CNN Tells Only Part of the Story

CNN’s, Will Ripley, recently reported about the fact that the sex industry has collapsed in Japan. He is partly correct, anyway.

Sex work has changed everywhere. Japan is just one country of many where streetworkers have fallen on hard times. And despite the primly moralizing tone of this report, one feels as badly for escorts and streetworkers in Japan, as elsewhere. The pandemic has made it far more difficult for them to earn a living.

Sex Industry Beyond Streetworkers

Ripley’s report focuses on streetworkers, those who never really make enough money to get out of the financial hole. However, there are other sex industry worker who may be faring far better. Escorting — or “providing,” as we now call it — is economically a different proposition.

And providers may do very well in cash terms. The reporter seems entirely unaware of this other sector in the sex industry. He seems to believe the entire sex industry has collapsed economically, and that is as untrue in Japan as it is elsewhere.

Ripley tells us only about the streetworkers on Tokyo’s main sex drag. One looks at the shots of these streetworkers and forms an image of Japan’s sex industry. Yes, these streetworkers are on the trot, all right.

But providers look and dress quite normally. They are often educated, and chatting with them is no different from chatting with a friend at dinner. And yes, their business is collapsing too, but they have options. Webcamming is one.

Sex Industry Isn’t Dead, Despite Reports to the Contrary

This reporter seems clueless about this and makes it sound as though everyone who works in the sex industry is having a tough time getting their next meal. Maybe this is so in Tokyo.

But there are other angles to this story. Unfortunately, this sad tale, which would play well in Sunday school class, misses them.