Tales of student prostitutes shock France
Pastor Dale Morgan
Tales of student prostitutes shock France*
Angelique Chrisafis in Paris
Monday January 21, 2008
The Guardian
France's education minister has vowed to improve student financial
support after a series of accounts by undergraduates working as prostitutes.
A memoir by a 19-year-old language student and a book of interviews with
undergraduate sex workers has shocked France, lifting the lid on a
practice which appears to be increasingly common. A new study showed a
large online market for student prostitutes, describing how male
clients, who are often rich, married executives, advertise online for
young, undergraduate "escorts" whom they prefer to street prostitutes.
These clients pay on average €400 (£300) for a two hour meeting with a
student, including sex and "time to talk".
One student union estimated that 40,000 students are working as
prostitutes. Others dispute that number, but the minister for higher
education, Valérie Pécresse, acknowledged that the "phenomenon" was hard
to quantify because of the taboo surrounding it. She said the government
had not done enough to "concentrate efforts" on helping poor students
juggle conventional part-time jobs.
Laura D, a 19-year-old student of Spanish and Italian, details in her
memoir, Mes Chères Etudes, how she began working as a prostitute aged 18
when she could not afford her rent, books, or food, despite a part-time
telesales job. Her parents - a nurse and a labourer earning just above
the minimum wage - could not support her, but their jobs meant she did
not qualify for aid.
Once, she asked a client for a laptop computer as payment. He brought
one to their hotel meeting, but subjected her to violent sadism without
her consent.
Eva Clouet, author of the book of interviews with student sex workers
and clients, said those who had spoken out wanted a review of student
aid, an increase in purpose-built student housing and the ability to
combine normal part-time jobs with a university workload.