Prostitution is legal in Singapore, where the state openly regulates rather than suppresses the trade. However, illegal sex workers vastly outnumber those with a license, many of them picking up trade using the internet and social media. In Singapore, prostitution is legal, but public solicitation, living on the earnings of prostitution and operating a brothel is illegal. The government regulates prostitution rather than trying to eradicate it, but nevertheless illegal sex workers saturate the industry.
The problem is showing no sign of going away. Yet thousands more choose — or are forced — to work without a license. Unable to access the same protection the state offers licensed workers, illegal sex workers will either work from massage or beauty parlours or cut out the middleman altogether and set up a profile online which they use to pick up clients.
But for the illegal sex workers, the transient ones, there are no health services, education or testing services for them. As police stepped up their efforts by increasing surveillance and police patrols , sex workers reacted by changing how they went about their business. Pimps employed people to keep watch and alert them whenever police patrols were on their way. Prostitutes started advertising their services online.
Sex workers used websites hosted outside of Singapore to circumvent it. Although police operations and raids have increased, illegal prostitution continues unabated. Websites on which sex workers advertise their services and others where clients openly discuss their own experiences and recommendations are easy to find.
One popular site is the Sammyboy Forum www. Here, reports of sexual activities and advertisements run into hundreds of posts. There is no attempt to hide what is going on. Visitors are even encouraged to download a specific browser to avoid censorship. Local law enforcers have spoken out against the forum. The site itself is hosted in the US , meaning the Singapore government cannot easily act against it. Instead, the police wait for others to make complaints rather than being proactive.
