Risks

https://doi.org/10.1177/0306624X18818925

International Journal of Offender Therapy and

Comparative Criminology 2019, Vol. 63(8) 1306 –1329

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Article

Selling Sex as an Edgework: Risk Taking and Thrills in China’s Commercial Sex Industry

Eileen Yuk-ha Tsang1

Abstract Academic discussions of the sex industry need to consider sex worker’s experience within the conceptual framework of “edgework.” Edgework is voluntary risky activity that combines danger with excitement and emotional pleasure. This article argues female sex worker must weigh possible outcomes in terms of the resulting benefits or consequences. The notion of edgework articulated by Stephen Lyng proposed there is a fine line for risky behavior going from pleasurable and manageable to turning dangerous and chaotic. This description of edgework applies to female sex workers, and needs to be extended to individualization in the Chinese context. Research data collected from two distinct ethnographies in Dongguan (195 sex workers) and Hong Kong (39 sex workers). The research findings provide insights into the experiences and motivations of an underexamined niche segment of sex workers. A significant number of sex workers embody the perspective of edgework to maintain self- esteem in difficult circumstances. For example, edgework explains several aspects of sex work including notions of excitement and personal pleasure, developing skills within the craft, developing interpersonal networks with peers, and gaining personal happiness through fulfilling sexual desire.

Keywords female sex workers, edgework, risk, selling commercial sex, China

1City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon, Hong Kong

Corresponding Author: Eileen Yuk-ha Tsang, Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, City University of Hong Kong, Tat Chee Avenue, Kowloon, Hong Kong. Email: tsangeileen@gmail.com

818925 IJOXXX10.1177/0306624X18818925International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative CriminologyTsang research-article2018

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Introduction

I met Wendy (24) at a mid-tier bar in Dongguan, south China. She was sporting a new outfit and showing off newly manicured nails. In our conversation, she revealed that she made enough money from sex work to quit. I asked, “Then why wouldn’t you stop, if you have made enough money?” She stared at me blankly before answering,

Five years ago, I told myself I would stay in this field for five years. Then 5 years went by and I am still in this field . . . It’s not that simple . . . I feel like I am addicted to certain sexual activities. I get excited and thrilled. The sex thrill helps me forget my pain and reality . . . So now I feel that by (age) thirty I will become a businesswoman and open my own fashion shop . . . and I should be able to move on then . . . but who the hell knows? Fingers crossed [smiles]. (Wendy, 24, mid-tier FSW)

Wendy articulates an unremarkable albeit emblematic reflection on the complex position that she and her fellow sex workers face when considering the benefits, draw- backs, and possibilities that come with leaving the commercial sex industry. Reasons include pull-push factors (Ravenstein, 1885), psychological motivations (James & Meyerding, 1977), and financial factors (Rosen & Venkatesh, 2008). Some situations are so complex, it is difficult to decide if it is even best to leave. The literature on the career histories of sex workers in urban China document the manifold challenges and risks involved in sex work. Sex work is often framed as work that is done primarily out of necessity. The experiences of female sex workers (FSWs) with economic and social means to pursue alternative options are often underanalyzed in research on the com- mercial sex industry. As such, the complexity and diversity of sex worker’s motiva- tions and experiences are not adequately recognized. Therefore, the literature on sex work in China suffers from both limited scope and the overly general narrative that sex work is simply an undesirable occupation.

In the sociology of sex work, the notion of edgework has rarely been applied to female sex workers in China. First applied to skydiving, edgework is engaging in risky activities, not just thrill seeking, but a means of demonstrating mastery or skill, “con- trolling the seemingly uncontrollable” (Lyng, 1990, p. 872). According to Zinn (2015), risk-takers engage in “edgework” to challenge themselves. Edgeworkers carefully cul- tivate their skills, and then take great pleasure in pushing these skills to their limits. Edgework lends itself to explain many aspects about sex work. Edgework can explain how FSWs frame the risks they face to adequately navigate and deflect those risks. Some risks are not viewed as negative; some risky aspects of sex work can give some FSWs positive feelings about themselves and their work. Edgework can explain why FSWs in south China develop new skills, marry Hong Kong businessmen, and yet decide to remain in the commercial sex industry.

In addition, by understanding how sex workers use edgework to remain in the com- mercial sex industry, we can understand the importance of these women’s professional identities and social ties (Batchelor, 2007). Sex workers participating in edgework pursue their distinct individualized paths toward modernity in ways that depart from Western norms. Mead–Marx framework’s (Lyng, 1990, 2005) emphasis is on the

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intense sensations of self-determination and control against structural alienated labor experiences. This work interpolates the importance of individualization in the Chinese path toward a risk society. While W. J. Miller’s (2005) work is on illegal female edge- work from a Western cultural context, it largely misses the fact that edgework can be seen in part as an agential attempt to resist the structures of the Communist Party that seek to keep the rural peasant class marginalized. Linking individualization to edge- work explains sex workers’ experience with risk and fills a gap in the existing litera- ture on China’s commercial sex industry. It reframes the discussion on edgework as a conversation which includes the views and experiences of women.

By conceptually linking individualization to edgework in today’s commercial sex industry in China, three research questions are generated. First, why these Chinese female sex workers might view sex work as edgework (thrilling sexual desires, pleas- ant and reciprocal relationships with clients and coworkers, creativity and other skills to manage risks)? Second, whether sex workers’ entry or staying in the sex industry can be linked with the intersectional resistance of traditional gender norms and class oppressions as rural women to use their unique way to pursue individualization and modernity in Chinese context? Third, what factors make the sex workers return to sex work after they have successfully migrated out of their career through marriage by doing edgework as a strategy to cope with alienation/discrimination/identity crisis brought by their marriage in Hong Kong?

Two sets of data help address these questions. The first set of data was collected in three different niche markets in Dongguan over 36 months of fieldwork from 2013 to 2017. This set of data generally explained what types of activities reinforce the idea that sex work is edgework, and address how individualization intermingles with gen- der and class. The second set of data was collected from Hong Kong-based sex work- ers during the summers of 2015 to 2017. This set of data reinforces Mead–Marx framework on actors’ risk taking within the environment, and also illustrates Lyng’s revised notion on risk in 2005 (Lyng, 2005) which focused more on actors’ calculation and psychological motivations to put themselves on the edge. All respondents in the second data set were mainland women who migrated after marrying Hong Kong-based businessmen. The respondents represent a niche portion of the commercial sex indus- try. Their experiences are certainly not reflective of the majority of FSWs. However, this niche group of FSWs is typically underexamined in the literature on sex work. The dearth of scholarship on edgework suggests that some important aspects about sex worker’s unique experiences are missing from the wider discussion.

From Voluntary Risk-Taking to Edgework

When risk is tackled—in the context of academic literature—there is a concerted emphasis toward exploring practices of risk management or risk reduction (Lyng, 1990; Lyng & Matthews, 2007; Short, 1984; Zinn, 2015). Within the realm of sex work, the literature on risk is well documented and heavily explored. However, on par with the discussion at large, the emphasis is generally on risk management and exploring harm reduction approaches. These risks can include health-related issues, including disease;

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insufficient economic autonomy (Tsang, 2017a, 2018a, 2018b; Tsang, Lowe, Wilkinson, & Scambler, 2018); drug use and trafficking; legal issues (Faugier & Sargeant, 1997; McKeganey & Barnard, 1996; Sanders, 2008); and physical harm or violence perpe- trated by pimps, police, and customers (Zheng, 2009).

Stephen Lyng’s nuanced discussion on edgework focused heavily on voluntary par- ticipation in dangerous physical activities such as skydiving. He extrapolates that the attraction toward and capacity to cultivate personal and psychological fitness and tech- nical skills to effectively manage the anxieties and consequences of said risky activi- ties effectively constitutes edgework.

For edgeworkers, risk has value and reward. Risk offers edgeworkers a sense of meaning and agency. Individuals engaging in edgework may appear careless because of the nature of their behaviors and actions, but in fact, they are rarely reckless. Instead the edgeworker makes calculated steps to best control the outcome in highly risky situ- ations (Zinn, 2015). Voluntary risk-takers are aware of taking a risk and the possibility of an adverse outcome. However, such judgments are based on experts’ assessment, not on the risk-taker’s assessment per se. To maintain control, Lyng’s definition hints that risk-takers are not always experts nor are they fully cognizant of the danger in which they place themselves (Lyng, 2005; Tulloch & Lupton, 2003, pp. 10-11; Zinn, 2015, p. 100).

Originally, edgework was proposed as a synthesis of Mead and Marx to extend social action and alienation. As Lyng (2005, p. 9) notes, edgeworkers have the ability to control their emotions, value self-reliance, rebound quickly, and renew their own identity. Lyng described the common pattern of contemporary life. People feel alien- ated in a strange environment and survive by escaping the complicated social structure by embracing intense sensations of self-determination and control against the adverse circumstances (E. M. Miller, 1991).

Although Lyng’s edgework has been critiqued for being overly preoccupied with the experiences and subjectivities of young upper-middle-class White men in indus- trial Western societies (E. M. Miller, 1991), his work provides a model that can help us to understand why sex workers choose to stay in the commercial sex industry. E. M. Miller (1991) mentioned risk is necessary for edgeworkers to see the thrilling activities as play. They feel bored and lose interest if everything is too easy and under control. Edgeworkers believe that they have the ability to overcome the threat in a risky situation (E. M. Miller, 1991). E. M. Miller’s (1991) work helps us to under- stand the link between edgework and illegal sex work in light of government crack- downs. Prostitution continues to thrive in China despite numerous attempts and tremendous efforts by the government to abolish it (Tsang, 2017b). The various “Yellow Crackdown” campaigns have had minimal effect to date. For example, there were an estimated 300,000 sex workers in Dongguan, or about 10% of the city’s migrant population, before a “Yellow Crackdown” campaign in April 2013. It was followed by a more severe one in February 2014. However, even after the campaigns, many thousands of sex workers remain working in the city’s underground venues (Tsang, 2017b).

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Gender, Class, and Individualization in Edgework Analysis

This article bridges the gap between FSWs and edgework, articulating the complexi- ties of risk within the context of how sex workers negotiate and find pleasure or satis- faction in the commercial sex industry. The existing literatures mention the relationship between risk and gender. The debates have centered on women who were engaged in sexual edgework and women who were engaged in risk (Chan & Rigakos, 2002; Lois, 2005; Rajah, 2007; Stanko, 1997; Walklate, 1997). Rajah (2007) mentioned that edge- work may be differentiated across class and gender. Class is valid in China. Scholars think hukou (Treiman, 2012), cadres and others; in-system and out-system (Xie & Wu, 2008) are the three major boundaries to analyze social stratification in China. In place of class, however, this work examines the nuances of being rural Chinese and female. Edgework-resistance gives oppressed women the opportunity to experience the embodied rewards of self-authorship. Chan and Rigakos (2002) argued that women experienced risk and those experiences are shaped by the politics of gender. Walklate (1991, p. 44) said the gendered conceptualization of risk is a generated concept sub- jectively experienced (Stanko, 1997, p. 481). Therefore, this article brings back the terms class and gender (Chan & Rigakos, 2002; Stanko, 1997; Tsang, 2018b; Walklate, 1997), and resistance-edgework (Rajah, 2007) to edgework studies. This is crucial to how risk is negotiated and understood.

Since the late 20th century, there has been a growing body of knowledge on the concept of risk and its significance in western countries. The debate on risk highlights the dangers and threats associated with the rise of postindustrialism and how people have altered the ways in which they pursue their lives. According to Beck (1992), late modernity in the West has brought about a shift which fragmented sociocultural prac- tices whereby individuals attempt to circumvent risks. The result is a surge in the individuation of Western countries and a declining significance of traditional fixities around class, gender, and other identity formations (Beck, 1992, p. 87). The defining characteristics of this “tragic individuation” are a growing awareness that govern- ments are no longer capable of controlling uncertainties and risks (Beck, 2006, p. 308). This trend has also affected China where women from rural backgrounds can no longer exercise agency without having to face consequences often in the form of violence or other forms of anxieties and uncertainties. They would rather rely on the Chinese government to overcome the risks. Youna Kim (2012, p. 14) aptly states that “any possibility of creating a biography of one’s own is far from reflecting freedom of choice and individualization, but rather represents very limited possibilities and new forms of risk and injury embodied in the regulatory regime of the self. The notion of the self that is ‘free to choose’ is not simply a cultural fact but becomes an autonomous self when a woman is able to make a life for herself in her everyday existence, to make herself the center of her biography. Women in China who participate in sex work as edgework therefore do not deny that they are making decisions with calculated risks where they allow the thrills to help to disguise the risks.

Yan (2010, p. 499) notes that the Chinese government’s push toward market reform has forced individuals to assume more risks in their daily lives that results in a path

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toward individualization. There is a need to develop conceptual frameworks that can address the shifting subjectivities and intersectionality of critical concepts such as gender, power, and class. Anthias (2012, pp. 128-129) argues that categories in the real world already feed from each other and are

. . . contesting and splintering off in the forms they take (linked to the broader landscapes of power including political and economic practices and interests that are not reducible to the working of the categories themselves) but within time and space specifications.

Across China, women from rural backgrounds with lower class standing are going through individuation as a result of China pursuing different paths to modernity (Yan, 2010).

With this added perspective, women’s experiences are made more visible, making possible a new feminist perspective on edgework. The confluence between gender, Chinese nationality, rural peasant background, and risk are crucial to understanding how sex work is negotiated. Therefore, the centrality of individualization may be driv- ing female sex workers toward pursuing livelihoods as edgework. Individualization is typically missing from traditional considerations of the nexus between the desire for thrill and genuine risk. Female edgework scholars from Western backgrounds such as W. J. Miller (2005) argue that if risks are too easily mitigated, the thrill of such risky experience wanes and no longer appeals. But in China, any thrill associated with sex work must be moderated with the illegality of prostitution.

Female sex workers in China negotiate a multitude of dangers, and these risks are significantly more complex than what has been offered in the literature. Some risk is attractive, and while risk management is an important aspect of sex worker’s experi- ence, it would be inaccurate to suggest that FSWs are always risk-averse. Based on the interviews I conducted with 195 sex workers in Dongguan, Lyng’s perspective on edgework is extended in different ways. First, the major argument of edgework pro- posed by Lyng is that some degree of reward is obtained through a lifestyle involving thrilling sexual desires and creativities. Second, edgework explains how female sex workers negotiate unexpected risk to avoid sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), police, and emotional risks with their clients. The issue of individualization, class, gender will be addressed. Based on the second set of data collected from 39 sex work- ers in Hong Kong, the argument of edgework proposed by Lyng is that edgework can offer strength for the women to confirm their identity, particularly when they are living in adverse circumstances.

The Setting and Research Methods

The article draws upon two separate, albeit related, ethnographies. A portion of the respondents were interviewed as part of a significant research project conducted on the commercial sex industry from 2013 to 2017 in Dongguan. Dongguan has attracted many foreigners since China joined the World Trade Organization in December 2001. Dongguan is an important industrial city located in the Pearl River Delta and has over

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25 million residents, accounting for a large portion of the Guangdong population. However, with the onset of the global economic recession in 2007, many factories went bankrupt. Many young women lost their factory jobs but found employment in massage parlors, nightclubs, sex hotels, sauna centers, and karaoke bars. Still, sex work is absolutely illegal in China and sex workers face multiple risks.

Over the course of the project, I worked as a bartender in three bar environments that were differentiated by the relative prices of sexual services. The bars were loosely designated as low-, mid-, and high-tier bars. I was able to gain access to FSWs with the assistance of local personal contacts, who enabled me to work as a bartender and build relationships over time in Dongguan. The importance of personal and profes- sional networks cannot be stressed enough.

I was able to stay and work in the high-end bar called Dragon Palace because the owner, Ken (pseudonym), was someone I had known for many years, since we were undergraduate students in Hong Kong. We were brought in touch by old classmates and he invited to visit his bar in Dongguan, the Dragon Palace. Similarly, Henry, owner of the low-end Peach Bar, was a former college classmate, as was Kevin, owner of the mid-tier bar Lotus Club. As former college classmates there was a degree of mutual trust which assured them I was neither a police informant nor a crusader seeking to rescue the girls. In the same way, knowing these men from college (Henry and I had mutual friends) reassured me that I would be protected and watched over in this environment that was full of risk. In particular, Henry was a friend to many streetwalkers and played a vital role in putting me in touch with this very difficult-to- approach group. Henry reassured both the bar girls and the streetwalkers that I was neither an undercover policewoman nor a spy. Kevin did the same for me in the mid- tier bar at the Lotus Club. As a result, I was able to interview FSWs from diverse backgrounds. All the respondents had started their careers in the Pearl River Delta region; many came from cities such as Sichuan, Chongqing, Anhui, Heilongjiang, Jilin, and Guangdong.

In total, I interviewed 195 female sex workers (50 from high-end bar, 50 from mid- tier bar, and 50 from low-end bar, and 45 streetwalkers) in Dongguan. The respondents ranged from 18 years to 46 years of age. The respondents represented diverse eco- nomic situations. All 50 who worked in the high-end bar were financially secure. While the average monthly household income in Dongguan is 15,000 to 18,000 yuan (US$2,419-US$2,903), the high-tier sex workers average income ranged 40,000 to 50,000 yuan (US$6,451-US$8,065) per month. Among the 145 respondents who came from the mid-tier bar, low-end bars, and streetwalkers, their monthly income ranged from 9,000 to 25,000 yuan (US$1,451-US$4,032). But most of these women came from rural areas and carried the responsibility of sending money back to husbands and family members there.

The second ethnography was conducted in Hong Kong. I gained access to inter- view those sex workers by using my own personal network (19 interviews) from Dongguan and with the assistance of a local nongovernmental organization (NGO; 20 interviews) during the summers of 2015 to 2017. I want to explore whether the sex workers feel alienated in a strange environment like being married to a Hong

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Kong businessman as mentioned by Mead and Marx (Lyng, 1990). I want to know how they survived and developed such an intense sense of self-determination and control in the midst of adverse circumstances. I interviewed 39 sex workers who had migrated to Hong Kong as a result of finding Hong Kong partners through sex work. Most of them were between the ages of 22 and 39 years. They mainly came from Henan, Hebei, Hunan, Jilin, Liaoning, Anhui, Sichuan, and Yunnan. They usually worked in high-end and mid-tier bars in Dongguan before they moved to Hong Kong. Those women were conventionally attractive and had erotic capital (sexual appeal, flirtation skills, charms), body capital (including enhancements via cosmetic surgeries), and cultural capital (educational credentials, conversational skills, and manners). Many of these respondents periodically returned to the Mainland to re- engage in sex work. These women went back for various reasons depending upon their individual circumstances. Some respondents did this on a regular schedule while others worked sporadically.

Therefore, this article draws from two ethnographies. One group consisted of sex workers in Dongguan and the other group comprised sex workers working in Dongguan but married to Hong Kong businessmen. Many of the respondents had the means to rely on rental properties or stipends provided by their husbands. Prior to the inter- views, I received written consent from the informants who were told in conversation and in writing about the nature of the research project. In Dongguan, interviews were held in a variety of spaces: backrooms at bars, nearby social spaces, and cafes. In Hong Kong, the interviews were held either at my work office or the NGO’s office. All infor- mants were compensated for their time with cash coupons and/or meals. Recorded interviews, in situ note taking, postevent field notes, and less conventional methods such as QQ/WeChat interviews and photo-elicitation were utilized. Finally, commu- nity walks with the informants supplemented and amplified the data collected during the in-depth interviews.

All the interviews were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed by using a grounded theory approach and the software package Nvivo. The transcripts were analyzed by using a thematic analytic process that recognized major themes. All interviews were conducted in Chinese. I translated the Chinese transcriptions into English. I employed an inductive analysis of transcripts to see whether other themes or subthemes were identifiable. Prior to any recorded interviews, all the interviewees were given a copy of my business card and contact information, and requested to sign consent forms. They were assured they could freely withdraw at any stage in the project. The infor- mants were fully assured at the outset of confidentiality and anonymity. Assigned pseudonyms are used; excluding their ages, no personal information was collected. All of the Chinese verbatim comments cited in this article were translated into English. To compensate the respondents for their time and participation, I presented them with cash coupons and noncash gifts (such as lunch or dinner) to each of the 195 sex work- ers I talked with in Dongguan and the 39 sex workers I talked with in Hong Kong. Cash coupons worth around 200 yuan (US$30) were used as incentives to encourage the women to participate in the in-depth interviews.

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Understanding Today’s Commercial Sex Industry in China

Dongguan was selected as the key field site because it is typical of China’s rural-to- urban migration where women become involved in the commercial sex industry. However, since the “Yellow Crackdown” campaigns in February 2014, the commer- cial sex landscape in Dongguan has changed considerably. Low-end sex services have been disproportionately and negatively affected. High-end bar owners, by contrast have had the financial resource and social capital to bribe police. Since the frequent crackdowns, sex workers previously living in Dongguan have had to move to other cities, such as Hong Kong, Ningbo (Zhejiang province), and Huizhou (Guangdong province).

I met Suki, a 29-year-old “mommy” (“madam” or sex work manager) who previ- ously worked in Dongguan in March 2017. Since the 2014 Yellow Crackdown in Dongguan, Suki worked either in Dongguan, Ningbo, Huizhou, or Shenzhen. When I met her she was working in Hong Kong. At 29, she was experienced and knew the only way to advance in the industry was to manage other sex workers. Suki is person- able and outgoing and has an exceptional social network. This made it possible for her to transition and become a “madam” when she was only 26.

Suki arranges for girls to visit Hong Kong by capitalizing on the Individual Visit Scheme, a policy whereby residents from 49 Mainland cities can visit Hong Kong for up to 7 days without a visa. I spoke with a few dozen of the girls involved who told me they are ready to travel anywhere around the country. Some girls—the most popular— bragged they could see 4 to 5 clients a day. After 1 week, they simply packed up and flew somewhere else. Suki’s workers are typically around 18 to 35 years old; she said most Hong Kong sex workers are older so her girls have an advantage. Although the girls report to Suki and pay her room rent, they find their own clients and keep 60% of what they are paid.

From her share, Suki has purchased 10 apartments in Hong Kong, mainly in older buildings located in old districts like Sham Shui Po, Jordan, Yaumatei, and Sheungwan. She has renovated the 10 apartments by creating 10 tiny rooms approximately 10-square meters in size (100 square feet). All 10 rooms share access to a single small bathroom. Altogether Suki owns about 100 tiny rooms and she rents a room to each girl for the week for 2,000 yuan (US$295). Suki said she typically earns about 100,000 yuan [US$14,705] every month while some girls can earn up to 60,000 yuan [US$8,823] before paying the rent to Suki. More recently, due to Yellow Crackdowns, most sex workers are using online platform like “MeMe Live” (MeMe Zhibao直播) to avoid being arrested by police. The Weibo/WeChat/QQ/Renren groups are secretive and implicit to avoid troubles with the police. Ken—the boss of a high-end bar—told me how the girls now use online methods to surreptitiously reach clients. He says,

They’d promote and advertise girls like any other normal products. Some girls would send a message like “Beijing Retail Company, Receptionist Needed. Contact Miss Li (1997): Room E, No, 178, Xidan Lu, 4000.” At first you’d think they are a normal job

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advertisement but what it really means is Miss Li was born in 1997 with a height of 178 cm and a bra size of E cup, a minimum service charge of 4,000 yuan (US$588).” The workers won’t usually contact the clients directly. Rather, they are managed by the pimps who arrange the meetings with the clients. When the worker arrives in a new city, they’d change their username so it’s easier for pimps to search them up. For example: Xiao Li would change her name to “Huizhou Xiao Li” after coming to Huizhou . . . They’d usually have a picture to accompany their account so the pimp can show potential clients. If the client is not a regular, they’d have to pay a deposit first. Regular clients usually pay through Alipay or WeChat wallet [online payment methods by using smartphone in China]. (Ken, boss of high-end bar, 35)

Study Findings

Risk Taking and Sexual Thrills

Edgework is a voluntary exercise. Based on my 195 samples, none of the women were overtly forced to become a sex worker. More than 60% of the girls said they work for pleasure or for fun. Edgework relies on respondents enjoying the thrill of their jobs more than fear of the consequences. For these women, it’s all about experiencing exciting sexual desire and finding creative ways to thrill their clients. The respondents described selling commercial sex as a risk-taking and thrill-seeking activity. Some well-known activities brought added risk: bondage and discipline, dominance and sub- mission, sadism and masochism (BDSM). Significantly, the girls also described risks in becoming emotionally involved with clients.

In sum, there are three major areas where edgework explains why some women choose to become—and remain—sex workers. First, the work focuses on thrilling sex- ual desires; second, the work involves pleasure and reciprocal relationships with their clients and their coworkers; third, the commercial sex industry rewards creativity and bringing new skills or techniques to the workplace, and therefore, sex workers can still keep their excitements and thrill from their jobs. Simply put, clients of sexual pleasure will pay exorbitant sums of money to experience the most extreme taboo physical acts.

Thrilling sexual practices. Many of the respondents I interviewed in Dongguan admitted that, over time they had become increasingly open and even partial to variations of BDSM. For many FSWs, participating in BDSM required learning new skills and practices, but the burden was on them to practice them in a safe and manageable way. Through extensive experience, many FSWs learned to master the techniques and became comfortable in this area of their work. As a result, these FSWs found BDSM exchanges fun and worthwhile and often referred to them as an exciting part of their working experiences.

Xiaolin (23) comes from Hunan. Although streetwalkers are often the most exploited and downtrodden FSWs, Xiaolin is an exception. She is quite successful and enjoys the street life. She has a regular client who is a university professor often requests BDSM sessions where he wears long studded-leather boots and brings a plas- tic whip, candles and plastic cuffs. She says,

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I love being a docile “bottom.” Bobby [The university professor] loves being dominant. Every time he comes, he brings along with him a leather bag with a dildo and an MP3 inside. I’d first need to turn on the music in the MP3 and dance to it in front of him, give him a strip tease. He masturbates as I dance. And when the dancing is finished, I use the dildo on him. One time, it took him more than an hour to come. I was so tired moving the dildo in and out, my hands were sore so I accidentally hit his balls and he started crying. He also asks me to blow into his anus with a straw, sometimes wants me to urinate as I give him a blowjob, and he likes to finger me as he masturbates. I swear I’ll never try these “strong appetite but bizarre sexual activities” again. I couldn’t really do it at the very beginning because it was so weird. But I have to say, now, I cannot explain why, but I like it. Perhaps I am stressed out about hiding the truth from my family as a sex worker. These activities are exciting, hilarious, and wild. It allows me to forget sorrow, pain, and boredom. (Xiaolin, 23, streetwalker)

I can provide any service. Blow job, ass licking, “deep throating,” you know? Different clients like different services, some like blow jobs the best, some like it when you lick their feet. I have all the sex toys, like dildos, stockings, make-up, and costumes. I feel excited and I am so obsessed with these activities. I enjoy being a sex worker as it is meant to be in my life. It really makes me fly! (Huiling, 23, streetwalker)

Linghan (28) and Qiqi (20) whom I met in the factory as a working girl and they left the factory and entered sex work. Rabbit says,

I’ve been tied up. Some clients would nip a cigarette bud on my breast or my back. Some people would bring girls they like to a private place for group sex (9 sex workers and 1 client). There are lot of combination, sometimes it could be 4 clients and 6 bar girls. Some clients want cosplay like they become a Queen and cross dress. I really like these activities because it helps me to forget trouble, pain, and reality. I find these activities are very exciting and thrilling . . . (Linghan, 28, low-end FSW)

I am open to many things, even if the client pees on my face, pees in my mouth, asks me to drink urine and shit (huangjin shengshui黃金聖水). One client required me to beat him and to slap him. I remember one day, I was tied to the ceiling with a red rope. I had candle wax all over my shoulders, my breasts, my thighs, and marks on my ass from being whipped. My hair had some of my client’s semen on it too. At the very beginning, I refused, no matter how much money was offered . . . however, I grew to accept it since I was so depressed and frustrated with lots of things. I lost my parents within 2 months in 2016. After that, I become very accustomed and interested in these activities. Now I find these activities exciting, hilarious, and thrilling. I am actually addicted to my job . . . (Qiqi, 20, low-end FSW)

Among the 195 interviews conducted, a significant number—more than 50—of the sex workers emphatically and bluntly stated they liked BDSM and providing niche sexual exchanges with their clients. But they also all admitted feeling bothered and skeptical when first introduced to these activities. That initial hesitation and uneasi- ness described by Xiaolin, Rabbit, and Qiqi corresponds with testimonials of other types of edgeworkers. Lyng confirms that powerful feelings of anxiety, stress, and

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uncertainty are common for participants in high-risk sports such as skydiving. In effect, part of the process of dealing with risk comes from experiencing and managing the feelings of nervousness or anxiety. People habituate and become desensitized to stimuli through repetition. In the same way, with experience, edgeworkers learn to overcome and master their fear.

In fact, FSWs said that, over time, these activities often became more thrilling and worthwhile than they had anticipated. This reinforces Lyng’s notion of edgework since the FSWs not only enjoy being sex workers but also enjoy the associated thrill of risk. There was an element of anticipation that heightened the expectation for the experi- ence they hoped to recreate. Specifically, these exchanges permitted the women to explore, indulge themselves in new aspects of their sexuality. This was an important component of their experiences. Moreover, the emphasis on personal discovery and exploring new forms of bodily pleasures corresponds with Lyng’s finding on edge- workers. Lyng highlights that, by participating in edgework, the individual is able to explore their identity and body with generative possibilities.

Thrill seeking for personal development. Many women also said their exchanges with clients allowed them to develop and explore new aspects of their personal identity. Sex work is more than just fulfilling a client’s “special” needs. Many said they often enjoyed their work, and the reciprocal relationship with clients left them happy enough to stay in the commercial sex industry. The majority of the FSWs interviewed seemed to engage not only in thrilling sexual desires, but in mutual identification and a wide range of emotional and interpersonal services requiring unique skills. These personal relationships are part of risk-negotiation processes and “safety work” between their sisterhood and clients. In fact, positive and worthwhile interpersonal interactions with clients were cited as important elements of sex workers’ overall experience. For many women, it was the social interactions that made sex work interesting. Tiffany (24), Dingding (24), and Suling (25) relay a sentiment that is shared by many others:

One university student visited me twice per week. He did not know how to start and he was so shy and hesitant! I felt obliged to gently guide my virgin clients! Some clients who bump into me at the bar will buy me a drink, lunch, cakes, or a dessert. I find it so sweet and touching . . . (Tiffany, 24, mid-tier FSW)

I can offer a place for my clients to seek psychological comfort. I am really willing to build friendships with my clients. Some will send me greeting messages and some even sent me mooncakes during Mid-Autumn Festival, which is touching. Because, I don’t really treat them as “clients” but more as friends. (Dingding, 24, low-end FSW)

My relationships [with clients] are friendly. When they pass by my workplace, they will bring gifts and just visit, instead of asking for my services. A client who is a baker brought a freshly baked cake to me. Another client once gave me red packets [money] when his wife had a baby. I also hang out with my clients to have morning tea, hiking, traveling, and jogging. I think I am pretty much like a communal sweetheart (Suling, 25, mid-tier FSW)

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In addition, over 90 FSWs out of 195 highlighted the importance of the friendships forged with fellow sex worker which were lost when they left the commercial sex industry. Shenman (34), a sex worker from Chongqing, stressed the importance of those friendships:

My sisters give me a shoulder to cry on if I feel depressed. I will call my sisters if clients refuse to pay or police give me trouble. We share common concerns, particularly those sisters who come from Chongqing. Emotional bonding is important for me. (Shenman, 34, streetwalker)

Even as interpersonal relationships, social networks and the feelings of camarade- rie with “sisters” are deemed important, relationships with clients are the proverbial “double-edged sword.” While positive and worthwhile interpersonal interactions with clients were cited as important benefits to the sex workers’ overall experience. For many women, it was precisely the social interactions that made sex work interesting. That said, FSWs are pragmatic and recognize the clear need for separation between providing emotional labor. In edgework, skill is defined as what allows the edgework- ers to successfully negotiate the edge. Good relationships with clients help the sex worker feel free and confident they are contributing to society by capitalizing their skills to help their clients. Emotional labor involves interpersonal relationships and sex workers are often best friends within the “sisterhood.” But they all agreed they needed professional distance with clients and emphasized the sex-for-money transac- tional aspect to avoid developing intimacy. This distance is important for sex workers to maintain excitements and thrills from their jobs. E. M. Miller (1991) mentioned the importance of risk, and for sex workers there is always the “danger” of becoming romantic with a client. But as edgeworkers they believe that even if they become romantic or intimate with a client, they will find a way to navigate that edge and even- tually return to normal life.

Thrill seeking, creativity as professional development. Most, if not all, of the sex workers had to develop certain performative skills and learn to maintain interpersonal boundar- ies. Performative skills are more than sex acts and positions. Performative skills are how the FSWs convince the client that he is her best lover, friend, and even master. The goal is to make the client think you care about him so much that the cash exchange is just an afterthought. The women interviewed displayed a certain element of pride that comes with knowing they were experts at performance. Sexual skills are espe- cially important for clients to believe they are enjoying a genuine emotional connec- tion (Tsang, 2017b).

But long term it may be more important for sex workers to employ emotional labor and provide clients with emotional support. The girls listen to clients and engage them, helping them relax and feel at ease (Tsang, 2017b). Yet, ultimately, it was through these complex interpersonal exchanges with clients wherein sex workers were able to exercise unique skills and create experiences that made their work interesting. By developing ongoing relationships, sex workers treated their work as a creative

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endeavor. Some sex workers said they were always learning and enjoying perfor- mances with their clients, like acting, performing Chinese opera with full make up and costumes:

Some of my clients want me to wear a man’s clothes; I will become a male prostitute for them. If they like the Monkey King (one of the Chinese opera features), I grab my foundation and wig and I can transform into 72 different Chinese creatures. Whatever they tell me to transform into, I will do it for them immediately. I have a performance desire and I love being on stage to perform. Being an actress was my dream when I was a child. I do it now for fun, fulfilling my childhood dream, and it makes me fly . . . (Feifei, 30, mid-tier FSW)

I love performing Chinese opera. I always have my hairnet, Chinese opera costumes, and manicured nails to sing Chinese opera. I feel really excited. I enjoy it for fun. I remember I can perform a “Shanghai baby” [Shanghai woman] series to my clients. I can be very coquettish and amorous (fengqing wanzhong風情萬種) and I have the most seductive eyes (xiaohunyan銷魂眼). I just want to be provocative (sao騷) and act in front of my clients . . . (Jan, 25, high-end FSW)

Some sex workers stay in the sex work industry to learn new skills like cosplay, performing, and dancing to negotiate the edge. By learning new skills (mental fitness and technical approaches), the FSWs were able to expand the repertoire of exchanges, resulting in more variety, more pleasure, more pay, and therefore, greater success. For example, April (23) is a high-end sex worker who loves dancing and clients often ask her to dance for them. She cannot resist showing off her pole-dancing skills, striptease dance, or belly dance. She also loves to couples-dance, such as tango, and says danc- ing with clients makes her forget all her troubles.

In Lyng’s deconstruction of edgework he recalls Mead and Marx’s (Lyng, 2005) insights on alienation and work. Lyng understands edgework as a form of coping with experiences of alienation. Specifically, Lyng draws on Marx’s argument that, under capitalism, many jobs do not allow workers to engage in personal expression. Instead, labor often relies upon mechanized and repetitive action. Therefore, alienation and learning new skills provides incentives for the sex workers to negotiate the edge and risk in the commercial sex industry. In the context of sex work exchanges, interactions are markedly dynamic and require that FSWs perform these roles with originality and individuality. Therefore, despite the underlying threats that exist in these types of interaction, it was through developing these highly emotional and friendly relation- ships that sex workers were able to develop unique and creative skill sets; it is notable that this declaration is common among edgeworkers (Garot, 2015; Lyng, 1990).

Occupational Risks

The concept of risk includes the chance of a negative outcome. Among the 195 sex workers interviewed, many admitted they sometimes underestimate the risks in the commercial sex industry. There are three particular risk areas they consistently

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mentioned as beyond their control and things they always had to be vigilant to avoid. These three risk areas were being caught by the police (legal), the danger of sexually transmitted diseases (physical), and surprisingly, falling in love with clients (emo- tional). These risks reflect the central characteristics of edgework defined by Lyng (1999), that is, high-risk activity, skill, and sensation/emotion.

Risk of police and prison. An uncontrollable risk faced by sex workers is regular police crackdowns. When they are caught, the FSW are forced to stay in custody centers to achieve Reeducation through Labor Camp (RTLC).1 Among the 195 respondents interviewed, a total of 55 female sex workers (10 from mid-tier bar Lotus Club, 20 from low-end bar Peach Bar, 25 streetwalkers) have either been detained in custody education centers or were caught by police while engaging in sex work.

For example, Lotus (39), a low-end sex worker, was caught with a client one day and forced to stay in the Dongguan custody center, located in an isolated area out in the country. There she experienced violence and exploitation. She says,

I work 12 hours a day, seven days a week, each hour I have to sew 140 pieces of jeans, I only enjoy 1 day off per month. Do you know how much I make every day? I only make less than US$2 per day! I have to wear a bright yellow prisoner uniform, with the name badge put it in front of my chest, forced me to walk along the strip of downtown Dongguan. I was kept in one iron cage! The police even include my personal information like hometown and date of birth were printed in the badge too. (Lotus, 39, low-end FSW)

The police did it intentionally to force Lotus to parade by wearing the bright yellow prisoner clothes; it is a shame and humiliation to those detained sex workers. Most of the sex workers were forced to work 12 hr each day with no breaks, performing tedious tasks like packing paper towels, disposable utensils and Christmas products, and making paper flowers. After 6 months she was finally released and she immediately returned to sex work. She said for her, sex worker means freedom, money, and career perspective.

Kiki (34) is a streetwalker who originally came from Hunan. She has been arrested twice and also kept in the custody center for 6 months. During her first arrest the police barged into her room unannounced while she was servicing a client. The police forced her to strip and pose for a picture with her client, then demanded she confess to being a sex worker. When Kiki refused, she was subsequently beaten up by the police. They hit her head, body, feet, and grabbed her hair until her skin and eyes were swollen, purple and red.

Nevertheless, Kiki (34) refused to confess. Eventually, the police gave up or grew tired and asked her to leave. She did not pay any fine that night. The second encounter happened after a dissatisfied client reported Kiki to the police. The police swooped in and arrested her immediately and she was taken to the police station. There she was taken into a room and beaten by a group of police until she could not tolerate the pain. She confessed that she was a prostitute and under Chinese law, she could now be sent to the custody center in Dongguan for 6 months. When Kiki was released, she too immediately went back to sex work.

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It is estimated over 400,000 beggars and juvenile criminals were detained in 310 custody centers in 2017 all over China (Wu, 2007). Sex workers are subject to admin- istrative penalties including official warnings, fine penalty, writing self-criticisms, administrative fines, short-term detention or longer-term incarceration. An estimated 500 sex workers are killed every year in China (Hunter, 2005). Lotus, Kiki, and other detained sex workers say they are now more vigilant and able to avoid arrest. They do not want to go back to the custody center. When they were released from the custody centers, all 55 women said they immediately went back to sex work. As an edge- worker, the sex workers have the ability to cope with the risks associated with their jobs.

Risk of infection with STDs. Vivian, a 25-year-old girl from a middle-class family in Harbin, had an experience that was not atypical for the high-tier sex workers with whom I spoke. Possessing a medical degree in China means she could only earn a monthly salary between 5,000 and 8,000 yuan (US$806-1,290) with long shifts and little time off. Therefore, she jumped to the sex industry to look for job flexibility and enjoy her life. She entered the sex industry for the money and excitement and expressed her devotion to her job as a mix of customer service and fantasy fulfill- ment. She thought she was cautious and said she always used condoms, but one day discovered she had contracted AIDS. With the help of local NGOs in Dongguan, she now tests each week for STDs. She now insists on using condoms for all of her ser- vices: blow jobs, sexual intercourse, and cunnilingus. Still, the initial diagnosis was a shock for her:

I felt like the world was collapsing in front of my eyes. I couldn’t believe it. I didn’t want to believe it . . . However, I do not regret becoming a sex worker despite having AIDS. After I went to Los Angles to see AIDs experts, I feel better getting medication and treatment. My AIDS is under control. Life returns to normal and I can still work as a sex worker. I wasn’t scared by AIDS to stop working as a sex worker. (Vivian, 25, high-end FSW)

Vivian is a typical example of edgework. She told me she does not want another job. She claims that only sex work gives her satisfaction and allows her to regain her confidence and identity. Sex work gives her life a sense of meaning and a reason to live. Vivian chooses to gamble rather than accept her condition and just wait for death. Most HIV positive patients in China believe that once they have AIDS they will not live for long. Vivian believes this too, but says that she wants a life different from “ordinary” women who work in sales or as secretaries. She feels that through sex work she can receive much more than she gives. She could quit her job, rely on her savings, and focus on improving her health. However, Vivian believes she can control and manage her unexpected risk by remaining in the sex industry. She says for her, new skills include how to give herself injections and control the growth of AIDS, and learn how to combat AIDS by adopting a more optimistic outlook on life. There were more than 20 interviewees who told me that they have different types of STDs. Just like

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Vivian, they overcome their psychological hurdles, learn how to cope with their diffi- culties, and remain in the commercial sex industry.

Risk of emotional attachment with clients. Sex work is more than just fulfilling a client’s “special” needs. Most of the women interviewed said they enjoyed reciprocal relation- ships with clients. Edgeworkers in this industry have the ability to control their emo- tions as they build relationships with clients but they need to refrain from falling love with them. Most sex workers have already set up their bounded authenticity (Bern- stein, 2007) with their clients. Hong (28) relays a sentiment that is shared by many women:

I have a very good body and gigantic breasts. I can have orgasm three or four times per day . . . A guy who is only aged 35 is obsessed with me. And I am 50! Whenever we go out, he holds my hands. However, falling in love with a client who is younger than me and I have to feed him (baoyang包養) is a disgusting and stupid thing . . . (Olivia, 42, low-end FSW)

I have fallen in love with one client before. . . Later, I found out he had a record of domestic violence. One day he beat me half to death. It caused bone damage and I could barely walk. After this experience, I needed to back off and set boundaries with clients although they chase after me . . . (Kitty, 48, low-end FSW)

That said, the FSWs encounter romantic risk and they have to set up bounded authenticity to deal with desires, intimacy, and romance with clients. Most FSWs rec- ognize the need to clearly separate professional and personal life. They have to dif- ferentiate between providing emotional labor and maintaining professional distance.

Individualization, Class, Gender in China

Most of the 195 sex workers I interviewed in Dongguan came from poor families, and sex work changes their career and social mobility. The trend toward individualization in China drives women to look for opportunities to grow as individuals. But the history of patriarchy and limited options for women has created an environment of double standards. Women learn from other women that sex work, although illegal, affords them opportunity to reach cultural standards of success. For those women who choose or are coerced into prostitution, marketplace forces kick in and they discover whether they are “talented” enough to make it a career. This leads to the relationship between individualization and sex work as edgework. Linglin (28) says,

The job is exciting, flexible, and I can control my life and time. I like freedom, individualized and upgraded. The quality of job keeps me to stay in the sex industry. I am a poor and uneducated peasant woman from the village but I have been naïve in thinking that I can cover up the pain in my heart stemming from my past and background. Whoever has money is one who will receive respect and prestige in society . . . (Linglin, 28)

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Dingding (24), a low-end sex worker, says,

I try to look more modern and cosmopolitan; then, my customers believe that I’m worth what they paid for. I can buy cosmetic products, stylish clothes, and attractive accessories to make me look more modern and cosmopolitan . . . This job gives me individualized desires. Do I have the stigma of being a sex worker? Who cares? I love risk taking, excitement, and individualization . . . I am happy that I can make this choice . . . (Dingding, 24)

Edgework may be differentiated across class and gender. As some sex workers come from poor rural backgrounds, their work in the commercial sex industry symbol- izes success in the upper social hierarchy. Success through sex work can include boosted self-confidence, establishing a social network, imagining an individualized life, and voiding boredom. Postreform Chinese society has already been penetrated by cosmopolitan imperatives that are transforming highly industrialized and risk-adverse East Asian societies (Beck & Grande, 2010). As the velocity and complexity of risks penetrating East Asian societies are greater in relation to the risks affecting European nations (Han & Shim, 2010), novel trajectories of individualization are foreseeable across all sectors of Chinese society.

Difficulties in Leaving Risk: Alienation, Discrimination, and Identity Crisis

The final research question addressed how women left sex work and why some were enticed to return though they don’t need money. This second set of data examined sex workers who migrated to Hong Kong from mainland China by way of marriage. This fits well with Mead–Marx framework on edgework which emphasized actors’ risk tak- ing within the environment from which they live and links it up to a broader institu- tional social context. In addition, this set of data also fit perfectly with Lyng’s (2004, 2005) revised notion on risk whereby such actors deliberately choose to be on the edge.

The 39 interviewees had worked and resided across urban Guangdong prior to moving to Hong Kong. However, before living in the Pearl River Delta Region, the majority of the respondents originally came from rural communities across China. For many of these women, Hong Kong was an important part of their upward eco- nomic mobility and social status. In comparison to second-tier cities such as Dongguan and Huizhou, Hong Kong’s cosmopolitan status was significantly higher. However, despite being an “upward” transition, the move to Hong Kong often resulted in emo- tional, interpersonal, and cultural alienation. In Hong Kong they did not have signifi- cant or familiar social networks, and eventually the loneliness turned to boredom which led to bouts of depression. Among my respondents, all 39 women agreed they had no financial problem living in Hong Kong. More than 20 women out of 39 expressed their willingness to occasionally return to sex work. The problem was the loneliness and alienation that made them long for the familiar exciting risks associ- ated with their old career.

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Ferrell, Milovanovic, and Lyng (2001) argued edgework may cause boredom. The idea of boredom can be well explained from my fieldwork data. The experience related by Yifan is typical to Ferrell’s et al. (2001) idea of boredom. Yifan is a 23-year-old from Kunming who previously worked at the high-tier sex market Dragon Palace. She earned a lot of money and saved enough to leave the industry entirely. She moved to Hong Kong and now says she misses her life in China. She cited multiple reasons why she felt alienated after moving to Hong Kong, which is why less than a year later she regularly returns to China for commercial sex work. It’s not about money; Yifan has a monthly stipend of 28,000 yuan (US$4,265) provided by her husband. He gives her this in lieu of what she would have earned had she stayed in the commercial indus- try. For other women who have seemingly “married up,” sex work continues to be a fixture in their lives to varying degrees. Yifan says,

Every time I go to a karaoke lounge, I can’t help but show off my pole-dancing skills. I haven’t adjusted to the Hong Kong lifestyle and society yet. . . . I’m so far away from my “sisters,” it’s very boring and I can’t speak Cantonese . . . So sometimes I talk to the sisters and find a part time gig or two (as a sex worker) just to kill my boredom. (Yifan, 23)

Tina (32) shares a similar experience with Yifan (23):

After two years of staying in Hong Kong, I have reentered the sex industry. When “my sister” has her period, I will replace her and stay in Dongguan for two or three days. But, I always relapse . . . and that’s what it feels like: a relapse . . . I shouldn’t do that, but only in sex work can I find my lost identity and I feel thrilled. (Tina, 32)

Tina revealed to me that she has a better self-image and more confidence when she reengages in sex work. The lost identity reflects Tina’s self-image. Luping (29) also relayed that relationship problems coupled with the desire to be financially indepen- dent eventually lead her back to the commercial sex industry. After she married her Australian husband David, she soon realized they simply didn’t have much in com- mon. She couldn’t go back to the bar and work, so she started finding part-time work and went to English lessons. She says,

David also spent US$1, 000 per month to hire an Australian teacher to teach me English and computer knowledge. Then I realized that this is not something I could do. I could not even work as a receptionist or in sales! I felt a little sad when I realized all I really knew was how to be a sex worker. I sleep until noon then get up to cook. One day, I told my husband “Maybe I should go back to the bar . . . I don’t want to suffer like this, even though I might need to sleep with some gross men, I wouldn’t be this tired.” After our honeymoon period, a lot of problems started to come up between us. For example, we didn’t like the same films and we didn’t share the same hobbies or lifestyle. Our love is fading and our relationship is on the brink of collapse . . . (Luping, 29)

Yifan, Tina, and Luping admitted their “economic security” depended upon their marital status and they put it at risk by engaging in sex work. This form of “edgework-resistance” (Rajah, 2007) vividly reflects how these women are

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tempted to return back to the commercial sex industries, but at the same time, they fear losing their economic security and husbands. Social and professional net- works are crucial. Many sex workers affirmed that their social networks are vital in shaping their feelings about the commercial sex industry. Moreover, when faced with losing access to social networks and important friendships, certain personal struggles were exacerbated. For instance, the loss of personal social networks was made worse by their inability to speak Cantonese in Hong Kong which resulted in further discrimination (Lowe & Tsang, 2017). The comment by Lok (26) high- lights how the cultural alienation and the (Putonghua-Cantonese) language barrier resulted in greater personal dissatisfaction and has affected her mental health:

Discrimination is very serious because I don’t speak Cantonese. In Hong Kong, if you could only speak Putonghua, Hong Kongers think you are second citizen. I can only speak Putonghua. I cannot make friends and my social life is horrible . . . I need friends who I can talk with; otherwise, I cannot survive . . . (Lok, 26)

Yaoji (26) offers similar insight:

When I speak Putonghua, Hong Kong people stare at me and get annoyed. They yell at me and their voices are very loud, I find it annoying and disgusting . . . The cultural and social conflict between Hong Kong and China is getting very serious . . . I start contacting my “sisters” who are working in China. It is easy for me to talk to them and they really understand me. (Yaoji, 26)

The women migrating to Hong Kong were faced with unique opportunities as well as unanticipated challenges in their personal lives. Many were left unsatisfied because of the discrimination and alienation they experienced as mainlanders. Through migration these women encountered a range of obstacles that were uniquely difficult to deal with. The social, cultural, and personal alienation these women felt was significant and created feelings of dissatisfaction and isolation. Although many women cited negative experi- ences working as sex workers, many of the respondents did not find that migration to Hong Kong, alone, improved their circumstances, given that migration had subsequently created new anxieties and conflicts that they struggled to negotiate. Derogatory slurs such as “Shina,” “dai luk lo” (大陸佬), “dai luk por” (大陸婆), or even the degenerate “Ah Chaan” (阿燦 literally, “the uneducated” or “the hayseed”) are used to describe mainlanders. In addition, disidentification with Putonghua by associating it with the ata- vistic or feminine affirms Cantonese as the masculine (Lowe & Tsang, 2017).

The sex workers who married Hong Kong businessmen deal with risk in what Mead and Marx further theorized as social action and alienation. The women have the ability to develop intense feelings of self-determination and control to counter the adverse circumstances. The sex workers feel alienated in Hong Kong due to sociocul- tural differences like the language barrier and the lost identity. At least some of the respondents failed to adjust to their new life in Hong Kong. Lacking the necessary social support, the hurdles of migration were uniquely challenging and pushed them to reconsider sex work as a way to regain their lost identity. Hiding that truth from their

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husbands was a risk they could at least control. All in all, sex work seemed to offer something familiar and desirable, in contrast to a new environment full of obstacles and personal conflicts.

Conclusion

The article has provided important insight and reflection on the experiences of a niche community of FSWs. These accounts help us better understand FSWs motivations to enter and remain in the commercial sex industry and even return after having left it. The experiences of the FSWs described here have been placed within the context of edgework and helps us extend the literature and expand the dialogue on the commercial sex industry in China. Lyng’s (1990, 2005) work on edgework concept is important to investigate how the sex workers selling sex as edgework and risk taking and thrills from sex work. Mead– Marx framework on female sex workers have control against structural alienated labor experiences is important to think edgework and risk taking by returning and remaining sex industry. While W. J. Miller’s (2005) work is important to rethink edgework can be seen in part as an agential attempt to resist the structures of the Communist Party. This article also interpolates the importance of individualization, class, and gender in the Chinese path toward a risk society. This article asked three research questions and explained by two empirical data why selling sex is edgework; sex workers’ exit/remain in sex industries can be linked it with traditional gender norms and class oppression; and what factors make them to return to sex work though they got married. Existing discourse on risk and sex work has suggested that sex workers are unanimously averse to experienc- ing any types of risk. But by utilizing edgework, it can be argued that these women may be attracted by the very risk this activity presents. The concept of edgework attempts to reframe the stigma and negativity that shapes dominant understandings of risk. In doing so, the article brings class and gender back into the equation and analyzes how these rela- tionships related to individualization for the female sex workers to capitalize edgework in commercial sex industries. This provides a new and necessary lens to understand the diversity of sex worker’s experiences and motivations.

Specifically, this article draws upon two sets of data to apply Lyng’s concept of edgework. One set of data was taken from an in-depth interview of 195 sex workers from different niche markets in Dongguan. They discussed how sex work became edgework and various types of risk they encounter. A second set of interviews were conducted with 39 former FSWs who married and moved to Hong Kong about their struggles to leave the sex industry.

The responses about edgework offer insights into how FSWs take interest in and derive pleasure from engaging in risky activities that produce thrilling sexual desires and encourage distinctive types of creativity. These pleasures and satisfactions include exploring bodily pleasure and new aspects of their sexuality; work in a relatively unstructured environment wherein they can work dynamically and creatively to real- ize lucrative financial gain as well as adulation and emotional reward.

Another significant aspect of these accounts demonstrates the FSWs are cognizant of three particular areas of undesirable risk they are vigilant to avoid; legal entanglements

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(with police, custody centers), physical dangers (STDs), and personal entanglements (emotional risk ties with clients). Some FSWs have provided personal experiences where, as edgeworkers, they negotiated these risks with varying degrees of success. They have learned through experience how to live with AIDS, endure police beatings and time at the custody center, and avoid negative emotional entanglements with clients.

A final insight is that edgework helps explain an added difficulty for women to walk away from sex work. The accounts of 39 former FSWs who married Hong Kong busi- nessmen confirm the struggles of leaving the old life and trying to start a new one. Through the lens of edgework, these women might be expected to use their dynamic energy and resourcefulness to adapt and easily make the transition. However, many of them had to contend with alienation and isolation in Hong Kong which led them to admit they longed for their old life. The thrill of illicit sexual pleasure may be a permanent part of their self-identity, a part that is too tempting for these “tempting girls” to resist. To go back to sex work, even if on a temporary or occasional basis, helps these edgeworkers reclaim their professional life, and glory in the thing they do better than anyone else.

Just as other types of edgeworkers must transition away from risky activities due to age or life circumstances, so these women must find a suitable transition that keeps them interested, appreciated, and confident. Future research should look at ways women can resist the call of thrilling edgework for more positive forms of engage- ment, perhaps related to education, counseling, or policymaking. These women are street smart, outgoing, resourceful, and have successfully navigated one of the riskiest jobs in the world. When they try to leave sex work, they need help so they can share their important life experience and insights for the next generation.

Acknowledgments

I am indebted to the women and men in Dongguan who shared their lives and their experiences with me. Without their help, this article would not have been possible. In addition, I am grateful to the anonymous reviewers for their helpful suggestions for revisions on previous drafts. I am also indebted to Jeff Wilkinson for his insightful and critical comments throughout the process. Any remaining errors are my own.

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This article was supported by the General Research Fund (RGC Ref No. 11611215, CityU Ref No. 9042300), University Grant Committee, Hong Kong SAR.

ORCID iD

Eileen Yuk-ha Tsang https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2353-2769

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Note

1. Custody education centers deploy many of the founding ideas that Reeducation Through Labor Camp (RTLC) utilized to offer education that will allow sex workers to seek a better life after they leave the center (Asia Catalyst, 2013).

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