Prostitution in Chengdu.

It astounds me. Had I never been led down the street and shown the places prostitution occurs, or happened to stumble across a couple womens' run-ins with the law, it would still affect me. It occurs in the form of a single, three-word question.

"Are you Russian?"

Never a variation. Are. You. Russian? Had no one alerted me to the deeper meaning of this question, I probably would have started wondering on my own why I hear it so often when I look nothing close to Russian in the first place. The meaning here is this...

"You're clearly not from here. You don't behave as the rest of us do. Do you have sex for money?"

This either means I should alter my behavior to something more culturally appropriate, or - NO. It doesn't matter what I'm doing, or how I'm dressed. I've been asked this on multiple occasions, in multiple scenarios. The reason behind their asking this is because 1. most of the alleged Russians that come to China are alleged  prostitutes 2. they're just as ignorant of what outsiders look like as Americans are (and I don't even want to get started there today).

It just makes me wonder... in the future, how am I to avoid being objectified as an anthropologist? I'm really, for the mostpart, just a foreigner in most of the situations I'd like to be in.

My own note on Russians here: I saw two at my favorite club, and they were certainly strippers.

I'm fairly sure it would be inappropriate to ask Chinese girls dressed for the club (or not) if they were prostitutes. I'm only grabbing blindly here, but I have a feeling that to treat a non-foreigner as such in my numerous  scenarios would be extremely rude. But, the truly interesting thing is that the sex workers here are much more modest in their dress than anywhere I've seen at home - than any of the girls at the club. In fact, they look as though they're going to a job interview. Just... at 11 o'clock at night and later. I'll have to sketch the basic outfit I've seen one day, because I've so much to say about prostitution in general. But before I continue with my discussion, I have to get this out of the way.

The Chinese government has made significant efforts to end prostitution in its numerous forms. While once culturally acceptable, it has for numerous, many positive reasons, sought to end the sex trade. For the number of facilities allowed by corrupt police departments (that, in that area, paid more attention to shutting down illegal food vendors), I've seen attempts to end it. In addition, the type of prostitution people try to attribute to foreigners is likely much more organized that what I've seen.

The first time I witnessed the presence of the sex trade in Chengdu, my friend merely walked me down a side street, where "massage parlors" by day became brothels at night. "Sliding glass doors," he cited as one of the most prominent features of such facilities. I don't have to agree on the significance of such things, but the important part is that you could see into almost every one, where 4-6 heavily made-up women sat waiting for customers on a couch, often huddled next to a space heater. Obvious, yet subtle all at once. 

The second time, I almost forgot of its prominence until I was walking home one night on Wangjiang Road. There were women sitting, waiting on the curb, texting, just lingering. I had never really made the mental connection that they actually had no reason to be there at such an hour (since the buses stop running around 10, and they weren't waving down any cabs) until a white VW pulled up. The girls I was walking past immediately fled - broke ASS - like mice, or mentally handicapped zebras. It was so aimless and desperate, I wasn't exactly sure what the hell was going on. But soon, I realized that there was a uniformed officer in the car. The women slightly up the road hadn't seen him yet, so the next time he pulled up (almost right next to me) and got out of the car - the two women ahead were electrifyingly startled, and began sprinting, in their purses and high heels, as quickly as they could towards the nearby parking lot. The scuffle beforehand reminded me of a bear about to stomp on a rabbit - it was actually quite comical from an outsider's pov. But there's still a lot I don't know about how things work here, and don't plan on ever knowing.

So regardless, I just shook my head and kept walking.    

(P.S. As much as I would like to leave it on this note, it is seriously much more complicated than what I've presented here, especially in relation to foreigners. But it's really not my business to share the full extent of what these misconceptions can cause. I'll just reiterate that the most violent element of society is ignorance. Thank you, Emma Goldman.)