Part-time Lover?
Leon (pseudonym)'s job is as a “part-time boyfriend”. He provides a dating service for female customers but has no sexual involvements. A female customer called “Snow” (阿雪) (pseudonym) pay him for each transaction which includes all the expense during the date. | Carly is a university student. She discovered that her ex-boyfriend had an affair with another girl and she came to know about this kind of job. She had an unpleasant experience and dare not continue to be a “part-time girlfriend” anymore. | Hui Chin Ming (許展明), a scholar, points out that “part-time lover” is a synonym of “compensated dating”. People who call upon this kind of services know clearly that this is only a business transaction. They don't think of it as immoral. With the popularity of the Internet, this kind of “compensated dating” became more and more “professionalized”. It became so popular on the social media platforms teenagers use, they are exposed and thus familiar with this kind of services. | Ho Sze Man (何詩敏) and Kuan Tin Long (關天朗) met each other through a dating app. Ho believes that hiring a part-time lover is not the only way to avoid being single. Kuan's friend hires part-time lovers due to loneliness but Kuan thinks that this is an unrealistic method. | Some people think that “part-time lovers” are equal to “compensated dating”. Some think that being a “part-time lover” is only a part-time job as long as there is no sex involved. The emergence of this kind of job means that the new generation is more open-minded, or they are feeling more and more lonely, or it could be that they are becoming more materialistic.
Ｌｅｏｎ（化名）是「兼職男友」，為女客人提供陪伴服務，但不涉及性行為。女客人阿雪（化名），每次約會都會給他金錢，約會期間的花費由阿雪支付。Ｃａｒｌｙ是大學生，發現前度男友「出軌」而接觸這個行業。她遇到一次不愉快經歷，不敢再做「兼職女友」。學者許展明指出，兼職情人是援交的代名詞。需要這些服務的人清楚知道，一切都只是一場交易，他們不覺得這是有損道德的。隨著互聯網普及，這類型的援交日趨「職業化」，甚至漸漸攻陷青少年常用的社交平台，他們更容易接觸到這些事情。何詩敏與關天朗透過手機的交友應用程式而認識的。何詩敏認為，請兼職情人不是唯一擺脫單身的辦法。天朗的朋友因單身寂寞而請兼職情人，天朗覺得這是不切實際的做法。有人認為，兼職情人與援交無異；也有人認為，只要不牽涉性行為，兼職情人只是一份兼職。這類工作的出現是意味著新一代的思想越來越開放，還是他們越來越寂寞，或者更物質化呢？
