Stripping? She will be stripped.
Stripping? She will be stripped.
09:34, November 04, 2009 
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By Li Hongmei People's Daily Online
It is a deep-seated idea that prostitutes are stripped of not only clothes but also esteem and dignity. And even the families and relations of prostitutes would possibly feel like having egg on their face. In China, prostitution is technically illegal and traditionally taken as an underworld dirty business that only cheap women would involve in to make a living.
Perhaps on this account, the vast majority of people will speak contemptuously of prostitutes and put them in the same class as beggars, both considered to be sacrificing human dignity exclusively for money. Even worse, some of the Chinese men could smell the flowers for a "High" experience in a break from their dull everyday routines by occasionally visiting prostitutes, but at heart, they would still look down upon prostitutes, who have been held in ill repute, perhaps, for as long as the Chinese history.
Prostitutes and esteem are so incompatible as fire and water that nobody would give the basic fact more than a passing thought that they are also humans and they also have face, even if their face is not so admirable. When hearing prostitutes being slandered by media or seeing them slapped in public, people tend to take it for granted, as if being a prostitute would be enough to incur curses and humiliations of the kind. It seems that prostitutes, having such an unsavory reputation, should be deprived of all the privileges as human beings.
Nothing would be more illustrative than a recent sweeping crackdown on prostitution rings and a trawl for prostitutes in the so-called hotspots. The crackdown was launched by the Chinese central Henan Province as part of a countrywide push against gang crime and drug trafficking. Consequently, all the nine prostitutes hunted down by the 300-strong police force in the capital Zhengzhou city reportedly had their nude pictures taken on the spot. And shortly afterwards, these porn-like photos were released online, which was said intended to showcase the achievements of the "Hurricane" crackdown and also to educate the public.
Needless to say, the fallout is more a shock than education to the general public. Many netizens cast doubts over the "necessary steps" taken by Zhengzhou authorities. Some even pointed that the police authorities in question should be charged with power abuse for smearing others' reputations and infringing upon others' privacy by releasing these indecent pictures.
Plus, one netizen wrote, "the photographs that are placed on the Internet also add to what is already considered a huge problem----Porn. While it is shameful to the prostitutes and their relatives, it gives pleasure to those who seek pornography in any form available. Is this to be considered ‘legal porn'?"
What's more, privacy is the essential bit of human rights that everyone should be entitled to. No matter who she is, a prostitute or a virgin, she needs to be assured of the basic rights as a decent human life, and by no means should she be robbed of her human esteem.
Another infamous case involved Yan Deli, a countryside woman who would otherwise live in obscurity. Some time ago, a blog supposedly written by a HIV-infected prostitute named Yan Deli exposing 279 of her "sex contacts" swept the Internet almost overnight. However, it turned out, the whole incident was just a hoax masterminded by Yan's ex-boyfriend.
But in order to prove her innocence, Yan Deli took three blood tests from three separate institutions. All test results were negative for HIV infections, and Yan restored her reputation as innocent. The dust has since settled, but a more thought-provoking question pops up----what if Yan Deli were diagnosed as HIV-positive, or what if she were a prostitute? Would it mean that if so, her reputation would resort to wanton insults and her privacy be recklessly trampled upon?
Nay, a lawful society should have zero tolerance towards the lawless and their perverse acts. Everybody is born to be equal. On this basis, those in power have no rights to wield authority willfully insulting and intimidating civilians; while prostitutes have rights to stand up for their human dignity.
It is a deep-seated idea that prostitutes are stripped of not only clothes but also esteem and dignity. And even the families and relations of prostitutes would possibly feel like having egg on their face. In China, prostitution is technically illegal and traditionally taken as an underworld dirty business that only cheap women would involve in to make a living.
Perhaps on this account, the vast majority of people will speak contemptuously of prostitutes and put them in the same class as beggars, both considered to be sacrificing human dignity exclusively for money. Even worse, some of the Chinese men could smell the flowers for a "High" experience in a break from their dull everyday routines by occasionally visiting prostitutes, but at heart, they would still look down upon prostitutes, who have been held in ill repute, perhaps, for as long as the Chinese history.
Prostitutes and esteem are so incompatible as fire and water that nobody would give the basic fact more than a passing thought that they are also humans and they also have face, even if their face is not so admirable. When hearing prostitutes being slandered by media or seeing them slapped in public, people tend to take it for granted, as if being a prostitute would be enough to incur curses and humiliations of the kind. It seems that prostitutes, having such an unsavory reputation, should be deprived of all the privileges as human beings.
Nothing would be more illustrative than a recent sweeping crackdown on prostitution rings and a trawl for prostitutes in the so-called hotspots. The crackdown was launched by the Chinese central Henan Province as part of a countrywide push against gang crime and drug trafficking. Consequently, all the nine prostitutes hunted down by the 300-strong police force in the capital Zhengzhou city reportedly had their nude pictures taken on the spot. And shortly afterwards, these porn-like photos were released online, which was said intended to showcase the achievements of the "Hurricane" crackdown and also to educate the public.
Needless to say, the fallout is more a shock than education to the general public. Many netizens cast doubts over the "necessary steps" taken by Zhengzhou authorities. Some even pointed that the police authorities in question should be charged with power abuse for smearing others' reputations and infringing upon others' privacy by releasing these indecent pictures.
Plus, one netizen wrote, "the photographs that are placed on the Internet also add to what is already considered a huge problem----Porn. While it is shameful to the prostitutes and their relatives, it gives pleasure to those who seek pornography in any form available. Is this to be considered ‘legal porn'?"
What's more, privacy is the essential bit of human rights that everyone should be entitled to. No matter who she is, a prostitute or a virgin, she needs to be assured of the basic rights as a decent human life, and by no means should she be robbed of her human esteem.
Another infamous case involved Yan Deli, a countryside woman who would otherwise live in obscurity. Some time ago, a blog supposedly written by a HIV-infected prostitute named Yan Deli exposing 279 of her "sex contacts" swept the Internet almost overnight. However, it turned out, the whole incident was just a hoax masterminded by Yan's ex-boyfriend.
But in order to prove her innocence, Yan Deli took three blood tests from three separate institutions. All test results were negative for HIV infections, and Yan restored her reputation as innocent. The dust has since settled, but a more thought-provoking question pops up----what if Yan Deli were diagnosed as HIV-positive, or what if she were a prostitute? Would it mean that if so, her reputation would resort to wanton insults and her privacy be recklessly trampled upon?
Nay, a lawful society should have zero tolerance towards the lawless and their perverse acts. Everybody is born to be equal. On this basis, those in power have no rights to wield authority willfully insulting and intimidating civilians; while prostitutes have rights to stand up for their human dignity.
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