‘Sex trafficking in Australia should not come as a surprise…” – Dr Caroline Norma, 2011.
Recently it came to my attention that sex trafficking and sexual exploitation exist within every fabric of society. In the world of trafficking there are no good or bad neighbourhoods, just opportunities for the vulnerable to be exploited by wicked people, and hidden in any way possible.
An anti-slavery video which was recently released asked the question, ‘If you could see it happening, would you stop it?’
The answer to this, should always be a resounding YES. But should we only be concerned with that which we can ‘see’?
Often the venues in which sexual exploitation occurs require us to truly ‘see’; to open our eyes, to search, to become more aware of our own neighbourhoods. It is not enough to only speak out about the things that are blatantly revealed to us. We must go further than that, and reawaken our senses to our surroundings. When you do, I guarantee that like me, you will be shocked at just how rampant sexual exploitation is in our own backyards.
My foray into investigating sexual exploitation within Brisbane began recently, after reading reports of Asian women being trafficked within the beauty/massage industry. After reading this, I thought of massage venues I had seen which seemed somewhat suspicious, and began to look into them further.
It wasn’t long before I found a pattern. Nearly every venue was the same…they ran from old houses, operated until 10pm every night, employed strictly young Asian women who spoke little English, dealt mostly in cash, kept the windows covered with wrapping paper so as to stop anyone from seeing inside, and had discreet parking areas.
I was certain that the women in these venues, at the very least some of them, would currently be suffering from exploitation or perhaps even trafficking…I knew I had to do something.
This was the moment that I delved into the seedy underground of Brisbane’s sex-purchasing industry, and what I found, disgusted me to my very core.
I’ve visited several of these venues myself and talked with girls, one of whom opened up to me about the daily sexual harassment she experiences, and the sexual requests that many of her friends give into.
“Most of my clients are men…sometimes they ask for things that I don’t want to do,” she admitted. “I try to be tough and tell them no, but some of the other girls give in. They get paid extra.”
In some of these venues I have seen young Asian women emerge from massage rooms dressed in mini skirts, followed by old overweight caucasian men. I have seen young men walking out of bathrooms, while the young ‘masseuse’ clutches a hand protectively around her stomach, walking into the bathroom slowly to clean up. I have seen discreet ‘back entrances’ where men can make a quick exit after their ‘massage’, and drive off as if they’ve done nothing wrong.
As well as scoping out the venues I have also been researching online, and without fail every single venue I have been suspicious of, has been featured online on either a XXX review Twitter account, or male adult forums. On these forums, men discuss women like they are merely pieces of meat, swapping tips on the best venues to go to if a man wants to ‘punt’ for sexual favours. They criticise the women in our massage parlours on every facet of their physique – their faces, their breasts, their personalities. They ‘rate’ the hottest ones, and complain about going for massages only to find that the girl was ‘tubby’ with an ‘ugly face’, but ‘okay tits’. They brag about the ‘extras’ they get from the girls with enough ‘cajoling’, and then whinge about the hand jobs being too ‘mechanical’.
The sense of self-entitlement these men have is absolutely revolting. It is as if the exchange of money for a massage automatically entitles them to sexually harass women into getting what they want, and then berate them online if they don’t meet their selfish fantasies.
Below are some of the comments from male adult forum users – Warning: May be distressing for some.
“Went there today . She pretty good but she doesn’t let you touch her.which is a shame cos I wanted a handful of her big tits.”
“I went to this place not long after it opened and wasn’t impressed with the girl, not a very good massage and mechanical action.”
“1st visit saw a young looking girl. I was being nice but she didn’t seem interested. I was so frustrated when she finished she was worn out. Felt like I was a exercise instrument for her daily gym work out. Flip over got offered 30 hj. 50 top only off no hj. 100 nude with hj. Went with 30 no build up just tug away. Disappointed.”
“Hmm she was thai lady but I would say late 30’s maybe early 40 so not really a “girl” lol. But hey was friendly no stunner but not butt ugly “
“IMHO mostly are just average looking, some are fugly. Only seen one or two who are beauitful/ good looking. Most of them are small and short. IMHO she is just an average looking and not a great body. For $40 or $60 I now come to a conclusion it’s a waste of money as they are normally not really good at deep tissue. They are more for RnT. And why wants to be RnT-ed by just an average to fugly looking gals? Oh yeah they offered a HJ for an extra $40 that they don’t think it’s a rip off. Not only you can’t see them naked, you can only touch them a bit here and there.”
“Recently, I found that there is a lot of Chinese Massage shops here with hand job. Most of the ladies are students. They are young and quite pretty. (lucky me, I didnt see any ugly ladies, haha)”
“Last time i went i didnt see any hotties at all. one girl looked a bit on the other side, and the other girl was a bit of a pork chop. should i go during the day or something? i went on a sunday night…probably wrong timing or the hotties were already taken. Ended up going to ——– and wasted $128 there. It’s a shame they make you pay first before you get to look at the girls. I don’t think I will go back there for a while.”
| I love Asian women as they are sexier, more feminine and you don’t get the attitude you get from overpriced and often angry butch Caucasian women.”(Dear Punter 2: Wow, aren’t you a charmer)“I might have to pick ’em all up, cramp them into a room, similar to those JAV scenes”
“This shops is still the same old dirty shop with dirty girls who will do anything you ask them to do for the right amount of money ..” |
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These are the invisible men who are abusing and exploiting young women. And I will not turn a blind eye to what they are doing.
I will be going into these places and meeting the young women who they treat as objects; the ones they deem ‘too ugly’, who they deem as ‘failures’.
Because they are not. They are human beings who were created to be so much more.
I will do whatever I can to take these men’s ‘play things’ away from them, and bring the women something better. I’m not sure yet what that means, but I’m open to whatever God wants me to do.
This weekend I am starting by going to the police with my investigations – screen shots, photographs, and research reports listing the venues where these women are being used. And let’s be clear about one thing – it’s not the women who are the problem, it’s the men who are purchasing them, and they are the ones who I want to pay the ‘true’ price.
She The Warrior 