6S Wong Tsz Yan Compensated Dating Dear Editor I am writing in response to the news article in your paper dated

13 May 2010, about compensated dating in Hong Kong. The article starts by recounting a story about a city accountant paying for sex with some underage girls. This incident is the tip of the iceberg and there are many more similar cases that have been uncovered. In the light of this, I would like to discuss the causes and suggest some methods to prevent this unlawful activity. There are a number of reasons causing this social problem. First of all, some girls nowadays are materialistic. In order to quench their thirst for brand name items, they do everything they can such as selling their bodies to earn more money. They just deem it as an easy way to earn money, and so this behaviour has now become commonplace. Moreover, some girls have a misconception about compensated dating. They believe that there is a great difference between compensated dating and prostitution. Prostitution is all about having sex whereas compensated dating is not. Therefore, many girls do not mind getting involved in this activity. Lastly, peer pressure is a crucial factor in this problem. Those who are involved in this activity undoubtedly spend their earnings on expensive items and brand name products, which may in turn tempt their friends to follow suit. As such, they may try to take part in compensated dating due to the influence of their friends. This is a burgeoning social problem that should not be tolerated and thus we must do something to fix it. To stop this practice, I think we need to work on several aspects. For parents, they must change their childrens attitude towards materialism and let them know that money does not mean everything. More importantly, children should understand that material comforts can only provide a short-lived happiness. For teachers, they must infuse in these teenage girls the proper moral values and let them understand that compensated dating is equivalent to prostitution and both are actually wrong. Also, teenagers should do everything they can to

advise and help their friends involved in compensated dating. Only through different people working together can this problem be resolved. I think that compensated dating should be avoided at all costs. Otherwise the development of teenagers will be seriously affected. Yours faithfully Chris Wong (397 words)