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Last edited Sat Feb 23, 2019, 05:32 PM - Edit history (5)
As horrible situation as this sounds like to us ...
<deleted for my insensitivity, I apologize ... what I really meant as a bash on China, and it's slave-like working conditions, esp. for women ... came out differently than I'd meant it ... forgive me 
>
I'm not saying we, in the US, should tolerate a business like this (not even remotely) but the ultimate underlying cause is, in my estimation, horrific worldwide working conditions, especially for females, who tend be purposefully under-educated in so many places.
This is a microcosm of a much, much bigger problem. I mean, it still has a LOT to do with how fucked up a lot of MEN are ... don't get me wrong ... But it's not just US men ... I think is important to note. I'm sure most of the 'johns' thought they're engaged in a reasonable, fair business transaction. They aren't likely to think deeply into the root cause of 'why these women are here, doing this job?'. They should, but they don't. Little head does the thinking.
The traffickers, and bought-off politicians, and the men in charge of factories, and working conditions and opportunities world-wide are the BIGGEST criminals here. The women wouldn't be here if they had HOPE ... where they came from. Just MHO.
***** Part Two - The Aftermath *****
I wrote this to Marble Falls and decided to append here instead.
Let me be real clear I AM NOT CONDONING WHAT THESE TRAFFICKERS appear to have done, NOT in any way, shape, or form. Throw the freaking book at em!!! UNEQUIVOCALLY NOT OKAY!!!
I'm sure these women had no idea that they'd be forced to live on the grounds of some facility and not be allowed to leave. That alone makes this a TERRIBLE crime, no matter WHAT they knew or didn't know about what sort of work they were getting into, I'm sure they weren't explicitly told THAT.
ALL I'm really getting at here is that this sort of thing happening ... implies a much bigger structural problem with the world economies, societies, and priorities ... it's not just about the pimps and johns.
Okay?
But to answer your question (Marble Falls) ... if I had opportunity and decent working conditions in my home country ... and I'm a young, attractive female ... I'm definitely not signing up with some fly by night operator who tells me he's going to take me to America and make all my dreams come true, and believe that he's doing so out of the goodness of his heart.
Look I'm sorry if this flies in the face of 'what you know to always be true' ... a possibility still does exist that the women were aware (or at minimum, had strong reason to guess) that they would be doing some kind of sex work. THAT DOESN'T 'MAKE IT (the traffickers scheme) OKAY', I'm just stating a simple fact, to make a larger point.
Non-sex workers are enslaved for all practical purposes in many places in world, especially women, and especially in Asia. People have to LIVE at the factory compound, for real. Hell, don't we only-semi-jokingly call ourselves here in the US 'wage-slaves'?
Unless they were kidnapped (granted, that's a possibility, we don't know either way at this point), it seems very likely that the opportunities present before them, in the Country they came from ... SUCK SO BADLY ... that taking a huge risk by fleeing overseas with some shady characters, to do God knows what ... appeared preferable to them ... than staying where they are.
I don't quite see how it's even logical to argue against this point, frankly.
To answer your question about McDonald's, yes ABSOLUTELY there are 10's of thousands of people doing sex work of some kind in this Country ... strip clubs, web cams, escorts, hookers, and porn 'stars' ... precisely because they prefer doing so ... over "Working at McDonald's (metaphorically, at least)".
I've worked literally next door to a Strip Club for 10 years. Yeah, I've been inside. And yeah, I know some such people, personally. I've heard these exact words 'What else am I gonna do, flip burgers for $7/hr? Pffft! Fool, I make $100/hr here!'. And heard that sentiment in general from sex workers I've known ... many times.
The 'popular' girls at this club... earn $500-$1500 ... per 6 hour shift, depending how busy it is (and it's usually very busy - the lot is nearly always chock-a-block with Mercedes, BMW, Porsche, Lexus ... which is what nearly all the ladies there drive as well). One 20-YEAR club veteran, a 40 year old lady, still working there, going strong ... she told me she owns 3 businesses, I've seen her new Maserati, and she told me her best day ever she pulled a 12-hour day ... and made $4500 at the club. And it's not even a particularly upscale/nice club.
I'm not comparing their work to being enslaved in a massage parlor, to be VERY clear. 100% NOT THE SAME THING. I'm just saying, yes this calculation to NOT work at McDonalds is made ... all the time, even in the USA.
A couple of the girls at this club have told me they're saving for college. But college was $300 per quarter for me in the late 80's/early 90's. I could afford it w/o doing sex work, easily. Now, it's way harder to afford, unless you come from money.
This problem goes much deeper than just the pimps and johns.
S'all I'm really saying here.
I apologize for not being so delicate in my initial post (or in this one, I suppose ...). Yes, it makes it much WORSE if the traffickers actually duped all these young women. But EVEN IF THEY KNEW, hell, even if they were sex workers ALREADY in China ... it's still a terrible crime to keep them locked up. INEXCUSABLE.
I don’t know where to start...
Just way too much fucking wrong to address, you end up scratching your head and going for a walk. 
*shaking my head* 
I have, however known quite a few female sex workers (AS FRIENDS), and had many conversations with them about their work. They 'hate' about 40% of their work, about 40% is 'okay', and about 20% is 'actually great!'. There are lots of reasonably (and even very) attractive young male customers who patronize good-looking female sex workers.
To every single one of them ... it's all just work, it's all just money. And it's GOOD money, that being the key part. It's so much more than they can make doing anything else they're qualified for ... which I think is very unfortunate, in fact, I know quite a few who would be capable of much more, if their parents just had money and had brought them up in good schools and neighborhoods. But they didn't.
Most of them though are also working on some kind of self-improvement, have other gigs and interests, and are all around good ladies. They take care of their bodies, too. But they just do this sometimes crappy job, take the money, and move on with their lives, for the most part.
Kinda like most of us.
Thanks for the measured reply 
BTW, probably sounds like I patronize prostitutes at this point ... I actually don't. One of my very best guy friends for the past 25 years is a male stripper (that work is winding down as he approaches 50 ... dude still looks great, but ... yeah), who dates female strippers mostly, and I have another friend who ... also pretty much only dates strippers, and next door to my office is a strip club, so ... yeah, I've met and hung out w/lots of strippers.
Calculating that yes, that's better than being chained to a sewing machine in China.
It is, however, nearly unthinkable that they'd do so under the conditions described, where they're being kept (apparently) under lock and key, with quota's etc.
I never said this situation is 'okay', my point was, there's a broader, more underlying issue with Working Conditions in the world, and esp. for women, in Asia. You wouldn't be able to talk these young women into this sketchy, shady-ass arrangement with some random foreign 'savior' ... if they had real opportunity, and a safety net, and decent working/living conditions ... in the place they already were.
The fact that this can even HAPPEN ... speaks to bigger, more systemic problems.
I know I stated this very poorly at the outset, I do apologize, and hope you can forgive me. I'z ... pretty drunk, too
Sorry
