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>> 51 3 The Women Little is actually known about the women who sell sex overseas. The general assumption is that they are most likely young, have little education, and come from poor families, usually in rural areas.1 Indeed, the image of the typical sex trafficking victim presented by the media, as well as by many government agencies and nongovernmental organizations, is that of a young, innocent, vulnerable female.2 The common belief is that the women involved have been tricked, forced, or otherwise coerced into commercial sex after having been trafficked to some other country. We are sure that this occurs —in fact we know it does—but is it the whole story? Rarely, if at all, is the possibility entertained that some of these women may have been engaged in prostitution before they went overseas. Likewise, not much consideration has been given to the possibility that some women may actually elect to travel abroad to become involved in commercial sex as the best option that appears to be available to them. Or, that once having gone overseas, whatever their original motivations, commercial sex comes to be seen by some to be their most viable option. Are there, in other words, lumped in with the population defined as sex trafficking victims, distinct 52 > 53 elementary school education, 37 percent middle school, 34 percent high school, and 17 percent college (undergraduate). Taken together with age, these women are both older and better educated than has been commonly portrayed. And we think that both these factors are related to vulnerability to exploitation. Many subjects said they did not like school when they were young, so they stopped attending after graduating from elementary or middle school and stayed home to do house chores. Authorities in China normally do not make much of an effort to keep girls in school. When our subjects reached a certain age, they left school and some went out to work. Others spent a lot of time just hanging out with friends—singing, dancing, and having fun—until eventually they met someone who recruited them (not necessarily using force, fraud, or deception) into prostitution, or who simply sold them on the idea. Some dropped out of school because there was a crisis in the family and they had to work to support their families. Others said they actually liked school and hoped to receive a good education, but that their parents were not very supportive simply because they were girls. Since some of our subjects Table 3.1. Demographic Characteristics of the Xiaojie Subjects (N = 149) N % Age 20 and younger 8 5 21 to 30 66 45 31 to 40 58 39 41 and older 16 11 Education Elementary 17 11 Middle school 56 38 High school 50 34 College 25 17 Marital status Single 75 50 Married 35 24 Divorced 39 26 Occupation Prostitution 59 41 Ordinary worker 24 17 Professional 19 13 Unemployed 16 11 Private business 13 9 Entertainment 9 6 Government job 4 3 54 > 55 Thirty-six percent of our subjects said their fathers were farmers, 30 percent laborers, and 8 percent of fathers were retired or unemployed. Thirty-six percent of the subjects said their mothers were farmers, 22 percent laborers, and 21 percent were retired or unemployed. Only a very small percentage of our subjects’ parents had professional jobs. There is no doubt that the majority of our subjects belonged to very ordinary families with very little power or privilege. Marital Status Half of our subjects were either married (24%) or divorced (26%), and 40 percent of them had at least one child. All the married or divorced women became prostitutes only after their marriages. There is a possibility that a very small number of subjects might have deceived us about their marital status, telling us they were divorced when in fact their marriages were intact, or saying they were single when they were actually married. Juan Juan, a 42-yearold married woman from Yingkou (Liaoning Province) who was working as a hostess in Bangkok, explained why they might do this: “I am married and I have a good relationship with my husband, but I tell my customers here that I am divorced. Otherwise, why would they give me money? If I say I am married, they will think that I will give all the money they give me to my husband” (59). Work Experience Given their typical circumstances, it is not difficult to imagine that these women did not...

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