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Teens told to steer clear of sex ads

Members of a local civic alliance display pages of classified ads from local newspapers allegedly placed by illegal sex industry firms. The alliance warned teens seeking summer jobs to ignore ads that promise high pay for little work, only provide a phone number and not a location or offers loans to job-hunters. PHOTO: CNA

As students look for summer jobs, women’s and children’s welfare groups reminded young job-seekers yesterday to be aware of the large number of illegal sex industry ads in newspapers.

“Many students look for part-time jobs during the summer vacation, but with the large number of sex trade classifieds, those who are not strong-willed enough or really need cash may be tempted into the industry without being aware of the dangers,” Cynthia Kao (高小晴), executive director of the Women’s Rescue Foundation, told a news conference at the Legislative Yuan.

The groups said that on June 27 there were 1,933 sex-industry employment ads in the four major Chinese-language newspapers nationwide.

These ads share some common traits, Garden of Hope Foundation executive director Chi Hui-jung (紀惠容) said, urging parents to pay more attention to the ads their children are looking at or what types of jobs they’re looking for.

“These ads are usually found in the ‘entertainment jobs’ section — try to avoid that section when looking for a job,” she said. “Also pay attention to the work location — sex-related ads often don’t give a specific location, they just provide a telephone number.”

A recording of a telephone conversation between a sex industry employer and girl pretending to look for a job was played for reporters. The girl was a volunteer with one of the groups and called a number in an ad that said “hiring part-time female.”

When the girl asked what the “part-time female” job was, the man who answered the phone said: “It’s, you know, the special industry kind of job.”

The man asked if the girl would like to work in enjo-kosai, a Japanese term refering to sexual services provided by teenage girls for money or other valuables.

The man kept telling the girl that she could be making between NT$10,000 to NT$20,000 a day, and that he could lend her NT$20,000 once she agreed to start working for him.

“When you see a job with high pay, that requires no experience and the employer says that they can lend you some money, you should be careful,” Chi said.

Kao said local governments should better enforce the law and newspapers should review their ads more carefully. She also urged people to report such ads to the police and said the police should take a more active approach in locating such illegal employers.

Council of Labor Affairs official Shen Wen-li (沈文麗) urged students looking for summer jobs to go through the council’s 300 plus public employment service centers nationwide. Shen said the council would work harder to crackdown on illegal employers.
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