining factor for every action” (p. 558). We can, therefore, conclude that in Mahayana Buddhism, one’s intentions and motivations are of greater importance in the area of ethics as opposed to the censoring of what can be deemed morally questionable actions such as prostitution.…”