By akademiotoelektronik, 02/12/2022
"It's part of the evolution of the digital world": Internet facing the prostitution of minors
Between 7,000 and 10,000 minors, mostly girls, engage in prostitution in France. A figure lower than reality, according to the associations. In November, the government announced an interministerial plan of 14 million euros to act at several levels, from prevention to improving healthcare offers. The Internet is obviously in the sights, associations such as the Mouvement du nid and the ACPE (Acting against child prostitution) claiming that it is the main gateway to prostitution.
From street prostitution to online prostitution
" Social networks are increasingly important, whether for recruitment or to find customers ", summarizes Bérengère Wallaert, General Delegate of ACPE. Instagram, recently singled out for its deleterious role in the mental health of teenage girls, is often singled out. The same for TikTok and Snapchat. The common point between these three social networks: communication is mainly done through images, by publishing photos or videos. Young girls confide in their unhappiness at home or at school, their money problems or their desire to run away, and become easy prey for pimps.
Nina, who became a prostitute when she was 15, had a different journey. When she told a dealer that she needed to make money, he suggested that she prostitute herself by posting an ad on a site. "When I created an ad for the first time, it was very easy and quick, it was validated in a few hours without asking for age or identity verification. There was a huge demand right away. Indeed, a few hours after the publication of her announcement where she claimed to be 23 years old, 80 men had sent her a message. The ease of use of these sites, combined with the high demand, made getting out of prostitution all the more difficult: "As soon as I was tempted, as soon as I needed money, I knew I could do that. So I relapsed. In 2018, the Vivastreet ad site was investigated for "aggravated pimping". Today, the dating section is suspended in France, because, " despite [their] efforts, it has been suggested that some users are making inappropriate use [of] the site, by acting in a way that would be contrary [to the ] terms and conditions ".
To find places for passes, short-term rental sites like Airbnb are popular. " This type of site allows a certain invisibility, compared to hotels which are more aware of situations of prostitution ", explains Bérengère Wallaert. Nina specifies that they are " especially used by those who have adult pimps who can make the reservation. Anonymity gives them some protection from hotels. When I went to hotels and they understood what was going on, they called the police or made us leave." Homeowners are caught off guard when faced with security issues or property damage. On the Airbnb forums, they exchange their solutions: check identity cards on arrival, question at length about the reasons for the stay, prohibit rentals to people who live in the same city or even prohibit visitors. Constraints that are sometimes embarrassing to apply, but which according to them are dissuasive.
Another platform made headlines with the Covid-19 pandemic: OnlyFans, nicknamed "the Instagram of porn". What was initially a site allowing creators to offer exclusive content for a paid subscription quickly became synonymous with the sale of naked photos and pornographic videos. Touted by its users as an easy way to make money while staying at home, OnlyFans has multiplied its number of users by 14 since January 2020 with 170 million subscribers and 1.5 million content creators. Some celebrities and influencers brag about the staggering income they earn on the platform: when she announced her registration in August 2020, former Disney Channel muse Bella Thorne earned more than a million dollars in 24 hours. These figures are of course exceptions, the average income being 150 dollars per month. If Nina wanted to draw attention to OnlyFans, it's because, according to her, "It's the same thing as prostitution, it's selling your body and creating desire in men to earn money. 'money ". In May 2021, a BBC investigation uncovered several cases of teenage girls, some as young as 13, posting sexually explicit content on OnlyFans.
The smartphone is also a perfect surveillance tool for pimps, who can install a snitch on it. Its use is so essential for prostitution that, according to Bérengère Wallaert, " if a teenager is very addicted to her phone, that she doesn't want to let go of it, that she checks her messages all the time, it's a sign ".
Social networks, an education in prostitution?
In her lecture Growing up in a pornographic culture, the American sociologist Gail Dines states: "This culture socializes our young girls to be ready to do pornography, whether they end up on a porn film set or not. . A quote that echoes Nina's testimony in her book Papa, come and get me!, written with her father Thierry, when the police refused to believe that she was consenting and was prostituting herself alone: "But why would a 15-year-old girl wouldn't she be able to do that? At 12, I saw porn movies on the sly, I went on trashy forums, and we talked on Skype. My generation was born with social media. It's so easy to post an ad there! »
Pornographic sites are easy to access for minors, to the point of having been called to order by the CSA. “ There is no real control or age verification for minors, there is no filter, deplores Nina. So that distorts their relationship to the body and to the sexual act. Outside of porn sites, hypersexualization remains pervasive on the internet, even on platforms where the users are very young. At the end of 2020, the #WAPchallenge was particularly popular on TikTok, with more than four billion views. This challenge involved performing a sexualized dance, usually by wearing short, tight-fitting clothes. The song itself, by Cardi B and Meghan Thee Stallion, is about "fucking with a Wet-Ass Pussy", and makes several references to prostitution and BDSM. At the beginning of 2021, two other challenges were in fashion: the #SilhouetteChallenge (posing in your underwear with lighting reminiscent of the windows of Amsterdam's red light district, 400 million views) and the #BussItChallenge (going from casual to a sexy and twerker outfit, 4 billion views). In France, 38% of TikTok users are between 13 and 17 years old.
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For Nina, it was not so much sexualization as highlighting the wealth and luxury that fascinated her: "First there is the influence of reality TV, but I also saw on Instagram young girls who had a nice car, who traveled, who had a luxurious lifestyle, it influenced me. To make matters worse, the algorithms created a vicious circle: "All I had to do was like one or two photos and Instagram's algorithm only offered me content like that. »
Furthermore, underage prostitution is in a media blind spot. While the press and children's books have spoken more explicitly about sexuality and gender-based violence in recent years, prostitution remains taboo. "It's an expanding phenomenon, it's part of the evolution of the digital world. I think that, until now, it did not occur to people to talk about it, explains Nina. At the time, my mother showed me the documentary Youth for Sale, while I was on the run in Paris, it made me realize that I was not the only one. »
On the other hand, on the Internet, feminist sites and accounts present adult prostitution and pornography as " sex work ", a job like any other, even a way of freeing oneself and reclaiming one's body. "It's a speech that can be held for adults who choose to do so, but, at 15, I was very easily influenced and manipulated," says Nina. When social workers told me "We've already seen other girls like you, you don't know what you're doing", I repeated the same speech: "It's my life, I do what I want with my body". I said that to follow the movement. »
All this illustrates a certain ambivalence of the Internet and social networks. When Instagram and Tumblr wanted to ban nudity to protect minors, it created a controversy over freedom of expression and sexual freedom. Unconsented exposure to sexually suggestive posts is not only caused by the negligence of certain sites, but also by users who are desperate to publish this type of content on general public sites. For Nina, the explanation is simple: "It's because these people seek above all to create buzz and what is sexualized catches the eye. »
Another aspect particularly worries him: "Adults and minors are intertwined. In addition, teenage girls sometimes do more than their age. I see girls of 13 or 14 who look more physically adult, it is in their behavior that we see that they are minors. It makes things complicated. An ambiguity that benefits sexual predators, who are not fooled: " I had quite old married clients, around fifty, who were looking for this youth, even the minority, since they asked me how old I really was. »
Measures planned at several levels
“ The fact that, despite the pandemic and everything that is happening, the government is mobilizing and wants to break the taboo, it is enormous progress, it is superb! Nina enthuses about the interministerial plan. The Internet is mentioned there at several stages. From the second quarter of 2022, the government will finance digital marauding to identify these minors and direct them to competent services. It will also strengthen the links between authorities, platforms and users for moderation and reporting. In the first half of 2022, the capacities of cyberprocurement investigators will be strengthened and rental accommodation sites will have to respond to legal requisitions. Airbnb announced that it is strengthening awareness and reporting through a dedicated team.
Instagram and TikTok have also proposed several measures. For users under 16, profiles are private by default so that they cannot be contacted by adults. Instagram will limit the content recommended for teens so as not to expose them to posts that are sexually suggestive, violent or encourage smoking and beauty treatments. Social networks also rely on artificial intelligence to better verify the age of their users. Despite everything, Nina doubts their goodwill: "This type of content brings in a lot of money and social networks remain companies whose objective is to make a profit. So I ask myself the question: do they really invest themselves or is it just to give themselves a good image? »
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On the prevention side, the Mouvement du nid released a short film on YouTube in November 2021. The Trap features Emma, a young girl pushed into prostitution by a college friend. The government has also announced the dissemination of a general public awareness campaign, for minors and adults, from the first quarter of 2022. For Nina, who has left prostitution and now divides her life between her studies and a part-time work, prevention and freedom of speech are the most important elements: "We have to talk about it, especially with the parents, even if it's a difficult subject. I was really ashamed to tell them about it at the time. In sex education classes too, from the start of middle school. In high school, it's too late. »
If you spot a post about child prostitution, take screenshots and contact ACPE or e-Enfance.
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