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Blurred Lines: Policies and Experiences of Migrant Women in Prostitution and Entertainment

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Paradoxes of Integration: Female Migrants in Europe

Part of the book series: International Perspectives on Migration ((IPMI,volume 4))

Abstract

The authors highlight the impact of public policies on prostitution and entertainment practices and analyse the variety of concrete experiences among migrant women from third countries who practise prostitution and entertainment as an income-generating activity in the EU. Whether they migrated autonomously or were smuggled in, those who practise commercial sex or enter the entertainment sector often shift permanently or occasionally to and from other poorly paid jobs performed in degrading and precarious conditions. In the context of restrictive immigration policies in the EU states and given the persisting demand in a variety of prostitution/sex-related activities, the sector is sometimes a single gate opener to the EU labour market for women third country nationals. Access to legal status and residency in their own right is central to the narratives of migrant women. This remains out of reach as long as they are not considered as economic and autonomous migrants but remain tied to their employer or derive their limited rights only through marriage or as ‘recognized victims of trafficking’.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    1‘Integration of Female Immigrants in Labour Market and Society. Policy Assessment and Policy Recommendations’ (www.femipol.uni-frankfurt.de)

  2. 2.

    2Abolitionism has changed its purpose and meaning over time; we are referring to it from the current perspective.

  3. 3.

    3The debate on the abolition of the prostitution and penalization of clients is on the political agenda in France. After adoption of a resolution by French National Assembly in December 2011, reaffirming the abolitionist position of France in the matter of prostitution, a law proposal aiming at rendering clients responsible and improving the protection of victims of trafficking and of exploitation, is based on the recommendations of the CNCDH (Commission Nationale Consultative des Droits de l’Homme) (see also Goeffroy and Bousquet 2011).

  4. 4.

    4Policing and Crime Act 2 (http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2/26/section/14. Accessed 3 March 2011).

  5. 5.

    5Artist visas have been abolished in the meantime; see EU Business, http://www.eubusiness.com/news-eu/trafficking-cyprus.6k7 (Accessed 7 March 2011).

  6. 6.

    6Henceforth, whoever practises ‘the act, by any means, even including by passive attitude, to publicly solicit others in order to incite sexual relations in exchange for remuneration or promise of remuneration (…)’ risks 2 months in prison and a fine of 3,750 Euros (Morokvasic and Catarino 2006).

  7. 7.

    7Other forms of prostitution mentioned are ‘mobile prostitution’, prostitution in massage salons and ‘escort prostitution’ or prostitution for a company—a service mostly offered to richer clients, businessmen and to specific firms that might involve weekend services and ‘hotel prostitution’ organized via meetings in hotel bars or directly through people who work at the reception desks in hotels.

  8. 8.

    8In our study: Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Poland, Greece, Slovenia and Cyprus.

  9. 9.

    9See the chapter on domestic and care work in this book.

  10. 10.

    10See also the ‘closed nature’ of prostitution in clubs in Portugal (Ribeiro and Sacramento 2005; Ribeiro et al. 2005).

  11. 11.

    11Meaning “women walking down in the Belleville area in Paris” (« Les marcheuses de Belleville », Report by Yvan Cerieix, Patricia Wong, Eleonore Maneglier, Capa, broadcast on French TV, 2006. See also Lévy and Lieber (2)).

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Maria Kontos, Ana-Violeta Sacaliuc and Minna Ruokonen-Engler for their contribution in one of the previous versions as well as to Florence Lévy and Emmanuelle Chaveneau for their input in field work and insightful analysis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut des Sciences sociales du Politique (ISP), University Paris Ouest Nanterre La Défense, 92000, Nanterre, France

    Christine Catarino & Mirjana Morokvasic-Müller

  2. CNRS – Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris, France

    Mirjana Morokvasic-Müller

Authors
  1. Christine Catarino
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  2. Mirjana Morokvasic-Müller
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Correspondence to Christine Catarino .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Westcombe Park Road, Blackheath 28, London, SE3 7RB, United Kingdom

    Floya Anthias

  2. Zu den Eichen 13, Hofheim/Ts, 65719, Germany

    Maria Kontos

  3. Boulevard de Sébastopol 8, Paris, 75004, France

    Mirjana Morokvasic-Müller

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Catarino, C., Morokvasic-Müller, M. (2013). Blurred Lines: Policies and Experiences of Migrant Women in Prostitution and Entertainment. In: Anthias, F., Kontos, M., Morokvasic-Müller, M. (eds) Paradoxes of Integration: Female Migrants in Europe. International Perspectives on Migration, vol 4. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4842-2_9

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