2012.11.28 China Daily 英文中國日報 – Through a lens darkly

By Ming Yeung 
November 28, 2012

Prison lore holds that sex offenders are bullied and abused by other inmates who consider sex crimes more shameful than other felonies.

Ming doesn’t see things that way. The 20-something man in his black T-shirt and grey jeans looks like a matchstick character drawn from a comic book. His crime, he reasons, was not as serious as homicide. Ming’s thing was snapping photographs up the skirts of exposed young women, which he doesn’t consider menacing — as long as the women didn’t notice.

Ming began delving into the world of petty voyeurs, a domain he shares with a group of like minded fellows who seek secret thrills by invading the “intimate privacy” of others.

“It’s not rape or molestation. That’s not a problem. We didn’t touch her nor did we assault her, where did the hurt come from?” Ming shrugs.

Ming grew up in a single-parent family and studied at a boys’ school. He spent pretty much of his adolescence surfing the Web, watching porn movies. He became intrigued by the secret photos taken up women’s skirts, by others who flaunted their photos on online forums. Members even discussed tactics on how best to snap the photos and run.

“We believed the photos don’t do much harm. They’re just for self-enjoyment,” the bony youngster recalled the common perception among his fellows, many of whom are loners. Ming felt himself drawn deeper and deeper into the cyber world community of upskirt picture takers and before he knew it, he had become obsessed by the sleazy images.

Then, the police cracked down on the Websites, spurred by public outrage against the brazen exposure in the indecent images. Ming, having lost the source of his addiction, faced the hard reality of going cold turkey.

Necessity being the mother of invention, Ming’s brain went into overdrive. Desire overriding good sense, he began to fantasize about taking his first shot. He was still going to high school. His first mission was a success. Ming caught her on an escalator. He remembers the moment vividly.

“I felt a sense of accomplishment that fulfilled my sexual desire,” he says, his eyes blink behind over-sized spectacles of black frames. His sense of self-actualization in capturing that photograph propelled him forward. While Ming took deep satisfaction from his photographic escapades, they burdened him with shame.

“People think we are sick in mind. The more negative comments I received, the further I felt self-abased and left out. Without support, we would only degenerate.” (Before accepting interview with China Daily, Ming asked if he had previous “contact” with the reporter, fearing recognition and potential embarrassment.)

His “missions” became more frequent and more risky. He kept at it for quite a while and uploaded some of his captures for others who shared his interest. He thinks work pressure served as a goad to his desires.Taking his clandestine snap shots, he claimed was his only means of release from the pressures of work. It never occurred to him that one day he would get caught.

Then came the day he made his fatal error — the day he was caught red handed, snapping up-skirt photos on public transportation. Ming will not elaborate on the story of how he came to be arrested. He was hauled into court, convicted of loitering and sentenced to a year’s probation.

His family, Ming acknowledges, felt “sad and helpless, with no idea where to seek help”.
He served his probation. He decided to stop taking photos though his lust for pornography and online sex forums was unabated.

Through one of life’s ironies, he was wrongly accused of snapping an up-skirt photo of a girl standing in front of him on an escalator. Police were called. His cell phone was seized and held for months until police checked the memory and found no evidence of any obscene photos.

Reflecting on the embarrassing incident, Ming recalls thinking at the time, “Whether I do it or not, people still think I’m a pervert. Why don’t I just act like one?”

His second career as a “sexual pervert” was short lived. He was arrested and sent to jail for his second offense. His family, in despair, called Caritas for help.

The Caritas Community Support Project on Development of Sexual Health has been operating for four years, providing counseling for more than 200 clients from their teens to their 60s. All came forward of their own volition. About a quarter have never been convicted. Less than 10 percent are women. The vast majority of male sex offenders are deeply rooted in the Chinese ideology of male chauvinism — a belief that women are inferior, Team Supervisor Francis Kong Po-cheung acknowledges.

Official police figures reveal there have been 93 reports of sneak “up-skirt” photography so far this year. That’s an increase over last year when there were 78 reports. In 2010 there were 91.

The actual number of sex offenders is difficult to estimate, Kong admits. Only about 10 percent of sex harassment cases are reported to police, according to studies.

Key of the counseling is to recap perpetrators’ inner virtues which they may have denied, unwittingly, or overlooked while focusing on their perverse beliefs.

“Some sex offenders question whether they were born perverts. But should have they not known about their problems, they would not come to us. Most of them admit that what they do is against their conscience,” the certified sex therapist says. He remembers a user telling him that he molested a girl on a bus though he realized that the girl would be afraid to take the bus again because of the unpleasant experience.

By exploring the users’ deepest thoughts, Francis Kong has discovered that committing sex offenses actually has a different meaning to each offender: some seek to fulfill sex desires, some long for a more intimate relationship, some just want to feel alive.

“You can see the identity change from the process of being a secret snapper to realizing the act is inappropriate itself,” says Kong, and having self-judgment is the first step to make them take responsibility to correct their wrongs.

The new identity also helps sustain their restricted behavior. Recidivism among the scheme’s clients is less than 6 percent, Kong says, proving that the service is vital to help rebuild these offenders into healthy citizens.

Speaking of the sense of accomplishment that sex offenders pursue zealously, social workers and psychologists guide offenders to seek elsewhere.

Often, a significant episode can help surface users’ deeply buried memories revealing how and when they tasted the sense of fulfillment in the first place.

One sex offender named San told Kong that he first succeeded doing group project assigned by his secondary teacher. From the draft to the final product, he was proud of himself and his group to have collectively completed a task, even though the result wasn’t satisfactory.

“By comparison, he acknowledged that the sense of fulfillment he got from snapping secret pictures was short-term, sinful, and couldn’t be shared with other people,” Kong recalls their conversation. After only a couple of sessions, San quit taking clandestine snapshots.

Ming reveals the therapy provided impetus for him to turn over a new leaf and he thinks therapy can help those in need.
“I used to disregard consequences, nor the victims’ feelings. The service has made me realize the root of my problems so I could evict them once and for all,” he says confidently. “The other picture sneakers out there should directly face their difficulties as well.”

“Actually the credit should be given to Ming himself, who has reflected on his wrongdoings. The major change is that he completely cut himself off from online pornography — a major inducement for him to fall back in,” says Kelvin Li Che-keung, clinical psychologist at Caritas who has followed up Ming’s case and has seen his transformation.

“In terms of dealing with work pressure, Ming would prefer to talk to us instead of browsing porn now.”

Instilling self-confidence and developing “social re-membering” are essential too, Li points out. “Ming took the initiative to reconnect with his old pals which is instrumental in getting rid of his old habits.”

Besides individual counseling, the pilot scheme provides a life support team assisted by volunteers and “Walking Together”, an experience-sharing activity for service users. These are exceptionally valuable to sex offenders who are inclined to keep the dark secrets to themselves. Once they know someone has walked the same journey and amended, they trust they can do it as well, Li says.

Having a stable girlfriend and a job at present, Ming is seriously thinking about building his own family.

“I’m confident that I have changed. I urge those in trouble not to evade their problems and seek professional help as soon as possible.”

The scheme is expected to wrap up in March 2015, when the Hong Kong Jockey Club Charitable Trust ceases to fund the project.

Currently, the Social Welfare Department (SWD) will provide supervision and counseling to probationers and, when necessary, refer them to the Clinical Psychologists of SWD for treatment of sex offenders.

“Discharged prisoners, who are placed under the Post-Release Supervision of Prisoners Scheme jointly run by Correctional Services Department and SWD, may also receive clinical psychological service from both departments to handle their sex problems,” said a SWD spokesman. “For other sexual offenders who are in need of counseling service after release, they can approach the social welfare agencies in the community, such as the Integrated Family Service Centres of SWD/NGOs or Social Centres run by the Hong Kong Society of Rehabilitation and Crime Prevention for assistance.”

Regarding the Caritas scheme, the spokesman said “the government will closely monitor the situation and plan ahead to ensure that service needs are well satisfied”, after considering various factors “including the effectiveness of the project, views of stakeholders (e.g. service users, work partners), the demand for the service and whether such service needs can be met by existing services provided by SWD or NGOs at that time, etc.”

Francis Kong conducts workshops periodically to promote proper attitudes towards sex offenders.(Provided to China Daily)