The Daily Telegraph reported Wednesday that a Sydney escort agency, My Out Call, was auctioning the virginity of a 19-year-old female Chinese student on line. According to the report, the student was in debt. There were already a number of rival bidders offering up to $15,000 to use the young woman for four days. Her virginity “must be sold” by December 12.
One of the many problems of legalised prostitution is that the government can’t restrict the prostituting of women on student or working holiday visas, despite their vulnerability.
What kind of man would do this? How can the woman’s safety be guaranteed? What will happen to her in those four days? What if the man wants to film what he does to her as some kind of permanent record of his winning bid?
And we like to think we live in a civil society.
This is what I said on Channel 7 Sunrise yesterday morning.
*If anyone has any connection with the student, please contact me.
12 Responses
This is a porn users dream. There is a HUGE section of porn that features young, frightened-looking Asian girls, often wearing school uniforms to look younger, supposedly losing their virginity to older, usually abusive men. I would be willing to bet that the men currently bidding are looking to act out a porn scenario they’ve seen.
And even if they’re not, it’s absolutely appalling that there is no legal way to stop this. Of course the law can intervene later if she is harmed (and I can’t believe she won’t be) but that’s a bit late, isn’t it? I can’t even imagine the nightmare of being subjected to ‘whatever the client wants’ for four days… and of course it won’t end there. It’s not like they’re going to pay her debts and let her go, not when she’s shown how desperate and helpless she is, and when she’s already proven she can make lots of money for the escort agency. This is just horrific on so many levels.
What can we do about this, Melinda?
This woman’s first sexual experience will be with a complete stranger who has a sense of entitlement to her body. How on earth can this be safe, not only physically but emotionally too. I do not understand why this is legal.
Thank you so much for speaking out against this, Melinda. This is another example of governments in Australia failing to protect the human rights of women in our region. There is no point in Aus-AID and other Australian government-funded organisations go across to work on development and rights projects in Asia while Asian women are racially and sexually expoited back home. This is an issue of sexualised racism, and the sex industry needs to be abolished for its part in promoting this kind of human rights violation. Four days! Frightening.
One of the saddest things for me is that while I’m disgusted to hear about this, I’m not shocked.
This is a desperate young woman, selling the only thing she has got to offer. This idea alone is very sad. But the fact that there is an Escort Agency seizing the opportunity to drum up business by exploiting this woman is sickening.
This young woman is broke. She will sell her virginity to the highest bidder-presumably a wealthier man who unlike her, probably has options. This is a serious human rights issue. It makes Australia sounds like a third world country. Why aren’t those who are weak or vulnerable able to be protected from exploitation like this?
When a nation like Australia can’t protect a human exploitation like this one is showing the disintegration of morality and the incapacity of legislature to pass appropriate laws, for the safeguard of the pour. The nation politicians are focusing on minority request like same sex marriage,that is immoral and had not time to take in any legislation to safeguard a pour women like in this case.
I have no words to express how disgusted I am that this is happening in our beautiful country. No words.
The fact that there is a sense of ” tacit” approval and almost blandness in the reporting style- and the fact that the only interest in the story has been shown by the daily telegraph. Illustrates exactly how backward Australia has become. I’m fairly certain she doesn’t understand the seriousness of this and the lasting life impact.
Any man who would actually indulge in this is an animal and 4 days with him may in fact destroy her life all for the bargain price of 15k. I feel physically ill. Is there anyway to get in contact with her through the website?
This is really sad- and disgusting. Thanks for letting us know. Please let us know what we can do about it.
If it’s actually true that this girl is a student of Sydney Uni, then she should have access to some form of assistance or counselling from the institution. Of course she cannot be contacted directly, but if it’s true that overseas students are frequently getting into these situations (or even one student is alarming enough) then perhaps contacting the university to highlight this, to find out what support services they offer and encouraging them to email students (possibly also with translations) to make them aware of what help is available and encourage them to find solutions before resorting to desperate measures would be an option?
Unfortunately many overseas students become quite isolated if their English skills are lacking, and many may not be aware of the type of help available here if they come from a country where traditionally people have to fend for themselves, or pride is a barrier to seeking help.
The horror for me is thinking what might happen if after the first night she wants out but doesn’t have any support around her to help her get out. How much pressure will be on her from the escort agency to stay?