Three academics from the Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Boston University and Fudan University spent the last two years conducting face-to-face interviews with 177 freelance prostitutes in Geylang.

Their one major finding?

Streetwalkers are pretty judgmental people who charge clients based on their skin colour and even refuse jobs because of it.

From MyPaper on Sept. 4, 2014:

One of the study’s key findings is that prostitutes pick and choose their clients, charging some more and others less.

For instance, Caucasians are typically asked to pay $81 because they are perceived to be more willing and able to pay. Chinese are charged $69, while Bangladeshis pay the lowest at $44, because they are seen as less wealthy.

Some prostitutes also prefer not to have Indian and Bangladeshi clients.

“This data gives us a broader understanding of how discrimination operates and policymakers can use it to tackle discrimination in other markets and contexts,” said another researcher behind the study, Huailu Li, assistant professor at Fudan University in China.

It is still unclear at this point how policymakers can eradicate racism in prostitution with this information.

However, researcher Leong Kaiwen, an assistant professor in economics at NTU, said the study is “an important contribution to the field of labour economics in general”.

He said:

“To the best of our knowledge, our work is the first of its kind because such data is rare.”

Well, perhaps.

For the curious and just so you know: The study also found that the typical freelance streetwalker in Geylang is 26 years old and can make some $3,200 a month after paying for rent and factoring in cost of living, provided she services four clients a night for $70 each on average.

Almost all freelance prostitutes in Singapore are foreigners from China, Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia and they are not based in brothels.

Many come to Singapore on social visit passes while others moonlight while holding other jobs.

It is against the law to solicit in public or for pimps to live off the earnings of prostitutes. But prostitution is not an offence in Singapore.

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Top photo via Al Jazeera English

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