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Photography by Marisse Caine. I remember the first time I wandered the back alleys of Geylang close to 10 years ago. As a teenager, I knew I had to experience the vice central everyone would chatter about at least once in my life. It was a grim but beautiful sight. Along the streets, sex workers could be seen sitting on chairs or leaning on walls, lining the back alleys, and in dark corners, men would huddle over propped up tables to gamble, surrounded by the smoke of contraband cigarettes sold footsteps away.
Now, the sight is vastly different. As I turn off Geylang Road and wander down Lorong 20, the only other person in sight is a lorry driver, and the brightly lit brothels from my memories look like run-down terrace houses instead. The irony is that when empty, Geylang looks holier than ever. The dozens of temples that share a neighbourhood with the red light district are open and thriving, and without the neon lights drowning out the religious paraphernalia, I am reminded that Geylang is the neighbourhood with the highest concentration of both brothels and religious institutions in Singapore.
As we approach the last corner of Lorong 20, Sheeda stops and stares in the distance in silence. While I have seen the neighborhood in its prime, this is my first time intimately understanding the fabric of the place. Every alleyway we wander through brings up a new story from Sheeda—the people she met, the network that existed, and the interconnected nature of every individual making a living here.
Being older and more experienced than Sherry, Sheeda became a guiding figure. As we chat, we make another stop in front of a house where Sheeda would rent rooms to use with her clients. Soon, the uncle living in the house steps out on the porch in a white tank top and boxers, greeting Sheeda. I overhear him asking her, with concern, why she has lost so much weight since he last saw her. To me, Geylang is about the neon lights, the human traffic, my friends, and the community. No one I recognise is here.
Sherry is one of the few street-based sex workers who has been able to successfully move her business entirely online. But what is more pressing is what will happen to the sex work industry, an issue both Sherry and Sheeda share concerns over. Most young sex workers are moving their business online, and the rest, including some brothels, are moving to the heartlands.