Chinese prostitutes in competition with locals in Cameroon

Disgruntled local sex workers in Cameroon have developed disparaging and occult-related phrases to describe the numerous young Chinese female sex workers who have become a huge source of competition, according to a research article published in a recent volume of African Affairs by Dr. Basile Ndjio of the University of Douala, also a fellow at the International Institute of Social History, Amsterdam.

The scholar believes the terms, including “bitch-witches,” “cursed sex,” “magic body,” and “economic predator” are used to dissuade local clients from visiting the foreign sex workers. Rumors were even spread that Chinese women could impair a local man’s ability to reproduce, reports German’s Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper.

China’s nationalistic tabloid, the Global Times, even caught wind of the turf war, saying that a heated sex battle between Chinese and Cameroonian women is currently taking place in the African country.

“Despite the somewhat exaggerated media reports, it is true that the number of Chinese female sex workers has increased over the years in African countries like South Africa, Mali, and Angola,” a senior expatriate in Africa told the Global Times. “Those sex workers at first provided services to fellow Chinese only but have gradually taken on local clients.”