France Prostitution: the hell of young enslaved Romanians

September 27, 2010

Newspaper	France Soir
Country	France
Type	daily
External link

Comment: In an article dated September 27th 2010, the French daily newspaper “France Soir” published an article reporting on the recent release of a book written by a Romanian author, Iana Matei, entitled “On Sale, Marianna, 15”.

Ms Matei who is also the head of the organization “Reaching Out” which operates a shelter for Romanian female victims of trafficking for sexual purposes, describes her experience in the book and, according to “France Soir” depicts the reality of Romanian victims of trafficking – often minors – in harsh terms.

One of the main concerns lies in the lack of child-sensitive reporting of the article. While the author refers to prostitution, mention is made that minors constitute a significant proportion of the victims. However, the author misses to differentiate sexual exploitation of minors with forced prostitution.

This is best reflected in the title of the article. When compared to the one of the book, which clearly puts an emphasis on the age of the victim, the article refers to prostitution and not to sexual exploitation of children.

The tabloid-like tone of the article also seems to be designed to appeal to the attention of the readers with both shocking words and images.

By putting sex, exploitation and torture stories at the heart of this article, “France Soir” still limits its vision to the sensationalist part of the stories, leaving behind the social dimension of exploitation, the emotions of victims and the individuality of each case.

Adding to the controversial features of the article, the journalist indicates that 300,000 women from Eastern Europe are currently offering sexual services in Western European streets, a figure that is not substantiated by any other source.

The wording used contributes more to further stigmatization of victims of trafficking than to raising the awareness of the “general public”, while the latter should be the aim of any quality and ethical media work on trafficking in human beings, and particularly children.

A mere quote of the author of the book is supposed to offer readers an insight into the Romanian political and social settings in order to explore the factors underlying trafficking of Romanian girls, but fails to go beyond the usual corruption argument.

This article is therefore the sad representation of a widespread phenomenon amongst several types of media, which sacrifices decent and informed reporting on the altar of sensationalism.

To read the original article in French, click here.

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