My Take | ‘Compensated dating’ is just another term for prostitution
Let’s be frank about this phenomenon in Hong Kong: if a client is paying thousands of dollars for a night out, they don’t just want to talk or hold hands
Some years ago, an expatriate news editor asked what the difference was between prostitution and “compensated dating” during an editorial meeting. We locals all rolled our eyes and one of us went into a discourse on the meaning of the Cantonese phrase, how it was appropriated from Japanese subculture and the practice it involved. And we all giggled when we left the meeting, thinking, “Those expats, if only they’d learn to speak like locals!”
Remembering it now, I am actually embarrassed. The guy had a perfectly good point: there is no difference between the two, only a highly dangerous euphemism frequently used by the news and social media to make it sound edgy, trendy and acceptable for young people. Actually, I think “transactional dating” is a better, at least more literal, translation of the Chinese phrase.
Even today, the news media, including this newspaper, refer to the case as one of “compensated dating”.
I hope those arrested will learn a lesson. They could call themselves “compensated dates”, but they were working as prostitutes, male and female. They may be the lucky ones.