This juxtaposition aptly captures the irony of how Singapore, as a country, continues to both view and persecute sex work. And even more recently in December , the government endorsed stronger police raid tactics on illegal brothels. While there are no available statistics, we know for a fact that these establishments exist, and that they are everywhere. The "SPA" signage is synonymous with the dodgy massage parlour. This shop even advertises the nationalities of its masseuses.
For those who are unsure how these establishments work, this is how it usually goes:. As these are less commonly provided or requested for than handjobs, this study will focus only on handjobs. Anyone who says no to these services will quickly find themselves faced with the wrath of these women. One customer that I ran into outside one such establishment shared that he preferred these massages because they feel more intimate.
These figures are conservative estimations. To get some sense of the scale of this industry, we dropped by the districts most well-known for it, like Parklane Shopping Centre and Orchard Towers. Spend enough time in one of these malls and you begin to recognise the smell of vice: a heady combination of cold air, fresh laundry, and cheap perfumeβnot unlike the smell of most hotel rooms. But apart from these, we also visited some lesser-known ones in Katong Shopping Centre and along Macpherson Road.
To be clear, these were not your Natureland or Green Apple type of joints. Based on our observations, most of these massage parlours employ an average of 4 workers. Each worker services around 5 customers a day. Some of the women we spoke to share that the bulk of their expenditure goes towards food, make-up, mobile plans, and other personal expenses.
One lady shared that she was saving up so she could return to China to start her own business. On average, she manages to save about 60 percent of her salary.
