WR 39C: ARGUMENT & RESEARCH
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The Advocacy Project: A Multi-modal Composition
Like the HCP Project, the main assignment here is a multi-modal composition that uses various
rhetorical positions and different types of evidence to make arguments. This one, however, is a bit
different from the first in that over the course of these next few weeks, as you research and evaluate
various sources, and as you draft, craft and organize your thoughts and evidence, you will at some point
have to make a decision to become an advocate for solutions to your central problem in at least one of
the following three ways: 1) you might advocate for one or more specific solutions to the significant
and current political/social/cultural problem that sits at the center of your focus; 2) you might locate
the next steps to potentially solving your project’s central problem; or, 3) you might argue for why the
current solutions do not work and leave your readers with questions about possible next steps. In
other words, your arguments for advocating solutions in combination with the analytical reasons you
provide for why you have chosen to focus on particular solutions will after weeks and weeks of diligent
engagement become a richly-textured thesis statement, one that deepens your articulation of the
problem at hand and argues for convincing for ways to move forward.
When we think of the act of advocating and when we imagine a person or an organization who is an
advocate for a cause, we think of strongly held opinions delivered with intensity from a rhetorical
position that appears unshakable, deeply confident in the ethical rightness of its arguments and the
accuracy of its knowledge. If we look at advocacy in such ways, we can understand why it takes time to
become a convincing advocate, and that advocacy, even when it is delivered in the form of a thesisdriven composition, is a form of argumentation that can be quite different from the balanced arguments
we often think of as academic writing even if it is as rigorous in its presentation of evidence.
This is not to say that academic writers are not advocates. They are, and over the course of this project,
you will become such an advocate—one who uses academic research and methods to deliver persuasive
arguments convincingly to a public of one’s peers. Academic writers in many disciplines often write with
the purpose of advocating for solutions to political/social/cultural/environmental problems. When they
do so, they are expected to consider and present positions that run against theirs in various ways – call
them counter arguments – in order to meet the expectations of their academic audience. They must
demonstrate their mastery of established arguments and knowledge in areas of discourse and recognize
the legitimacy of other perspectives, even if the author seeks ultimately to dismiss them.
In the realm of public advocacy, arguments and persuasion can look, feel, and sound quite different.
Public advocates deliver strong and impassioned arguments by undermining counter arguments. They
do so by choice and with knowledge about the various perspectives and pieces of evidence that may
potentially undermine their case. When putting forth arguments in academic or public settings, the
most convincing advocates do not simply put forward solutions without first comprehending the
informed debates in which these solutions are situated. Rather, successful advocates draw from a deep
well of knowledge when carefully selecting the evidence and rhetorical appeals that will make their case
about how to address the profound social problems they put before their audiences.
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This assignment challenges you to become that strong advocate, one who delivers convincing solutions
to a current and pressing political/social/cultural problem. You cannot, in all likelihood, be this advocate
at the beginning of the project. You will need to spend time researching and evaluating sources; you will
need to explore various arguments and perspectives as you write proposals and drafts. At some point,
however, after deepening your knowledge and maybe even after writing a full draft or two, you will
need to choose a position to advocate.
The Rules of the Game:
The Graded Submission:
In Week 9 or thereabouts, you will submit your advocacy composition for a grade.
The Ungraded Work:
Between now and the submission deadline for the final version in Week 9, your instructor will give you a
number of assignments to complete: source evaluations and annotations, outlines, prospective
statements of argument, free writing, drafts, peer reviews, and other useful things to help you develop
and craft your arguments. All of these assignments are ungraded, and they give you lots of artifacts to
use in your ePortfolio! Take advantage of these ungraded assignments; use them to explore ideas and
various arguments and as opportunities to receive feedback from your peers and your instructor so that
your arguments become clearer and your composition more cogent, richly textured, and gracefully
organized. If you complete all of the ungraded work, you put yourself in a much better position to turn
in a well-developed submission by the time the final deadline arrives. If you do not do the ungraded
work, your final product will have to contend with the final products of others who have and who will
therefore turn in work that is of higher quality because it will be more polished comprehensively, and its
arguments will be more mature, its thesis more persuasive, and its evidence more convincing.
The Word Counts for the Multi-modal Composition:
(Include notes and in-text citations but not the bibliography)
-Draft 1: 1850 words
-Draft 2: 2000 words
-Graded Submission: 2500 words
Sources & Citations:
You should use at least 10 sources beyond the sources you’ve been assigned in class or used in your first
essay. Use the MLA system for citing your sources.
The Assignments
Assignments
Deadlines
Advocacy Composition: Prewriting/Prospectus/
Research Proposal
Week 6
Advocacy Composition: Draft 1
Week 7
(Written portion of Draft 1: 1850 words minimum including notes and in-text citations but not bibliography,
multimodal.)
2
Advocacy Composition: Draft 2
(Written portion of Draft 2: 2500 words minimum including notes and in-text citations but not bibliography,
multimodal.)
Week 8
Advocacy Composition: Graded Submission
(Written portion of Draft 2: 2500 words minimum including notes and in-text citations but not bibliography,
multimodal.)
Week 9
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Zibin Peng
Professor Julie Anna Schulte
Writing 39C
5 November 2018
Sex industry threats China’ national health
Introduction
The term ‘sex workers’ refer to both men, women, as well as transgendered individuals
that receive financial payments or goods in exchange for sexual favors or services.
Fundamentally, these individuals knowingly define their activities as income creating even when
they never consider sex work as their profession. Broadly, the terms ‘men,’ ‘women,’ as well as
‘transgendered’ people in the essay include sexually active teenagers. A social problem refers to
a socially recognized condition, which a segment or part of the community perceives as
detrimental to its members and which needs to be rectified. For instance, while others view sex
work ‘prostitution’ as a social problem, others may consider it just like any other work.
Therefore, it has become gradually evident in many countries, such as China, the country devotes
itself shutting down sex industry because that role of commercial sex is central in increasing and
supporting social problems such as HIV/AIDS epidemics. In the Chinese society, the level of
HIV prevalence among the general public is estimated to be 0.06 per cent, with the number of
new infections increasing each day. Generally, even though China is experiencing lowprevalence levels, the epidemic is still rising, with major regions encountering increased number
of epidemics. Consequently, studying the sex work landscape in China can help people better
understand that why prostitution severely hurts Chinese’ national health.
Sex Workers in Historic Times
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In china, sex work was considerably common in major trading towns during the late
nineteenth epoch and early twentieth era. During the year 1949, when the communist regime
assumed power, the congress demanded for the closure of all the brothels in China. In addition,
during this time, a number of female rehabilitations and treatment places were built, where
majority of the sex workers were held. During the period 1955, there increased national
campaigns agitating for moral values, and reproaching sexually transferred diseases as well as
sex work (Tucker et al. 121-129). These campaigns contributed to the abolition and
criminalization of sex work, leading to widespread closures of brothels.
These actions further contributed for national wide control and eradication of almost all
the sexually transmitted diseases by the year 1964 (Pirkle, Soundardjee and Stella). It also
contributed to high economic trajectory, leading to increased movement of people by 1978, and
especially between rural to urban places. Subsequently, owing to the increased prospects, high
tourism, and greater tolerance to sexual behaviors, an increased sex working environment
flourished. The enabling environment in China also prompted the increase of commercialized
sex in the country. Principally, the increasing economic prospects of the Chinese societies
worked as the chief driver behind the emergence and spread of commercial sex industry. It is this
industry, which has cultivated an increased number of Chinese and immigrant sex workers.
Equally, the growth of sex work industry in the country has continued growing significantly over
the time, with most recent developments being witnessed over the last two decades.
The projected number of female sex workers was approximately 25,000 in the period
1985 to nearly 6 million people in the year 2000. The United States’ state department report on
China projected that in the year 2001, there was almost 10 million sex workers in China (HIV
and AIDS Data Hub). However, more recent statistics report higher estimates of Chinese sex
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workers. The epidemics among the Chinese female sex workers are considerably diverse across
the nation and its provinces. In china, sex work has been mainly predominant within the coastal
parts of China, including China’s coastal provinces. Within the urban regions of Guiyang as well
as Xingyi, the estimated number of female sex workers is 17,500 and 2,500 respectively (Pirkle,
Soundardjee and Stella), reflecting a 3.4 and 3.6 per cent of the urban female populace.
In China’s main towns, including Shanghai and Beijing, the number of sex workers
comprise of majorly migrant populations from high-risk areas. The projected number of sex
work consumers stand at about 17.7 million in Beijing and 37.4 million in Shanghai (Lu et al).
Importantly, there are exists different groups or types of sex workers. These workers also
originate from different social and economic strata of the Chinese community. One major
category of these workers includes sex workers who work at high-end settings, including places
such as private launches. Thus, majority of sex workers in the country are able to obtain
customers in places such as entertainment joints, clubs, as well as private establishments in
China. Additionally, new and emerging forms of sex services are coming up, including call girls
as well as sex service through the internet, cars, or renting rooms; therefore, making the response
more puzzling.
Today, the sex industry in China is becoming increasingly based in brothels as found in
other Asian countries. A more recent brothel-based study on sex work in the year 2000
established that three commonly used employment arrangements exist within sex work
landscape. These arrangements help in governing and directing the economic as well as the
social relationships between managers and the sex workers. The well-recognized arrangement
includes work and housing because most of the workers undertake business outside their cities or
hometowns in efforts to conceal identity and maintain anonymity. The next arrangement is a
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type where the employers are given earnings by sex workers. These employers in turn help sex
workers with daily basic needs, including clothing and foods. The last arrangement includes
‘free-agents’ whose work is to manage workers.
In the present Chinese society, sex work has particularly become more transient in nature.
Most of the sex workers are normally based in hotels, saloons, massaging parlors, restaurants, as
well as many other modern-time establishments. Moreover, street-based form of sex work is also
on the rise, even though, it is usually done on a short-term basis (due to fears of harassment and
incarcerations by the police). A large segment of these sex workers come from the lower socioeconomic areas, with the goal of earning and saving as much as they can to help and feed their
families. Some of these sex workers are forced into the profession perhaps to obtain sufficient
income to establish businesses. The average monthly earnings of these workers usually vary
from US$50 to US$80, depending on the place, city, and client.
The other important population of these workers includes male workers. Majority of the
male workers serving male clients are commonly known as ‘money boys or yazi’ in China.
However, there are little to none statistics on men sex workers within China. The absence of
these statistics is perhaps due to the political as well as cultural restrictions in the Chinese
society. Other reasons could include self-denial and marginalization within mainland China.
Hence, the population and number of men sex workers in the country are largely unknown;
however, projections range from 4.9 to 24 per cent, with most of these workers staying and
working in the cities. Men sex workers may have both female and male clients. A survey by Cai
et al ( 15-20) conducted in the cities of Qingdao and Beijing reported that approximately 44 per
cent of the respondents studied identified themselves as homosexuals, another 44 per cent as bisexual, while the remaining 12 per cent as heterosexuals. Another study performed on 394 male
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workers in the city of Shenzhen indicated that about 25 per cent of the respondents identified
themselves as homosexuals and over 70 per cent had sexual encounters with both men and
women (Cai et al. 15-20).
Sex Workers threat China’s social&national health
Sex work draws diverse controversies and continues to elicit mixed reactions both for
legal and public policy experts in China, raising important questions regarding social relations.
In China, though sex work is not considered as being a criminal conduct, sex workers are
arrested and detained regardless of what let them into engaging in commercial sex. Moreover,
the government of China has sporadically enforced a number of anti-sex work laws through its
different agencies to try to vanish this industry, including the police. Several crackdowns have
been undertaken over the years, arresting both sex workers as well as brothel managers, with one
of the most intense crackdowns happening in the year 2010 (Huang and Pan 1067-1079). It is
therefore, evident that sex work is a social problem in China because of the accompanying
phenomena that threats to China’s national health, including sexually transmitted diseases,
corruption to the populace's cultivation , and organized crimes.
Sex work is also seen in China as a social problem because it often endangers the health
and welfare of sellers, consumers, and the society in general due to the spread of sexually
transmitted diseases. Over the decades, the partial triumph of China’s anti-sex work efforts
encouraged punitive as well as vengeance-based approaches to this type of work, where most of
the individuals involved in it have been perceived as deviants.
According to Wang et al, sex workers are about 13 times more prone into contracting
sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV compared to the general population in China. Wang
et al explains that this group of people are at increased risk because of high chances of being
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economically susceptible, unable to negotiate regular condom use, and often encounter violence,
banishment, in addition to criminalization.
Furthermore, sex activities and related works in China are fundamentally illegal and
outlawed undertakings as formulated and contain in the country’s constitution, particularly the
1992 Women’s law and other national legislations that have been put into place (Jolly and Ying).
The Chinese government and authorities usually makes use of a traditional strategy approach in
executing and applying severe laws and bylaws against sex activities, with the purpose of
thwarting or obliterating high risk behaviors. Therefore, based on these laws and any other
restrictions in force, most of the sex workers in China are subject to many administrative
penalties such as fines, long-term detention, incarceration, as well as warnings.
According to Article 358 of the People’s Republic of China criminal laws, any person
found to be guilty of engaging or compelling a woman into having work may be sentenced to an
imprisonment term of between 5 to 10 years (Settle et al.). According to Settle et al, the
maximum sentence was afterwards amended to include a death penalty by the year 1991
following the China’s decision in fighting against prostitution. Settle et al also underpins Article
359 of the Chinese criminal rules, which clearly outlines that any individual that gains or takes
advantage, accommodates, or even invites a woman for sexual activity may be punished for a
maximum of 5 years in jail. China’s constitution, especially those laws that forbid prostitution,
criminalizes people who may organize others for the purposes of sex work and those using
minors below 14 years for sex activities. All these offenses are also punishable by a death
penalty for those found guilty in China.
Under China’s Administrative Punishment Act, the law allows for the detention and
prosecution of both sellers and buyers of sexual services. Under this law, the punishment for
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offenders is 15 days in detention and a fine. Some of the offenders are also taken for four years
in-rehabilitation centers as well as labor camps. According to statistics, each year at least 40,000
to 50,000 women are held under detention and taken to labor camps or rehabilitation centers
because of selling sex. According to Choi, about 300,000 of women sex workers in China are
currently incarcerated.
More recently, China’s laws have also included sexually transmitted infections as well as
HIV prevention awareness because of the increase in unprotected sexual encounters. Another
law that is commonly applied in China is the Frontier Health and Quarantine Law. According to
this law, sex offenders can be jailed for about 6 months to 2 years. In addition, it states that those
that consciously contaminate other with sexually transmitted diseases are also subject to charges
and imprisonment terms.
Trends in this industry particularly point out that the industry is growing and there are
chances of its participants experiencing increased chances of HIV infection. In the year 2005,
estimates projected that about 127, 000 HIV infected sex workers and their clients living in
China (Parry 257-336). According to Yang et al (292-303), the incidence of HIV as well as other
sexually conducted infections among sex workers and their consumers has been on the rise, with
higher chances of disease spread than in the general Chinese population.
In addition to HIV and STIs, sex work in China has also contributed to family violence,
which has been a major cause of sex workers among women. Remarkably, the increase in sex
workers has also led to family violence and breakups. It is also important to note that this is how
sex workers threat social health by interacting and associating with other women in the society.
In most cases, they may meet in social paces or other social setups, for instance, in the salons
where they may engage in discussions, convincing others into sex work as a job. In China, a
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good number of married women have fallen into this trap, forcing families many families to
disintegrate. In this regard, sex work acts as a major social problem in China because it
contributes to societal suffering and lose of important social fabrics, which hold members
together. For instance, it may lead to increased stress among people in the society, especially in
places where families have been broken up, contributing to high risks of mental disorders among
the population.
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References
Chow, Eric P. F. et al. "Risk Behaviours among Female Sex Workers in China: A Systematic
Review and Data Synthesis". PLOS ONE, vol 10, no. 3, 2015, p. e0120595. Public
Library Of Science (Plos), doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0120595.
Choi SY, Chen KL, Jiang ZQ, Client‐perpetuated violence and condom failure among female sex
workers in southwestern China. Sex Transm Dis. 2008 Feb;35(2):141‐6.
Huang, Yingying, and Suiming Pan. "Government Crackdown Of Sex Work In China:
Responses From Female Sex Workers And Implications For Their Health". Global
Public Health, vol 9, no. 9, 2014, pp. 1067-1079. Informa UK Limited,
doi:10.1080/17441692.2014.954592.
HIV and AIDS Data Hub China ‐ all indicators. China, National HIV/AIDS Sentinel
Surveillance Results. 2009.
Jolly, S. and W. Ying, Key Issues on Gender and HIV/AIDS in China: Report for DFID. 2003,
DFID.
Parry, J., China's Pragmatic Approach to AIDS. Bulletin of the World Health Organization,
2006. 84(4): p. 257‐ 336.
People’s Republic of China, Regulations on AIDS prevention and treatment, decree 457 of the
state council of the PRC, 2006.
Pirkle, C., R. Soundardjee, and A. Stella, Female Sex Workers in China: Vectors of Disease?
Sexually Transmitted Diseases 2007. 34(9): p. 695‐703.
Lu, F., et al., Estimating the number of people at risk for and living with HIV in China in 2005:
methods and results. Sex Transm Infect, 2006. 82(Suppl III): p. iii87‐ iii91.
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Settle, et al, “Decriminalizing Sex Work: Implications for HIV Prevention and Control in
China”, in J.D. Tucker, L. Dudley eds., Gender Policy and HIV in China: Catalyzing
Policy Change. (Springer, 2009).
Tucker, J., et al., Incarcerated Sex Workers and HIV Prevention in China: Social Suffering and
Social Justice Countermeasures. Social Science and Medicine, 2010. 70: p.121‐129.
Wang, L. et al. The HIV, Syphilis, And HCV Epidemics Among Female Sex Workers In China:
Results From A Serial Cross-Sectional Study Between 2008 And 2012. 2018. Accessed 2
Nov 2018.
Wang H, Chen RY, et al, Prevalence and predictors of HIV infection among female sex workers
in Kaiyuan City, Yunnan Province, China. Int J Infect Dis. 2009 Mar;13(2):162‐9.
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