A Safe Sex Oath for Guangzhou’s Prostitutes

A short article at sina.com provides a look into a sex ed class for prostitutes in Guangzhou. Even as AIDS activists are being detained or barred from traveling in China (see Li Xige), some Chinese are celebrating AIDS education among the country’s most vulnerable groups…

‘小姐’集体宣誓真实培训过程
Prostitutes* Collectively Swear an Oath and “Persuade Customers to Wear Condoms” — An Actual Training Course

First, it should be explained, this “training” is not normal “traning,” it is not, as some people would expect, training to make prostitutes more expert; it is a kind of educational course for intervention on behalf of people who are at high risk of contracting AIDS.

Yesterday, it was reported that Guangzhou prostitutes collectively swore an oath, “without condoms, no sex,” causing an uproar.  Many people criticize this kind of method as coddling prostitutes, and some people put forward that Guangzhou departments are just using World AIDS Day to make an impact.

Actually, this kind of prostitute health oath was already being done as early as a few years ago, furthermore many select locations across the country have all done this kind of oath — all are “high risk intervention task forces” who conduct AIDS protection interventions for high risk groups to persuade them to take the oath.

This involved a key person — Fang Shaoping.  He is the author of the oath to use condoms.  As it were, he is a hero in the history of Chinese AIDS prevention, because the work was too sensitive and controversial, and was very low-key, it was only understood by experts, very few people heard about it.  This contributed to holding back China’s rise in AIDS,  presumably it will be recorded in AIDS prevention history.

Fang Shaoping is China’s greatest AIDS high risk people group intervention course teacher. In the industry, he is the expert who has “touched” the most prostitutes; in 1991, he began researching AIDS prevention and high risk group intervention. He not only engaged in AIDS prevention interventions for prostitutes, he also trained “high risk intervention task force members” in famous places across the country, allowing more “high risk intervention task force members” to go and effectively guide prostitutes.

ORIGINAL STORY:
‘小姐’集体宣誓真实培训过程

NOTES:
* 小姐 (literally, “little older sister” or “little lady”) is written in quote marks throughout the article to connote “prostitute.”