Compensated Dating
Since there is a remarkable increase in the number of girls who involve in compensated dating, the problem has become serious and controversial. This phenomenon has been prevalent among teenage girls in Hong Kong ‘Compensated dating’ is a practice in which a young woman agrees to go on a date with a man for a fee or luxury gifts. The dates sometimes involve sex or companionship.
Let’s discuss the causes that girls go on compensated dating first. The main reason is to earn money. Many teenage girls who engage in compensated dates are dominated by materialistic goods. They desire to gain money in a fast and an easy way for the sake of designer clothes, bags and cosmetics. The minor reason is peer pressure. Teenagers are easily affected by their friends. If some of their friends are doing it, girls will be enticed into going on compensated dates. Moreover, some girls do it since they either come from broken families or have dismal childhood memories and they yearn for love, attention and happiness.
As more teens engage in compensated dates, it becomes a worrying and conspicuous trend. Girls who have involved in compensated dates may be anxious about pregnancy. They become confused and get lost easily when they get babies. Their self-esteem and also assertiveness plummeted then. Last year, there was a 16-year-old girl killed by a gruesome murderer after she went to a men’s apartment for a compensated date. The murderer killed the girl and dismembered her baby and flushed the remains down the toilet. Hence, many people realised that compensated dating can be very dangerous. Other than these, the attitude of those girls who are involving in dates is a crucial cause. Their attitude has been distorted. Most girls do not view themselves as prostitutes even though they ‘sell’ themselves on the Internet. It is because they think they have a lot of power to control whether they continue to go on dates or not and they can quit anytime. Actually, social workers said that after the first time the girls went on compensated dating, they would try the second time.
Solutions to help the girls get rid of compensated dating should be sought immediately. Some girls engage in dates because of their broken families. Therefore, improved family communication is essential. If families are harmonious, children are more willing to share their secrets or ask for help. Furthermore, organisations which help teenagers should provide workshops for teenagers. If the girls join vocational training, they might find job more readily or spend their time in joining workshops instead of involving in compensated dating. In addition, social workers can also help the girls who have already engaged in compensated dating. Workers can counsel the girls to help them give up and advise them to join other activities.
We should be concerned with our friends and families and this can prevent girls from involving in compensated dating. Girls should cherish their own body and do not engage in it even they have any difficulties.
5D (17) Tse Wing Lam