Rosalie, a young woman who was 15 years old at the time, met the man who would become her pimp at a party at a friend’s house from high school. Despite appearing to have a smooth life with a privileged background, excellent education, and regular sports training, she was actually in a deep state of depression that year. Her story, along with other “survivors of prostitution” as they refer to themselves, is at the center of the podcast “La Vie en rouge”, created with the support of the Mouvement du nid, an organization that supports prostitutes. Rosalie, now 30 years old, has agreed to share her experience as a teenage prostitute, providing valuable insight as the government presents a strategy to combat prostitution, especially focusing on minors, a growing issue in recent years.
The question arises of how a young girl from a wealthy background, with high intelligence, could end up in prostitution. Studies on the profile of these young girls (there are far fewer boys) highlight the significant proportion of them who are victims of previous violence experienced during childhood. Rosalie’s case is no exception. Since she was a young child, she endured incest from her uncle and brother, which no one at home noticed. “My parents needed everything to be okay,” she explains. Despite the appearance of a normal life, she is in fact dissociated from reality.
The 30-year-old man she meets in her second year of high school quickly sees through her facade and initiates a two-year long cycle of abuse. The attention he gives her, followed by the absolute terror he instills in her, sets the trap. The abuse begins with long afternoons of sexual assaults and rape, sometimes involving another woman or man. Rosalie only realizes later that it was part of a network. Each time, she was given a small amount of money after enduring hours of torment. Eventually, the man tells her she owes him money, leading her to be taken to a hotel room where clients come and go under the pimp’s watch. As she starts her first year of high school, she returns to her daily routine as a student after spending days in the hotel room.
As the months go by, Rosalie starts feeling like a robot, completely dissociated from her experiences to the point where she would forget what had happened the previous day and return the next day. The trauma she endured during these two years left her numb and disconnected. The cycle of abuse and manipulation led her to become a victim of the sex trafficking industry, with her pimp exploiting her vulnerability and coercing her into acts she never consented to. This powerful testimony sheds light on the harsh realities faced by young girls who fall victim to prostitution, often due to a history of trauma and abuse.
