Thousands of Hongkongers join sex club to fulfil their X-rated fantasies
Sexually adventurous Hongkongers can join a club to fulfil their X-rated fantasies, but membership rules are strict
Love's Whirlpool, a Japanese film now playing on local screens, uses a swingers' club to explore the modern conundrum of fulfilling the human need to connect even as people seem increasingly unable to communicate with one another. Adapted for the screen by Daisuke Miura and based on his 2005 play of the same name, it follows the events at a sex party where eight strangers overcome inhibitions and inevitable awkwardness for a night of doubtful couplings.
The film's party organisers have a real-life Hong Kong counterpart in Chris, a nattily turned out local man in his early 40s whose day job gives him the flexibility to run the sex club that he founded in 2007. He initially organised a few parties for fun, but then decided he could help people learn more about sex.
It's harder to find decent men, though. Some may have good looks, but they can be mean or have inflated egos
But while they share similarities with the movie in terms of sexual activities and some rules (participants must use protection and respect the women's wishes), Chris says many of the male characters in the movie would not have been accepted into his Swing and Bang Club, which now claims more than 3,000 members.
"We don't get sex-crazed or perverted people," he says.
The club aims to give a safe and discrete environment for people to act out their sexual fantasies, Chris says, so applicants are vetted and must agree to its rules and submit results of a recent blood test along with photos and a form detailing their sexual experience.
He began asking for blood tests in 2009, first to check for hepatitis B, then HIV/Aids and eventually for all sexually transmitted diseases. Now members are required to be tested every six months and send in the results before they may join the next party.
Chris knows of four other sex party groups in Hong Kong, but believes his club is the only one that demands blood tests. "There's one group that gets blood tests, but only from the men. Isn't that strange?" he asks.