Prostitution in Singapore in itself is not illegal, but various prostitution-related activities are criminalized. This includes public solicitation, living on the earnings of a prostitute and maintaining a brothel. In practice, the police unofficially tolerate and monitor a limited number of brothels. Sex workers in such establishments are required to undergo periodic health checks and must carry a health card. Any person who obtains for consideration the sexual services of a person under 18 years of age in other words, has commercial sex with such a person commits an offence and may be punished with imprisonment of up to seven years or a fine or both.
A person who is guilty of the offence may be punished with imprisonment of up to ten years, or a fine, or both. In Singapore, police unofficially tolerate and monitor a limited number of brothels, where the prostitutes are regularly screened for health check-up; however prostitution outside these brothels also exists such as via social escort agencies that usually adopt an internet website [22] or Facebook cyber presence. Prostitution outside the informally designated red-light areas operates from 3 main places:.
The "Internet advertised" girls are hosted in anonymous hotels, and the profile of each girl is available from the internet advertisement.
Girls operating from such illegal pimps come primarily from Thailand , [25] [26] China [27] and Philippines to Singapore for a short tourist visit, and therefore are not screened for health check-ups. There may also be local Singaporean [28] masseurs, therapists, call girls [29] or social escorts [30] [31] in the industry working as sex workers on the pretext of beings students at a local educational institution [32] such as a polytechnic , [33] models, [34] working office professionals [35] or ex- air stewardesses , [36] some may claim of themselves as being certified therapists.
Apart from these regulated brothels, commercial sex workers can be found in many "massage" [43] or "spa" establishments. Yet, virtually everyone who visits these establishments in particular is fully aware of the sexual services provided within, and are there precisely because of it.
