The murder of four female prostitutes in Hong Kong recently has brought the safety of sex workers into the spotlight. It has also exposed the community to the controversy surrounding the issue of legalising the sex industry.
Although some advocates believe that sex workers would be better protected if the industry was given legal status, the rights of sex workers must be weighed carefully against prevailing social norms and legal order in the city.
How to maintain a delicate balance between these two sets of values presents a huge test for the community as a whole.
The killings illustrate the downside of one-woman brothels, a prevailing form of prostitution within Hong Kong's legal limits. Due to their relative isolation and invisibility, sex workers in these brothels can - and do - fall prey to violence, robbery and even murder.
Yet, to legalise the sex industry, as it is practised in other countries, still needs to be thoroughly debated. The viability of this model has to be considered within context: Hong Kong is facing an influx of migrant sex workers - most of them from the mainland, on tourist visas.
It has been estimated that more than 10,000 mainland women have been arrested, prosecuted and sentenced in Hong Kong from 2001 to 2006; many of them were involved in criminal and/or immigration offences related to sex work. And it is reckoned that Hong Kong's female prison population has expanded beyond the capacity of the government facilities.
Moreover, these figures do not take into account those who are able to evade detection, or those who arrived in the city legally, with work permits, and who are employed as hostesses in restaurants or entertainers in karaoke bars.