Introduction

This chapter addresses the major goals of this book, including the provision of an empirical foundation and insider perspective to understand compensated dating (CD), as well the expansion of our knowledge of clients who buy sex online and the dynamic provider-client relationships. The analysis will connect the emergence of CD to the broader transformation of some of the major social structures and elements in late modernity. The chapter then gives a brief overview of the CD scene in Hong Kong, including its origin, its prevalence, potential risks, public perceptions of CD and CD participants, the legal and moral issues raised by the phenomenon of CD, and some major terms in the CD vernacular. The chapter ends by explicating the organization of the book.