A brave journey: From mamasan to outspoken activist
One of the most popular and lavish nightclubs in Hong Kong during the 1980s. Photo: Pinterest
Amanda, 63, a former Filipino mamasan – a female pimp, had worked in the industry for nearly two decades and found her true calling to speak out and share her personal story.
“We close our eyes and it is our sickness in the world,” says Amanda. Her life now is a complete change from her life in the 1970s where she earned a huge fortune as a female pimp.
Her journey has been an extraordinary and inspiring one.
Amanda grew up in a middleclass family in the Philippines until her father, who was a professor, passed away unexpectedly. Aged 19, she accepted a job as a dancer in Hong Kong to support her mother and eight siblings.
She came to Hong Kong on an entertainer visa in 1972 and worked as a dancer in nightclubs and hotels at first. A year later, the agency she worked for did not extend her contract, so she ended up becoming a hostess in a nightclub.
After getting married with a Filipino permanent resident in 1974, she continued her job in the nightclub and moved up to become female pimp a few years later.
“The nightclub I worked at was the biggest in Hong Kong at that time [in the 1980s],” Amanda recalls her old life saying, “in my “heyday”, I took care of more than 100 girls.” There were around 1,000 hostesses and 100 mamasan from Hong Kong, Europe, Columbia, and America at the once popular and lavish nightclub in Tsim Sha Tsui, which was closed five years ago.
The nightclub is large in scale that its dance floor could cater for 400 persons in a space of 6,500 square metres. The customers faced a minimum door charge of HK$2,500 to HK$3,000.
Amanda established an extensive network there and earned more than enough money to support her family at home. Therefore, the club continued the contract and gave her an extra of HK$200,000 as incentive, and on top of that a monthly salary of HK$20,000 and commission from customers.
Comparably, in the 1980s, a university graduate could earn around HK$15,000 a month to work as a trainee at local banks, according to SkyPost, which is still lower than Amanda’s monthly salary (HK$20,000).
“I dreamt to be rich when I was young,” she says, “that’s why it becomes so natural for me to sell the girls.”
A mamasan was waiting outside the club to serve potential customers passing by the street in Wan Chai
It was around the same time that Amanda almost filed divorce from her husband when she met a woman, who later introduced her to Christianity, during a trip back to the Philippines.
“I realised I wasn’t happy even though I was rich,” she says, “many girls take drugs because they don’t want to go out with the customers, but they have to.” Amanda started feeling guilty for managing and selling women for sex. She admits that there were cases of sex trafficking in the nightclubs, and some engaged in sex work out of desperation and temptations of money.
The sex workers told Amanda that some customers treated them brutally and made them scared to go out with clients. “It could be dangerous, two girls who worked at the club were killed while I was there [in the 1980s],” she adds.
In 2014, British banker Rurik Jutting inhumanly murdered two Indonesian sex workers he met in Wan Chai’s red light district. The horrific killing highlights the potential dangers faced by sex workers.
Rurik Jutting, the British banker found guilty of killing two sex workers he met in Wan Chai. Photo: AFP
Amanda considers herself lucky compared to her friend who used to work at a brothel and experienced a very difficult time - a memory she would never forget for the rest of her life.
“When she told me her story, I was shocked,” Amanda says with tears in her eyes, “she was doing sex work completely against her will.”
The brothel was run by a triad who had absolute control of the sex workers. “My friend only get HK$50 for one deal at the brothel when compared with at least HK$1,000 she could make for one deal in the club,” she exclaims.
Her friend’s trauma intensified when she got pregnant accidentally and her pimp still forced her to continue doing sex work. “She ended up having an abortion, and got infected afterwards,” Amanda sighs. Life became easier when one of her pimps helped to pay off her debts and set her free from the brothel.
In 1993, Amanda affirmed to leave the business for good, two years after she converted to Christianity.
“My spirit and my soul could not take it anymore. I was tortured inside,” she says. Amanda has not regretted returning HK$200,000 to the club owner in order to break the contract.
“I don’t make much money now, but feel happier,” she says. Reconciled with her husband and staying close to her daughter and grandchild, Amanda is now a freelance waitress and is planning to retire next year.
Despite the objection of friends, Amanda has come forward to her family and shared her story in various media outlets and churches. Some of her friends, who had been sex workers before, keep the tragic past to themselves, hiding from their husbands and children.
Amanda disagrees and says, “this is my life, and I have to face it.” She hopes to help others rise from their misfortune to freedom and change the stigma around sex workers, as they could be victims of sex trafficking or feel lost in life.
On one occasion, her ex-colleagues saw her interview on the television and looked down on her. Yet, it does not shake her determination. “Because of my boldness, just like you and many others, the way you look at sex workers will change. You will not only condemn those girls,” Amanda says.
Name of the woman in this article has been altered for privacy.
