Todd Heisler's photographs: wow.
32
What a persevering comprehensive report , a good literature as well! I "know" her type, Chinese youth who grew up in an era saw their China parents labored so hard to pull themselves out of dirt poverty. Song Yang felt she had to be strong for her aging parents and kid brother, so strong a wish that she was willing to sacrifice her personal happiness and marry an old guy in order to have equal footing as everybody else to start making a better living overseas. Having come to U.S., she wanted to save up enough to start a small business probably an eatery. But menial labor in factories or kitchen doesn't save up, Lured by the ads. in local Chinese town newspapers, she thought she could save up by being a masseuse, without realizing the huge trade risk. After signing a lease paying $3K monthly rent, plus likely a huge deposit to the landlord, she could not just stop after being caught or harassed. She must have felt that at least she had to retrieve her cost. Besides, just 2 more months she could get the coveted residence card. She was the type that would never commit a suicide, despite occasional complaints, for her love for her close-nit family was too deep to have the heart to put them in such grief. She must have tried to get away by climbing down or jumping foolishly off the 4th floor balcony.
54
Truly tragic. Maybe police should try hiring women officers to make these girls talk to them comfortably and not use such hard line tactics? Police should work on their soft skills to encourage the girls to open about these operators. Ironic that such operators have gone all the way up to the White House.
34
WHY do you we permit limitless immigration?
Are Chinese prostitutes just doing a job that Americans won't do?
36
There is only one way to end this type of prostitution: Focus on the customers.
42
Thank you, Mr. Barry and Mr. Singer, for such an exquisitely written story about that which is too heavy for the heart to bear.
35
Oh my word! Just outstanding writing, superlative. Thank you.
30
I remember going shopping in Flushing, before it turned Asian. The Gertz on Roosevelt, Gloria's Pizza on Main. Sometimes a movie at the RKO Keith's on Northern or the UA on Main. Going home we'd board the Q27 on 39th Avenue, turning left on Prince, another left on Grove, now called 40th Road, passing the basketball courts that are still there.
Alot has changed in the past 50 years, some for the better, some not so much.
I think one thing that will never change is person's dream, a dream of a better life for themselves and for their children.
Unfortunatly, for some, their dreams won't come true.
21
Fabulous piece of journalism. Thank you for bearing witness.
31
Sisi's brother it right: the system killed his sister. I'm not suggesting that the police held a gun to her head and said jump. But they harassed her and stalked her while failing to protect her or offer meaningful alternatives. They were aided and abetted by the immigration system, the so-called special court and the community "leaders".
While there is no perfect solution to any vice, it is time for this country to get out of the 19th Century when it comes to sex work. We need an approach like Germany and Switzerland use where it is completely legal to sell your body but pimping, trafficking and otherwise exploiting other people's bodies is illegal. Sex workers not only get health checkups (and of course free medical care) but periodic visits from government social workers who are empowered to act on reports of exploitation or abuse.
Will some souls still slip through the cracks? Of course, but when you consider SiSi's story and the recent articles about the retired Vice Detective hiring cops as muscle, you know that the law enforcement approach to prostitution is a failure.
56
Sex, intimacy, between people is not a commodity to be bought and sold. Doing so is degrading to everyone involved.
14
You are dead wrong about Germany. I invite you to work in a legal German brothel for month (I'm sure some male customers would enjoy you) and then report back to us about how much "better" it is than what Sisi suffered through. It's you who are in the 19th century. The 21st century is embracing the Nordic Model, which has been adopted by Sweden, Norway, France, Canada, and Ireland. Under the Nordic Model, Sisi would not be prosecuted, but her cruel exploitive "boss" would be. Not only would she not be prosecuted, but the fines collected from her "boss" and her "customers" would be used to fund Exit Services, which is what 90% of women in the sex trade (mostly poor women of color) truly want and need. Please stop being a Pimp Apologist. Promote Exit Services for women like Sisi. These women are as human as you are, and as are traumatized by renting out their bodily orifices as you would be.
65
A truly "epic tragedy". Thank you Dan Barry and Jeffrey E. Singer for this truly touching piece, I could not stop reading until I got to the end. I am very saddened by what poor Song Yang went through. She had been through hell and in a sense it makes me feel "good" now that she is in peace in heaven. A sad sad reminder of the complicated and cruel realities that many many less fortunate people have to face everyday in their life. This tragedy also reinforces a belief that I have long held: if you are an illegal resident in a country, no matter how good you feel that country is, it is not for you.
18
What was it that the vice cops were going to accomplish by arresting one slight, humiliated, desperate woman? What horrible danger did she present?
109
We need the Nordic Model in this country, which would decriminalize women like Sisi, but would criminalize pimps like her "boss" while also providing Sisi with Exit Services. See: nordicmodelnow.org.
21
As others commented, this article was well-researched and written and very sad.
Our country (and immigration into the US) will never be the same following September 11. And, Trump is anti-immigration, except for those that come from countries he approves of -- and he has a small list. With that in mind, I wonder if people that come to this country don't realize the US is no longer a safe haven for all and that they may be better off going to countries where they would be welcomed and have a chance to start a new life.
10
Song Yang made bad choices, such as opting for prostitution when she had other options. She parted company with her husband who moved to California for better weather yet there is nothing in the story that suggests that her husband was abusive and she had to leave him, and there is nothing in the story that suggests she was coerced into prostitution. Really, this could be a story about anyone, American or Chinese, for whom life doesn't work out the way the person had hoped it would.
I am curious about her brother and mother; they came for the funeral but never returned to China.
35
No one would want become a prostitute by choice. Its a matter a desperation and no choice that they come to this profession.
17
You have certainly introduced me to a world that is foreign to me. As i sit here in my cedar shake house, a lake in my back yard, now featuring a white crane bird that seems to have adopted this paradise as its own, this crowded, sex filled merry ground has seemingly moved in across the street. The details of the apartments, the lives of the women,the families , both fascinate and repel me. Although I am not religious, I must say God bless them all. And thank you Times for your detailed, compassionate work.
62
This article is a good argument for legalizing prostitution, bringing it into the light, regulating and taxing it, and thus protecting the exploitation of workers and others through labor laws and unions.
The police and society have more important things to be doing, rather than re-victimizing sex workers.
It reminds me of a local Detroit television station that features going after Detroit's "Most Wanted" via the U.S. Marshal's office. Each week they feature a most wanted criminal. In all the months and months of these news broadcasts not one featured criminal was white. Every one of them was black. Yet, wealthy white folks can rip off local, state and the federal government for millions of dollars - but are never featured as a "Most Wanted."
142
Actually, complete legalization has been shown to actually increase trafficking, as demand increases, so then pimps and brothel owners want to make even more money.
The best way to combat exploitation like this or the foster care to prostitution pipeline is the Nordic Model: make it illegal to BUY sex, but legal to sell it. If it is completely legal, trafficking and exploitation increases; if it is completely illegal, prostitutes instead of buyers and pimps are the ones arrested.
16
Actually most sex workers are against the Nordic model. If it's illegal for clients to buy sex then we have a harder time screening them. Clients are much less willing to provide real world information b/c the legal consequences for them are much higher in the Nordic Model. And many workers in this industry rely on screening to keep safe. Imagine how much harder it would be to screen if your clients knew the legal risks were much higher for them as opposed to you. At least now when I screen my clients we're both theoretically on equal legal footing. That's why many argue for decriminalization as opposed to legalization and the Nordic Model.
8
to wandering: Legalization alone might result in increased trafficking as you suggest, but few people are speaking of legalization without licensing and regulation as has been employed successfully in countries like Australia, Switzerland, and Germany for many years. Such systems, when properly implemented, eliminate the use of trafficked women, eliminate pimps, collect taxes for the government, provide healthcare, pay reasonable wages, provide a clean and safe working environment, and provide training for women so they can move to other professions (for example, home health aides in Germany) when they retire. The answer is legalization with proper regulation and licensing. It's not the ideal occupation for most people, but there is demand for this service and poorer women should not be harassed for choosing this way of making a living.
4
Thank you for this heartbreaking reminder that behind every statistic, within every court docket, live beautiful and vulnerable human beings who are beloved children, siblings, aunties and friends, even when life has taken them across oceans and continents and up dingy stairwells into worlds swirling with pain, and still...hope and dreams...I want to imagine Song Yang smiling, running along a riverbank, butterfly on her shoulder.
172
Time to stop the men who profit at the expense of these women. Tax them, fine them, lock them up. Political parties who have been infiltrated by these 'businessmen' need to clean up their act! Police need to be asked - why an army of men are needed to bang down the door of a small Chinese woman but they cannot jail the criminal men running this empire of Flushing?
251
Please, stop!
This is not the solution. Cracking down on these people will not work. It will only create more misery. When you remove the "soft" criminals from the equation, the kind of criminals who right now appear to be running Flushing, the hard ones come in and the misery and plight of the downtrodden increases exponentially.
We need a humane solution to this problem. We cannot afford to be vengeful and angry any longer, because look where that got us!
4
Massage prostitutes don’t choose this line of work, they do it to survive. By being a customer, a man is exploiting women, often very young ones. It makes me sick. Especially when many of these men are fathers with daughters. Men think that their behavior isn’t hurting anyone, or they don’t care about women enough to respect them as equals. Of course, you guys aren’t thinking with your brains … it’s sad, it’s disgusting and for this woman, it was deadly.
65
The NYC police department sends 10 officers to arrest one sex worker?! Whose decision was that? Poor woman.
Meanwhile her brother and mother have said Yang Song told them she'd been sexually assaulted by a police officer earlier that year and was being pressured to become a police informant: https://theappeal.org/family-former-attorney-of-queens-woman-who-fell-to...
51
They should have arrested Sisi's "boss" and the sex buyers who exploit her. Sisi should have been offered Exit Services, paid for by the fines imposed against the middle class men who buy their way into the bodies of poor women of color like Sisi. Check out nordicmodelnow.org.
9
This was a beautifully written piece on the tragic reality of low-level "crimes" disproportionately affecting the vulnerable. The parallels are grand to similar narratives. Black men are disproportionately affected by "possession of cannabis" offenses, locked in jail, then sabotaged by bail bond systems further victimizing them because of indigence, and forcing many to take pleas on what may very well be unlawful arrests. DECRIMINALIZATION is the answer. We must grow as a nation. I cannot lead the rest of my day without thinking about her and what hell her family has lived and will continue to experience.
22
That's the truth, Nahid. Well said. I, too, have been haunted by this story all day. I know it will fade (like everything does, unfortunately), but thank you to the NYT for this beautifully sad and thorough journalism that sheds light on this darkness. The system needs to change. Meanwhile wishing the best for those ladies trying to survive, any way they can...
4
We must decriminalize Sisi NOT the men who brutally exploit her. Please read up on the Nordic Model, which has been adopted by Iceland, Norway, Sweden, France, and Canada. Pimps and sex buyers must be held accountable for their abuse, otherwise they become emboldened to harm the women they exploit (decriminalizing pimps also increases sex trafficking). Most women in the sex trade are like Sisi: they are desperate to escape this brutality, but have no options. "Sex work" is not a choice in most cases, but a LACK of choices. We must make a distinction between the sex buyers and pimps (criminals) and the women they use (victims of exploitation). When you promote full decriminalization you lump Sisi in with her "boss". That is a very cruel thing to do to, and completely lacking in empathy for Sisi. She is not a criminal; the men who used and exploited her are.
2
This is top-notch reporting, and a wonderful use of current media. I am very impressed by the embedding of pictures into the text of the story. I have lived in Flushing over thirty five years, and know downtown fairly well. Not as well as I thought, I realize after reading this story. Nonetheless, some of the photos are great; I especially like the one looking down at 40th Road from across Main Street.
I will leave the moralizing to others, unnecessary as it might be. Thanks for a great story; wonderful journalism.
13
The main purpose of immigration is to benefit all the citizens of the United States - not to benefit the immigrants or to benefit the globalist plutocrats trying to suppress wages. Immigrants involved with crime need to be deported immediately.
26
This was a beautifully written piece on the tragic reality of low-level "crimes" disproportionately affecting the vulnerable. The parallels are grand to similar narratives. Black men are disproportionately affected by "possession of cannabis" offenses, locked in jail, then sabotaged by bail bond systems further victimizing them because of indigence, and forcing many to take pleas on what may very well be unlawful arrests. DECRIMINALIZATION is the answer. We must grow as a nation. I cannot lead the rest of my day without thinking about her and what hell her family has lived and will continue to experience.
3
I befriended a young woman from China who was working in a Chinese restaurant as her day job to pay off her smuggling 'debt'. At night she worked in a 'massage' parlor near Boston. She told me of her plan to flee to France asap. I never saw her again and wondered where she went or ended up.
I can not look at this male restaurant manager the same way, who is constantly barking at the wait staff in Chinese. They move like the walking dead. I am only guessing some of the nail salon workers are also paying off debts as are the cooks in these Chinese restaurants. It's a huge racket in the Bay State and other nearby cities. Must be cracked down upon. Our country is being invaded by illegal Chinese doing some awful slave like work in order to line the pockets of their 'importers'. All are on visitor visas.
59
You should tip off someone at the local paper. Unfortunately, I don't think the police care at all. It's just women being forced to do things against their will, right? Par for the course in modern America.
11
I actually contacted a local chapter of a human rights group who specialized in human trafficking. The person I spoke to online from the organization said NOT to get in touch with the local police because it may put her life in jeopardy or great danger.
It's an awful catch-22 as to what to do. I did not pursue it further. She was gone already. Hard to prove too.
Foreign language barriers are in favor of the traffickers.
They will claim they can't speak English or understand.
I am wary to give my business to these people anymore.
5
Modern America cares! If it did not I would never choose this country to raise my second kid (this time I want to do it right). Of course, I am going to be raising my yet-to-be-born daughter in a very nice neighborhood in Alki Beach, Seattle (I don't know why I can't stop bragging about this. This is pathological). With my resources, I could have chosen any country on Earth, but I chose America, because I want my kid to have the best childhood possible. Because I want my kid to meet all kinds of people, I want her to be good unconditionally. That is all I want. I want to raise her to be a good person. That's all you can really do as a parent.
1
A heart wrenching, beautifully written story. RIP Song Yang. Sad testimony to the horrors immigrants face amidst economic hardship. The real sadness of this story lies in the fact that this young woman's death was completely preventable. This shouldn't be happening in New York 2018.
5
Have the brother and mother returned to China?
23
Let these people stay. I would let them stay...
2
No surprise that an article written entirely by men deploys the male gaze to fragment and fool around with Sisi's body. Asking the audience to imagine her body floating before it hits the ground is pathetically sentimental and arguably misogynistic. Her blood becomes their ink. Now I wonder if we would have had less of a mystery-thriller and more of a eulogy had a feminist been included in writing this piece.
20
So incredibly sad. This woman never got and never will get the justice she deserved. Too bad that even her suicide/death was not enough for this too happen. Perhaps someone can make a movie out of her life? If only more people knew about these seedy businesses in Flushing.
8
While I too was impressed by the storytelling...but also wondered - what are the ethics in such narrations? Making public all names, addresses and inside details...is that ok? Especially in some sensitive issues, I thought there were strict rules against disclosure of names etc - there were disclaimers ("All names/addresses have been kept secret in the interest of privacy etc etc...)
But the Times team seems to have been pretty wanton about it.
I see the imperative perhaps - "restoring" the name and dignity to Jane Doe Ponytail - so that she does not become part of a nameless, faceless statistic. She too had a story and let us uncover it in a humanizing tale...but still, something does not sit right and feel transgressive. I don't know exactly what...
3
I understand your hesitation. All I can say is that if I died this way, I'd want my death to be "used" to help other women in the same situation. Of course, we can't know how she feels.
3
I am grateful for the beautiful and descriptive writing in this piece that illuminates the tragedy of this woman's life and death and the broken lives and system that surrounded her. It is a tiny phoenix from the ashes.
My heart breaks.
Journalism at its finest.
12
An outstandingly well written and moving article. And a tragic, unnecessary story that could have gone very differently had we not kept on being obsessed with prosecuting victimless "crimes" like prostitution that should really be legal, taxable business transactions.
11
Tragic and heartbreaking. Song Yang came to America for better life, just like all immigrants, and was exploited and abused by her own countrymen and the police. I don't understand the point of arresting women like Song Yang. If the legal system was viewing women in her situation as sex traffic victims, why was Yang arrested on multiple occasions. This article has truly made me change my perspective on the quiet and desparate plight of women like Song Yang, of which I had been callously clueless. I wish peace and hope for her brother and mother.
9
TEN officers needed to sting ONE woman? For doing something that doesn't get someone illegally high, or rob them of money... waste of city money, and now a waste of a woman's life.
109
Sorry, but this is an utterly trite and shallow take. Very drama! But I see little effort to dissect the simple, standard narrative. It cites only sources from the so-called "rescue industry" whose perspective it absorbs unquestioningly. Almost every sentence drips with judgement about people the authors do not know or understand. It asks none of the important questions. I have to ask: if they are victims, why are people like Song abused, imprisoned, hounded to death--or even murdered--by law enforcement, and those who really have no help to give? This story has been covered with much greater nuance elsewhere. Come on New York Times! Do better!
15
Yes. Dead serious. This is pap for simple minds.
1
It is disgusting that the men who profit from theses women's daily misery live reputable, community-leader lives themselves.
9
Go take a look. Many matrons run this business, many of them former workers themselves. And they are just as ruthless or worse.
9
Well, that's the way of the world.
And besides, these men did not put those poor women into the specific circumstances that forced them to engage in sex work in the first place. So, please, do not make it like they are heartless pig monsters who only live to bathe fallen women in misery every day. These people help their communities the best they can. I can see that, but why can't you? Why are you so angry at men?
2
Rather than sympathy, “What was she even doing in our country?” would be the first thing out of the mouths of Chinese people if the roles were reversed. Chinese author Eric Liu of Harvard says there have been millions and millions of Chinese Americans but zero American Chinese. Not 1. He says the few Americans who were granted Chinese citizenship were already chinese! Both parents born in PRC. Both the right kind of Chinese (Han Chinese). Thus, the Chinese tariff is not limited to foreign goods. And none of the sympathy for this girl now voiced by Americans would be heard in China if an American met the same fate in China.
26
Interesting observations. I guess no one should be surprised that the US is more liberal than China. Indeed, the insularity of China, India, Japan and most Asian countries is, in my mind, regrettable, particularly given China's increasing influence in the world.
China, and all of Asia, would benefit--particularly as a world power--from increased diversity. With it's current totalitarian regime, however, I can't imagine that many Americans or Europeans want to move there.
4
You know not of what you speak. China is a very friendly country to foreigners. I lived in China for a few months and everyone there was really nice to me. I've made some investments in China over the years, but unfortunately I had to pull out of China, because Chinese companies are influenced in a great degree by China's central government, not by the stakeholders. To tell you the truth, I do not like China's brand of authoritarianism very much. It is way too constrictive. China needs to liberalize if it is to have a prosperous future, but still despite all of this I have found Chinese people to be more friendly to foreigners than some Americans are.
2
China IS friendly to foreigners; but remember YOU are Russian (their neighbor and sometime ally), you only lived there for a few months, and you were investing there.
Rather a different situation.
6
Why not just make prostitution legal? No underground industry, no shady deals, no fear from the police. Women will report crimes against them and not have to worry about being locked up in prison. Establish legitimate brothels for this kind of activity.
17
Stories like this make The New York Times more than a "news" paper. The excellent writing and photography created a vivid depiction of this aspect of our society that most of us rarely consider. The ordeal of Song Yang and her family (and, presumably, many others like them) will haunt me for a long time.
12
This is excellent journalism and it's also really depressing. There are all sorts of types of cruelty, including indifference. We all lead our lives and avoid the seedy underbelly. May we all do better.
10
Would it help if prostitution were legalized? Would these women then be able to seek protection from their 'bosses'? Would legalization reduce exploitation? Allow for unionization?
Or would legalization simply undermine the 'street value' of their services by making the 'profession' more attractive?
I don't know, but I think the questions are worth asking.
The real problem is the lack of opportunity. Because opportunities don't exist in their home countries, they come here from Latin America, China, SE Asia, Russia, etc. seeking opportunities that don't exist here either. Once here, they often feel trapped.
Better border enforcement (easier said than done) might help. But we also need stricter penalties for pimping--which is really just another word for enslavement.
3
This story is the 2nd one in the Times this week featuring exploited immigrants (the other was about the overworked caregiver at a Chinese post-birth facility who stabbed kids and killed herself). In both instances, the women were being exploited by illegal businesses. Until these law-breaking bosses are shut down, these stories will keep repeating indefinitely.
I identify as liberal but we need to close the loopholes in US immigration laws. Applicants immigrating legally are scrutinized to see if they can either support themselves or have well-off family that will support them to ensure they don’t become a burden to the US and can afford to live here. This very important step is skipped by illegal immigrants (who would likely not meet this criteria anyway). Poor illegal immigrants are vulnerable to exploitation because they are desperate to take on ANY job in order to survive, thus ending up employed by shady employers since legitimate employers who pay minimum wage, etc. look for proof of authorization to work in the US. Thus, many illegal immigrants are stuck working for employers that pay and treat them poorly and who break the law with impunity since their employees are unlikely to seek out/cooperate with authorities because of their illegal status. Restricting illegal immigration altogether is a way of protecting illegal immigrants from the hardships and brutality that is often the way of life for many exploited illegal immigrants in this country.
19
EM , The belief bandied about by conservatives that they become a burden to the U.S. is a false premise , many of them work and agreed they are taken advantage by employers because of their immigration status , I disagree that restricting immigration is the solution . Perhaps a lower quota , and hefty fines to those that employ them . BTW Song might have been here illegally albeit working as a sex worker but still working . Most of them come from villages and lack education so they do the jobs no one else wants . Until the bane of poverty is eradicated worldwide we and other western countries will always be a beacon to the poor seeking a better life without starvation , but that is only a utopian dream , as long as greed dwells in the human heart . As far as affording to live here , today's paper also had an article about the unaffordability of living in L.A. , it's hard enough for citizens , and especially in your area . Blackstone has become an enormous landlord driving up rents there . Capitalism .
5
Legalize. Regulate. Tax. It is simply the only solution that will work.
9
No. Sex workers want decriminalization, not legalization. There's a difference. Look it up.
3
What a sad and tragic ending of a life . These women are treated like flotsam and jetsam . They come here with dreams of a better life which never materializes and ends in degradation . A deeply touching story , Song Yang 's life memorialized ; reading it I cannot help but think of all those other women and girls who arrive here either on their own or trafficked , to the glaring brutality of selling their bodies to help their families . Thank you for bringing Song Yang's story and giving it a humanity she so well deserved ; we often forget how difficult life can be for others .
9
Congratulations to all the journalists that helped in writing this very sad story of a woman just trying to make a better life for herself and her family, that tragically ends in her death. Unfortunately there will always be people looking to take advantage of vulnerable women like Song Yang.
18
Such a well written and researched story. The pain you describe seems unfathomable yet exists every day. Thank you for shining a light on Song Yang. May she rest in peace.
13
This is a very sad story, and a well-written one. But one part of it does not quite compute.
There are jobs available in many places in China, and in Song Yang's age range, there are more men than women. Why would she not return to China to live if she were unhappy and having a hard time making ends meet, rather than prostitute herself in Queens? Did she just become too depressed too quickly, or is there some other demographic factor at work?
27
She was married to an American and even if it was a sham marriage, she followed him here and probably just wanted to stay here. At her age in China, she is considered too old to marry, and the gender difference is small in her age range. And what would she do, with no education? Work for almost nothing in a factory, probably far from her home in Liaoning, an economically depressed area?
7
She came to the US with her much-older husband. Perhaps he made the original decision and the decision to stay. Chances are, she wasn't free to do whatever she wanted.
It is odd that his involvement was not explored in this story.
6
A very sad heartbreaking story. "The American Dream" in a perverse but all too common scenario. Unfortunately the people responsible for this walk away free and get to do this over and over again to other women. No one walks away from this clean - The johns, pimps, building owners and even the police have blame here.
5
When paralleled with drugs, the current system of prosecution of prostitution makes no sense.
When dealing with drug-related cases, would it make sense to simply confiscate the drugs and leave the dealers and the customers? Would that solve the issue?
Not to be disparaging of women who work in prostitution by comparing them to illegal substances, but I feel the analogy makes sense in order to understand the flaw in logic here.
3
The storytelling and integration of the visual material really took this to the next level. It's not often I can be pulled into long form pieces but all who worked on this seemed to do justice to the story, although I suppose only this woman's family could make that claim. Thank you for this piece.
35
This story brings back memories of one of my father's old friends who was constantly complaining about being harassed by the cops. The police were on his case because some of his female tenants in Brooklyn in the early 2000s were arrested for prostitution on a fairly regular basis. He was getting complaints about this from the local residents almost daily. Eventually, he caved and stopped leasing apartments and space to suspect individuals.
He always said that America's puritan streak trapped fallen women in an ever-escalating downward spiral, instead of helping them, which is what he was doing by leasing apartments and "office" space in safe neighbors at reasonable rates to women of the night. He let them do their thing, as he put it. And more often than not, he lost money on these arrangements because of law enforcement harassment.
5
Thank you.
1
Fantastic Piece. Wow! Thank you. I hope this piece wins some awards.
10
You want to cut down on these sorts of things? Go after the pimps and johns, not the women stuck with little to no economic, safe, or legal recourse.
Provide women with meaningful opportunities for exiting, involving safe housing and gainful employment training. Other than that: Leave the women alone.
22
No, no. No. No!
This is wrong. Very wrong. Going after pimps and Johns is a bad idea. Just think about how going after drug users and drug dealers worked out. That whole thing ended as a raging dumpster fire filling America to the brim with its toxic fumes.
There is a far more gentle and workable solution to all of this: Build rehabilitation centers in nice neighborhoods. I just recently got me a new, and very, very beautiful condo on Alki Beach in Seattle, Washington. It is located in a futuristic four-story building with a huge balcony directly overlooking Elliott Bay with downtown Seattle in the background. I bought it, because I want to raise my second child in a nice place and in a country where there are no such things as what is described in this article, but I am getting off point, because for some reason beyond me I can't stop boasting about buying this new condo of mine (it's so, so nice that it's almost mind-boggling. I am so happy that my kid will grow up in a place like this).
But back to the point, let's build beautiful emergency/rehabilitation housing compounds for women in dire straits in nice neighborhoods, like the one where I am going to be living soon. We can give them free food and shelter and help them integrate and thrive in our high-tech society by providing free medical training or college courses in professions where there is a severe labor shortage. We need to share our bounty and we can do this through paying slightly higher taxes.
2
Perhaps it's time for the nyts to do some articles about how the Chinese are gaming the asylum system? Law firms are set up to concoct entire history's to get people and their relatives into the u.s. and keep them here. In the meantime people in the shadows are exploited and the system is abused. The u.s. like the rest of the planet is in a permanent over supply of people and labor. It's time to make hard choices as to what we want the country to look like in the future and who the immigration system should be serving. The days of an empty continent and need for easily exploited, unskilled labor is long past.
34
Incredible and captivating story; I cried all the way through. Thank you for this work.
7
The best way to combat exploitation like this is the Nordic Model: make it illegal to BUY sex, but legal to sell it. If it is completely legal, trafficking and exploitation increases; if it is completely illegal, prostitutes instead of buyers and pimps are the ones arrested.
13
Also, most of us prefer the term sex worker and not prostitute.
1
Best article in YEARS!!!
5
Thank you for writing this.
1
I want a story about the customers at these massage parlors please. That would be more interesting. Also, what happened to her husband?
15
to Tammy: This is a great comment. Until the Times gets around to publishing such an article, I'd like to recommend the graphic memoir, "Paying for It" by Chester Brown (available on Amazon). I think Brown's experience is typical of at least some customers. Relationships can be difficult, and sex is a biological need. Men who, for a variety of reasons, don't want to be involved in a relationship (at least for some period of time), often still have a need for sex. These men are not, in general, predators. They simply want consensual sex with women with women who accept money for this service. Yes, there are certainly some bad people going to prostitutes, but I think Brown is more the rule. On the beaches of Bali, you will see Western women enjoying Bali Cowboys in exchange for 'gifts'. Many relationships have 'costs', some people prefer to pay cash. But do have a look at the book, it's excellent and there's a very informative appendix.
4
And so,..The holier than thou, and the vice squad, claim another.
9
I live in Queens and this is a HUGE problem throughout the borough. There's one of these places right across from the Blink in Jackson Heights and I've called the pollice--not because I'm against sex workers, but because I worry that these women may not working there voluntarily. (Now I'm not so sure that was a smart decision.) Nothing happens. I'm sure the police take their cut and go. We need to legalize prostitution and help these women.
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Actually, complete legalization has been shown to simply increase demand and therefore leads to more exploitation by brothel owners and pimps, as there is more money to be made. Legalize selling of sex, but criminalize buying it
8
This story captivated me. It's incredibly well written and so heartbreaking to read. Thank you for sharing Song Yang's story.
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Thank you for this sad and beautiful story. I grew up a few miles from Flushing, but such stories occur many places in the US in different forms. The suffering could be ended tomorrow if legislators would legalize prostitution and license state regulated brothels as is done in Switzerland, Germany, Australia and other countries. Few women (or men) would choose prostitution as a profession, but people need to eat, and sex is a service that has been in demand for many thousands of years. That demand will not go away. Preventing poor women from making money this way does not help anyone, nor does the accompanying harassment by police. Prostitutes should be provided with decent working conditions, a safe environment, and medical care. The state also gets a tax benefit. Society rewards women who sell themselves to wealthy men, but poor women are stigmatized for living on small amounts of cash they get from a dangerous activity. It is time for the US to abandon this historical Puritanism and do what is right for poor women: legalize and regulate prostitution as many countries around the world have already done.
15
Actually, legal brothels do not stop trafficking; the brothel owners are merely renting out a space--they deliberately do NOT ask a woman if she is there of her own free will. Legalization brings more demand, which increases profits for pimps and brothel owners; thereby increasing trafficking and exploitation, such as the 50 dollars for "everything" offers in a legal brothel, as opposed to each woman being able to agree to a particular sex act and charge more for it depending on risk. A much better method is the Nordic Model, where sex is legal to sell but illegal to buy.
5
The lady who this article is about, Song Yang, was not trafficked.
7
Excellent reporting and writing and photos. Thank you.
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Second NYT article I've read after signing up using my university email address. I was thoroughly invested in this story. It was interesting, disheartening and above all it was informative. The despair made me feel hopeless in the sea of raging issues of social unrest and criminal justice today. Empathizing in the environment of Flushing Queens I can't begin to imagine how a family member would have felt looking for answers to a sudden death. This was an emotionally invoking piece but it didn't overpower the facts of the issue at hand and the lack of a viable system to produce a different narrative of reality for many who find themselves entrapped in its cycle.
10
Dan Barry’s gifted storytelling is on full display in this heartbreaking tale. Congratulations to Jeffrey Singer, too, as well as to photographer/videographer Todd Heisler. Great feature, but sad.
8
Thank you for this piece. As a resident of Flushing, I could visualize the street, vendors, and restaurants, (even without the images provided) and feel the smell of the place portrayed in the article.
Some commented that the style of writing seemed too literary(?) for a report article. However, I think it well suits what is portrayed in this story and the place, which might seem too strange for those who are unfamiliar to Flushing, NY. Journalist's articles does not always have to be like a research-writing. Especially, in the age of confusing discourses on true and fake news, appeals to genuine emotion, empathy, and autobiographic remarks can constitute a viable way of doing journalism, I think.
In addition, the story makes me reflect on the meaning of community, diasporic existence, and about happiness. I hope there are series of conversations following this article.
88
Your writing is truly amazing. I live so far away from what you made come alive in your words and pictures. Very moving and incredibly eye-opening. I live in a different America than Song Yang did. My heart goes out to her brother and mother. I hope there are butterflies where she has gone after this life...
If you speak with the brother in the future, tell him the part of America and the Americans he hasn't met or seen mourn the loss of his sister. Her life, and death, has meaning and purpose now in my life.
73
Thank you for this extraordinarily well-researched and documented story. It is work like this that guarantees the future of journalism in a challenging time.
55
The story is very interesting, but the writing style makes it difficult for me to focus on the actual story, is this reality or is this fiction, the question keeps on popping in my head. I thought the story would benefit from a direct narrative, to do justice to the grittiness and reality of the situation
1
Thank you, NYT for this in-depth article on Song Yang. Her story and what her family is going through is heartbreaking. By the end of the article, I was in tears. We need more reporting like this. What is particularly frustrating to me was the ignorance of the beneficiaries of Song Yang's and the other women's occupancy in 40th road building.
"In a brief conversation last month, the younger Tsai, 42, said that he did not know that a woman had fallen from his building last year, or that his building had long been a hub of illicit massage activity."
I highly doubt that the didn't know what was going on. But if we were to take him at his word and he didn't know, now he does. And now that he does know what does he plan to do about it? I don't expect Tsai to tackle and solve this complex issue on his own. But surely as the son of a "revered" banker in Flushing what does he owe the community that he benefits from. How can he reach out to help now that he knows what is happening in the buildings he manages and the buildings his father owns?
I encourage anywho who as the means to make a donation no matter how small to non-profits that can help women and men in these situations (Garden of Hope is a start). And just as important to make demands of your representatives to address these issues. And to keep the pressure on them, to make sure they don't forget these men and women.
81
Trump was not elected on an "anti-immigration" platform. He was elected because a majority of American citizens are quite fed up with Illegal (I emphasize--illegal) immigration. The days of the wild west, and vast unpopulated space, are gone. We citizens not only have the right to decide how many people, and who, can come here, but we will (emphasize -- will) decide how many and who.
19
Fair enough, but how would you apply your reasoning to Song Yang's situation? Though the article doesn't say, she most likely entered on a tourist visa and overstayed it. Does the Trump administration have a rational, fair approach to this problem? We hardly have the resources to deal with those who enter illegally, without visas, never mind those who enter legally on visas but don't leave. Setting quotas doesn't address this problem.
6
How does one "overstay" their tourist Visa. The intent is to come here illegally and hope you won't get found out and sent packing. The only fair thing is to make sure those who overstay their welcome should be sent packing to their home country. Not all that difficult to figure out.
10
one "overstays" by simply not leaving before the visa expires. you have no idea what her intent was, in fact given she married a man who was already here, perhaps she was in the process of legally converting to permanent residency. your assumptions do nothing to solve the predicament she and other women like her are in.
4
Thank you for this well-researched and deeply compassionate article. I cried all the way through.
40
A modern-day Les Miserables, and like with that book, my tears are streaming. Excellent but heart-breaking reporting.
76
This block of 40th Road is where the LIRR Flushing Main Street station westbound platform entrance/exit is. Many people enter and exit the train here every day, probably oblivious to the sex trade going on right across the street. There are also a few very good, and very popular restaurants, and a produce market - the article seems to imply the block is run down, but it is vibrant and commercially thriving. My point is, this is happening right in front of us, every day, these women are as much a part of the community as the LIRR commuter, the produce vendor, the chef, etc. Instead of just arresting and releasing them, leaving them to the mercy of those who abuse them, we need to think about ways to protect and help them.
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