Jennifer Pailhé (d) and her daughter, victim of pimping, on January 12, 2024 in Toulouse (AFP / Valentine CHAPUIS)
The shooting death of a teenager, who “protected” a 16-year-old girl selling her body in Toulouse, sheds harsh light on the prostitution of minors in the process of being “trivialized”, according to police and association sources.
This 15-year-old boy died after being shot in the head on January 6 by a customer a year older, who wanted to take the teenager’s money.
In Valenciennes (North), twelve men appeared on trial on the 11th for having had sexual relations with a 13-year-old schoolgirl, who prostituted herself via Snapchat and the dating and prostitution site coco.fr.
If the youth of the protagonists of these cases is of concern, the investigation services or associations are no longer surprised.
“For around ten years”, explains on condition of anonymity a police officer engaged in the fight against pimping in Occitania, there has been a “trivialization of this practice among young people who seek to immediately satisfy their consumption needs”.
“At first, I felt so alone in the world,” Jennifer Pailhé, whose daughter began prostitution at the age of 14, told AFP.
“And then I had contact with one, two, then three mothers, etc. and I said to myself: But m…, it’s not just me!”, says this woman who created the association. Our forgotten teenagers” in order to help them in the Toulouse region.
– Glamorization –
Another association, “Agir contre la prostitution des enfants” (ACPE), based in Paris, estimates the number of victims at least 20,000, “even if”, affirms its general delegate Anne Labastire, “we are sure to be in -below the reality of the phenomenon.
Jennifer Pailhé (l) and her daughter, victim of pimping, on January 12, 2024 in Toulouse (AFP / Valentine CHAPUIS)
For Jennifer Pailhé, the nightmare began when her daughter “met this boy at summer camp”. To join him, “she ran away to Paris, in the 9-5” (Val d’Oise, Editor’s note).
The mother finds traces of her child on escorting sites. “I saw the first ads, I clicked. I couldn’t be in denial, it was her photo, her body, it was her.”
About six years later, the boy – the “lover boy”, as he is called in these cases where young girls fall under the influence of the man they are in love with – is in prison. And Jennifer’s daughter is trying to make a fresh start.
The victims come from all walks of life, but often have one thing in common: having experienced trauma (school bullying, rape, incest, etc.).
“They are a little indoctrinated by everything that is social networks, reality TV, their muses whom they want to resemble, easy money,” analyzes Jennifer Pailhé.
The immaturity linked to their young age then prevents them from “recognizing what they are experiencing”, explains Sophie Antoine, legal manager of the ACPE. A denial accentuated by a “glamorization” of the vocabulary (“escort”, “michetonneuse”, etc.), she adds.
– Perspective of the Olympics –
The police officer confirms that “in the vast majority of cases, the victims consent, and have no perspective on the fact that what they do will have repercussions on their psyche”.
Jennifer Pailhé (l) and her daughter, victim of pimping, on January 12, 2024 in Toulouse (AFP / Valentine CHAPUIS)
As for the pimps, he adds, they are “most of the time boys who have failed to establish themselves in drug trafficking, who transfer their criminal know-how”.
The phenomenon uses all the advantages of digital technology, in an “Uberization” which complicates investigations.
Pimps thus resort to renting short-term accommodation via dedicated platforms, as in the Toulouse case and “many situations”, specifies the ACPE.
This led the interministerial mission for the protection of women and against trafficking (MIPROF) to establish contact with players in the sector, in particular Airbnb. Because, specifies a spokesperson for the mission, “we have clearly identified that there were risks which could be increased, particularly in the run-up to the Olympics, with the explosion in the number of rentals”.
More generally, the associations are impatiently awaiting a Plan to combat prostitution, scheduled for the end of January and which must contain a component dedicated to minors.