Words: Ash Pritchard

Midnight Blue, a support group for male sex workers in Hong Kong and Shenzhen, recently released Sex: A Boundless Journey, a book chronicling the lives of eight sex workers. DS caught up with the authors at the Hong Kong book fair to ask them about the project.

DS: What is the background of Midnight Blue and why did you decide to write a book?

MB: Midnight Blue started HIV prevention work among male sex workers in 2006. Concerned with the increasing population of male sex workers and the rising HIV infection rate in the gay community from 2003 onwards, Midnight Blue was created as a male sex worker task force. Our work covers outreach, organizational work, HIV rapid testing and operation of the Mongkok Drop-in Center and a 24-hour support hotline.

Male and transsexual sex workers have existed throughout history yet mainstream society despises the act of men selling their body. Society views male prostitution as a threat to the dignity and social position of all men. As a result, male prostitution has remained either out of sight or under severe repression. Midnight Blue wanted to publish a record of sex worker’s stories so they could outlast the passage of time.

DS: How did the book take shape?

MB: Relying on our connections, we invited eight of our friends who were most keen on sharing their stories.

Every male or transsexual sex worker has his or her own story. It’s real life with blood and tears. Within the eight stories, someone came to love serving the disabled, someone fell in love with straight men in his male body, yet he did not like gay people. Another was a transsexual sex worker on the streets, one came to Hong Kong for work and faced all sorts of injustice in the system, and there was a love triangle between a straight guy, his girlfriend and his boyfriend. The stories chart joy and grief, laughter and tears– that’s life! And that’s the stories of these male sex workers.

DS: What challenges do the sex workers in the book face?

MB: Firstly, getting clients- just like every self-employed person has to face! Also, how to ‘add value’ to themselves, broaden their sexuality so you they have more potential clients. Second, the criminalisation of sex work. Sex is great, and any work involves selling your body anyway, so working towards decriminalisation must be a matter of course. Third, health and safety at work. The challenges facing sex workers in general are improving their work environment, trying to locate threats to their health, and dealing with issues like the legal system and discrimination in society.

DS: What has the reaction of the public to the book so far?

MB: Having organised two discussion sessions, we discovered that the public are either completely ignorant of (male) sex work, or simply stuck in their rigid frame of thinking. The discussion sessions were a great opportunity for Midnight Blue and male sex workers to communicate with the public face-to-face, and to overcome prejudices.

Gay men have always been the largest group of clients for male sex workers. We’ve promoted the book to gay men who use the sex workers. Midnight Blue believe that respect for male sex workers and their clients are very importantly linked together. We also hope that the gay community can help fight discrimination against prostitution, and break down some of the sexual boundaries for all gay men.