WHY WOULD A middle-class university student befriend the prostitutes of Shamshuipo?
Lee Wai-yin was a 23-year-old student of philosophy in anthropology at Chinese University when she set out with collegiate idealism to change the world's views on prostitutes. With a master's thesis on the world's oldest profession, she hoped to bring these women acceptance, even respect.
Lee, now 26, spent so much time with her subjects on the streets that she began to be propositioned by customers. Her experiences led to a nervous breakdown but after a two-year break she recently began working for Zi Teng, a controversial Mongkok-based concern group fighting for the rights of sex workers.
'I doubt that people have to live a heterosexual, monogamous life to find the ultimate goal of happiness,' says Lee. 'That ideology is a suppression of humanity. So why can't society accept people who aren't like them? Why can't it accept a profession that has been around for so long?'
Of all the profession's forms - escort services, massage parlours, karaoke lounges - Lee sought out sex workers on the street, whom she says are 'perhaps the most stigmatised of all'.
She says she was 'very nervous' the first time she visited Shamshuipo. On Un Chau Street, Lee approached a sex worker and paid her $250 just to talk. Lee repeated this gesture with nine other women and in 18 months of field work went on to lend them emotional support and develop 'varying levels of friendship'.