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Thanks to a long experience in the theme of prostitution, Lilian Mathieu, sociologist at Cnrs (Center for Political Research of the Sorbonne-Université Paris 1) offers the reader an opportunity to go beyond the cleavage which dominates the debate on the subject. Two dominant positions generally oppose it when it comes to prostitution: there is on the one hand that which advocates abolition, and on the other hand that which claims its recognition as a full -fledged profession. When reading his work, these two positions appear to be largely symmetrical despite their opposition insofar as they mobilize arguments of the same order, that is to say moral. Now throughout his work, his analyzes show that prostitution constitutes a largely heterogeneous universe, crossed by numerous divisions, and of which the participants are mainly gathered by the same position in the economic-social field: that of “ disaffiliated (1)
Lilian Mathieu thus returns to the first chapter on the construction of prostitution as “ social problem »(2) And show how the two families – opposite – of speeches that are mainly heard on the subject, the” abolitionism And the demand for free choice do nothing but fall respectively in the symmetrical pitfalls of miserabilism and populism (3), as often when it comes to socially dominated groups. In both cases, it is a question of essentializing a certain representation of the prostitute – because often, we forget men who practice venal sexuality, not to mention even of the scrambling of genres borders that transvestis and transexuals – completely alienated in one case, and freed in the other. Even more worrying, he shows that certain sociologists use their scientific legitimacy to defend highly ideological positions (in this abolitionist). It is to get out of these prestations to consider prostitution either at first of all from the angle of sexuality – as seems to dictate it the taboo that constitutes this activity in our societies -, but as a means of economic subsistence for the individuals who practice it. These are then often led to one form or another of dependence, embodying what Robert Castel calls a “ negative individual ». From there deduces that a policy of individualism (4) seems much more likely to improve the fate of the various practitioners of venal sexuality than a series of repressive or condescending measures.
Lilian Mathieu then describes what he calls the “ prostitution space “, As he had in a recent article designated a” Social movements space “, To underline a certain heteronomy, unlike the notion of” field »Forged by Pierre Bourdieu. It is therefore a space where a strong interdependence reigns, but also no less intense competition between its members, leading to a relatively marked internal hierarchy where the positions are distributed according to the genre, the place of exercise, the frequency, the type of practices, the degree of dependence on drugs, the relational network, and of course seniority and experience. Faced with the lack of cohesion of a whole vis-à-vis which its members most often seek to mark their distance, the author ultimately prefers to speak of a “ destiny group ».
He is then interested in the place of violence in the world of venal sexuality. This is, according to victimization surveys, in fact relatively widespread, in particular with regard to men. Can come from both unknown, customers and police officers, prostitutes must develop a series of techniques and strategies aimed at ensuring some security. But the violence to which they are exposed is not only physical: it is also the symbolic violence that a certain resignation in precariousness can constitute where these individuals can register.
Finally, more particularly interested in the terms of entry into this activity, Lilian Mathieu shows that they are essentially linked to a certain economic vulnerability. He therefore formulates a series of political proposals such as the lowering of the minimum age of access to minimum income of insertion of insertion (today fixed at 25 years) or the appeasement of repression with regard to drug addiction or irregular immigration, which therefore aim to cut the economic-social roots which lead certain vulnerable people to expose themselves to even greater danger in a certain practice of venal sexuality.
However, for the time being, a brief history of policies supervising prostitution, as a look at Swedish or Dutch experiences (5), show that a global point of view does not yet seem to the agenda. France ultimately seems to be pulled between two a priori contradictory positions since 1960: apprehending prostitution as a “ social scourge “, The public authorities at the same time consider it as a private activity, of which only forms constrained or contrary to the moral order must be repressed. This is the meaning of the crimes of “ pimp “And” passive “, Recently reintroduced, and which is not without leaving a certain degree of arbitrariness on the part of the police.
In the last part, Lilian Mathieu has been interested in the developments that have gone through the space of prostitution for thirty years. Due to repression and increased competition, it is a continuous precariousness that has been observed. But vis-à-vis “ exterior “, It is also the loss of a certain number of support, at the forefront of which, perhaps, a certain fringe of the feminist movement, as revealed by the comparison between the mobilization of 1975, symbolized by the occupation of the Saint-Nizier church in Lyon, and that of 2002 which followed the security announcements of Nicolas Sarkozy.
We ultimately emerge from this investigation with a double impression: if there is not a single one but on the contrary of the various experiences of prostitution, the way in which these are dealt with in the public debate is none other than a form of criminalization of poverty (6). A phenomenon that has appeared at work for the past twenty years, and which is observed not only in laws, but also in manners. The repression of prostitution – for which 2002 has constituted a kind of paroxysm – indicates that individuals who engage in this activity constitute, like other particularly socially vulnerable populations, a point of convenient fixation for social insecurity which crosses society as a whole. It is all the interest of this work to allow the reader to get out of the halo of scandal and the moralization that permanently surrounds this question.
Notes:
(1) On this notion forged by Robert Castel, see his work: The metamorphoses of the social question. A chronicle of the wageFayard, 1995 ; reed. Paris, Gallimard, “ Folio », 2000, 770 p.
(2) In the sense defined by Bernard Lahire, the invention of the “ illiteracy ». Public rhetoric, ethics and stigma, Paris, La Découverte, coll. “” Supporting texts », 1999, 432 p.
(3) See Claude Grignon and Jean-Claude Passeon, Miserabilism and populism in sociology and literatureGallimard/Seuil, “ High Studies », 1989, 260 p.
(4) Philippe Corcuff, Jacques Ion and François de Singly, Policies of individualism. Between sociology and philosophyDiscord, textual, 2005, 183 p.
(5) Sweden recently adopted a resolutely abolitionist policy, while the Netherlands have opposed an opposite for a way “ neoreglementalist ». However, as Lilian Mathieu is used to show, both have a certain batch of drifts.
(6) Loïc Wacquant, Punish the poor. The new government of social insecurityAgone, “ Counter-fire », 2004, 347 p.
To go further:
The website of theUnesco presents the terms of the debate between “ abolition ” And “ acknowledgement Postitution with examples of national laws in force.
Senate report (2000): the legal regime of female prostitution
Lilian Mathieu’s personal page