#ptgf: World of young sex workers

Searching for ‘part-time girlfriends’ now popular in Hong Kong

Hong Kong, May 30: For Hong Kong’s “part-time girlfriends”, social media provides an easy way to connect with clients looking for sex, but campaigners warn that online convenience is tempting girls as young as 13 to put themselves at risk.

The label “part-time girlfriend” is a euphemism often used by young women who may be studying or have jobs, but who also offer sex on the side.

By using variations of the hashtag #ptgf as shorthand, they connect with men on networks such as Instagram then switch to direct messaging to offer services and arrange to meet.

Instagram says it has made #ptgf and #hkptgf unsearchable, but a host of new alternatives that add Chinese characters or initials to the original tag circumvent the block.

Loneliness, curiosity, family breakdown and financial pressures are key motivators for young women to try it out, according to support workers on the ground.

High-school student Kiki, a pseudonym she chose to protect her identity, started part-time sex work aged 17, saying it was easy to search for men on Instagram by using one of the #ptgf tags.

“I had an argument with my sister and was not very happy, so I just wanted to find someone to listen to me,” she said.

“For the first few times I felt quite good... so I kept looking for clients for company.” She admits she was nervous about meeting strangers, but the financial incentive outweighed her doubts.

“My family is not very wealthy. I was making money for myself and saved it,” she says. Kiki says she charged from HK$300 ($38) for dinner or “touching”, up to HK$1,000 for other sexual services.

After less than a year she gave up because she had started a new relationship.

Now 19, she says she is left with a sense of regret and warns other girls to think carefully before taking the leap.