Scandalous (18 page)

All the same, financial problems – linked to the student's
social background
¹⁸
– cannot be held solely responsible for
students choosing prostitution. Indeed not all students
'struggling to make ends meet' turn to prostitution! And
not all student escorts need the money literally to survive.
¹⁹
Seen in this context, the image of the 'poor little student
girl' put forward by the media requires some qualifying.

According to my research, students turn to prostitution
as a response to a variety of discrepancies (some of them
deeply affecting) in their lives. The reasons and motives
that drive them towards making the choice can, therefore,
vary depending on their experiences, and this in
itself contributes to the diversity of student prostitutes.

For some, like Laura, prostitution is first and foremost
a means to an end – earning money – so that they can
carry on with their studies. For others it represents a sort
of 'forbidden fantasy' which allows them to break with
traditional family values. For yet others, it is more to do
with taking 'revenge' on men for whom they performed
sexual favours for free. From these diverse circumstances
(which are by no means exhaustive), three patterns of
discrepancy emerge: social and financial discrepancies,
discrepancies concerning family morality and discrepancies
about love and unpaid sexual relations. Clearly these
patterns are not rigid, and some students combine two or
three of these elements.

(a) Social and Financial Discrepancies – Students
Prepared to Do Anything to Succeed

Some students choose to prostitute themselves to finance
their studies, pay the rent or just make ends meet. One
of the causes that leads to this practice is undeniably a
link with the impoverishment of the student population.
On this subject, Guillaume Houzel – chairman of the
Observatoire de la Vie Étudiante (OVE) – states that 'In
the last few years we have seen growing pressure on
students' purchasing power. With the rise in house
prices, their accommodation costs have gone up . . . but
their grants have not.'
²⁰
According to the Dauriac
report
²¹
on the precarious financial position of students,
100,000 students in higher education live on the poverty
line set at approximately 650 euros per month per
person. The OVE claims that more than 45,000 students
now live in extreme poverty and 225,000 struggle to
finance their studies.
²²
It is important to remember that
this impoverishment affects a particular category of
student – those whose parents cannot or do not want to
support them financially and who, therefore, have to
cope entirely (or virtually) on their own to pay for their
own needs and continue with their studies.

Like Laura, student escorts from lower- and middle-class
backgrounds currently experience a variety of social
and financial shortfalls in their day-to-day student life,
and these shortfalls compromise – to a greater or lesser
extent – their efforts to pursue a higher education. Now,
for these students academic success is of paramount
importance. Apart from personal gratification, having a
higher education opens up the possibility of building on
their ambitions – of 'making something of themselves' –
and ensuring they have a more 'comfortable' lifestyle
than they have experienced at home. But neither these
students themselves nor their families have sufficient
financial resources fully to back up these ambitions. In
this situation, prostitution emerges as an alternative way
of 'following [their] dreams'.

A number of authors
²³
agree that there is not a level
playing field in financing student life and that the –
mostly financial – benefits enjoyed by those from wealthier
backgrounds but absent for those from less fortunate
families means there is inequality of access to higher
education. The State, conscious of these 'unequal opportunities',
has set up a scheme that can give financial help
to a proportion of young people (means-tested grants,
ability-related grants, allocated housing etc.), therefore
offering them a 'fundamental step up the social ladder'.
²⁴
Still, this system is obviously not without its faults (we
should remember that Laura is not entitled to a grant)
and only partly covers students' needs. Over five years
their inevitable expenses – enrolment fees, social security,
accommodation, canteen meals etc. – have increased by
23 per cent while university grants and allocated accommodation
have increased by only 10 per cent. In these
circumstances, a great many students are forced to take
on some form of paid occupation alongside their studies.

In 2003 45.5 per cent of French students undertook
paid work during the course of the university year
(excluding the summer vacation).
²⁵
By studying a case
such as Laura's – she works fifteen hours a week for a
telesales company as well as her twenty hours a week of
university commitments and time spent on coursework –
we can measure the extent to which a 'student job'
handicaps her ability to study properly. She is permanently
tired and this takes a toll on her health. This
real-life case mirrors the findings of the OVE which
highlight the fact that taking on paid work at the same
time as studying increases the 'risks of failing or giving
up'
²⁶
at university. These risks derive from the competing
needs – mostly in terms of time – of a 'student job' and
the requirements of a university course. It is in fact in
these terms, according to the OVE, that we need to
accept and understand the precariousness of student life.
In this sort of situation, prostitution gives students from
less fortunate social backgrounds the opportunity to
pursue their studies in more favourable financial circumstances
– day-to-day needs such as rent and food
shopping are covered – while leaving them enough time
for their course work, giving them a chance to pass the
end-of-year exams.

This strategy may seem logical, but we should still stop
to think about the price these girls from average and
modest backgrounds are having to pay in order to have
access to higher education and to come out with a
degree. Clearly, the social ladder and the path to
'success' are far from egalitarian!

(b) Discrepancies in Family Morality – Students
Wanting to Escape Their Shackles

For some students prostitution is not directly related to
a need for money, but rather a desire to break away from
traditional family values and satisfy 'forbidden fantasies'.

Even though sexuality may not now be completely
'free' because – as with all forms of social interaction –
it falls within particular kinds of relationships (between
the sexes, different social classes, generations, cultures
. . .), it is perceived on the surface as less and less
codified.
²⁷
On this subject, Michel Bozon points out that
one of the major changes in inter-generation relationships
between the 1960s and the first decade of the
twenty-first century is that 'the parents' generation has
now given up setting restrictive norms on the young'.
²⁸
The possibility of having 'a proper youth' (as distinct
from childhood) has become increasingly widespread
and the 'private autonomy' of the young is universally
accepted. As such, parents no longer condemn the fact
that their children have active sex lives – which are sometimes
even lived out beneath their own roofs. Obviously,
this does not hold true for every contemporary family;
some adhere to traditional values – linked to religious
morals – and exercise stricter controls on their children's
sexuality.

In these more conservative families, young people
approach their sexuality under the watchful eye and
supervision of their relations (perhaps even their older
siblings). The parents set the rules according to which
their children – particularly daughters – have access to
activities that are a statutory part of growing up.
²⁹
In this
sort of environment, the parents often closely monitor
who their children are seeing and how and when they see
them, chiefly during their teenage years. By the same
token, the whole question of sexuality remains taboo and
is rarely tackled in family conversations.

For students growing up in families like this, prostitution
is seen as a way of emancipating themselves from
the family values and norms. By prostituting themselves,
these students differentiate themselves from the parental
model, thereby affirming their desire for autonomy.
Given their circumstances, they want to establish their
part in their own lives – their sex lives, at least – and to
be involved in building their personal identities.

(c) Discrepancies About Love and Man/Woman
Relationships – Disappointed and Disillusioned
Students

For some student escorts, prostitution is a way of
compensating for an absence of affection or sexual
activity. These young women have often been disappointed
in previous relationships and 'freely given' sexual
unions in which they feel they were not properly valued.
They effectively 'gave themselves for free' to men who
were unable to meet their expectations of commitment
and mutual recognition. They feel they were 'betrayed'
and 'abused' in these relationships because they were
never given the respect and consideration they deserved.

Even so, these students want to remain sexually active
and to improve their sexuality by learning from new
experiences and different sexual practices. Seen in this
light, their activities as prostitutes make sense. The
money exchanged for sexual favours ensures the situation
is clear. These student escorts know that a meeting
set up in the context of prostitution will not go beyond
the terms of the 'contract', and there is no point in
hoping that 'something more' might evolve after the paid
appointment. They are, therefore, free to experience the
rendezvous in all its intensity and focus on their own
sexual pleasure without worrying about what might
happen afterwards.

Whatever reasons and motives drive students to prostitute
themselves, the practice cannot be viewed as insignificant.
Laura's own misadventures clearly illustrate this
fact. Still, if it is a personal choice it belongs – like all
choices – in a particular context. No one prostitutes
themselves by chance. A need for money, a desire to
escape or disillusionment about loving relationships are
not in themselves enough to explain the fact that some
students turn to prostitution.

According to a study on 'the risk of prostitution
among young women',
³⁰
there is a 'seed bed' stage during
which a number of dysfunctions – connected to an
individual's personal and family background – can
'germinate', and this can lead some young women to
prostitution. This study shows that there are a variety of
'dysfunctions' and that they can interact and affect each
other. It is frequently a question of 'biographical accidents'
(acts of physical, moral or sexual violence),
problems of identity and of identifying with parental
models, a degree of social isolation, a fragile psychological
state, social disqualification of the family, distorted
images or perceptions of success, or simply the fact that
the individual has acquaintances in the world of prostitution.

Choosing prostitution is, therefore, not the result of
one single element, but rather a combination of diverse
personal and social discrepancies that affect the individual
to a greater or lesser extent. Paradoxically, for some
prostitution becomes an alternative that gives meaning to
their practices and life choices. The moment when a
student contemplating prostitution 'actually does it' has
its own particular context, it happens at a particular
stage in their lives. This activity may help them get out
of a 'tricky' situation but it has its own consequences. To
date, no study has followed the trajectory of these
individuals and established the repercussions – both to
the individual and to society – that this practice may
have in the long term.

Resorting to prostitution – whatever form it may take –
reveals a degree of malaise in society. We have seen that
this practice is embedded deep in a system of social
relationships typified by male and financial domination.
Confronted with this state of affairs, we can but hope
attitudes will change to hold current inequalities in
check. We know that education is a key in altering
attitudes and yet the measures set up by the authorities
to bring about any change in behaviour in this area
remain inadequate (not to say non-existent).

The subject of sexuality is still broadly speaking a
taboo in our society, and has not shaken off age-old
beliefs and sexual stereotypes which imprison men and
women alike in specific hierarchical sexual roles. Modesty,
the possibility of sexual continence, moderation and
an absence of desire are still perceived as 'natural'
qualities for a woman. Conversely, desire, aggressiveness
and proactivity are defined as the preserve of the male.
³¹
If more institutions – and individuals – took into account
the aspect of social relationships between men and
women in their assessments and actions, then it might be
possible for sexuality to be seen in a more egalitarian and
libertarian light.

For almost ten years now a succession of governments
in power have wanted to 'transform' universities, citing
as their official reason the fact that they want to improve
students' precarious financial situations. Nevertheless,
the various suggested reforms (such as the
réforme
LMD,
the 'equal opportunities' law and its much-vaunted
Contrat Première Embauche, the more recent law giving
universities autonomy etc.) in fact only reinforce existing
divisions between students from working-class backgrounds
and those brought up in more favourable
circumstances. If the government's plans were genuinely
aiming for a level playing field for all students, a number
of concrete measures would be instituted: aid schemes
based on social criteria would be re-evaluated (students
such as Laura would then be entitled to grants), the
number of places in university halls of residences would
be significantly increased, 'student jobs' would be fairly
paid and better adapted to the needs and abilities of the
individual etc.