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Modern media teaches us that sex workers live in cramped, dirty, and cheap rented apartments with no private bathrooms. They endure verbal, mental, and physical abuse from their customers. They have to hide from the authorities to avoid fines or detention.
And all the while, sex workers are accosted by evil-minded pimps who force people to work even when they are sick, and fire volleys of their own abuse when MBs fail to bring in enough money. The Chinese popular image of sex work is unsurprising. Therefore, transactional sex is a largely underground, unsupervised phenomenon that poses threats to the well-being of both MBs and their clients.
This is not the whole picture, however. The MBs I researched in China's big cities revealed certain nuances frequently overlooked by the general public. Indeed, my sympathy and sense of social justice were displaced when I realized suffering was actually quite hard to find. Take Nan as an example. A former spa employee, Nan works as a personal trainer at a well-known local chain of gyms. He also has a solid customer base to whom he provides regular sexual services.
Nan left the spa after newly hired younger guys gradually made him less competitive. Even without tips, MBs often earn more than many of white-collar workers in China. Sometimes people will tip me thousands more. I have a friend whose client bought him a house in his rural hometown and a small apartment in Shanghai.
