Mobilisation de femmes chinoises migrantes se prostituant à Paris. De l’invisibilité à l’action collective
Résumé
The Mobilization of Migrant Chinese Women who prostitute in Paris. From invisibility to collective action.
Almost invisible in the Parisian urban landscape a few years ago, the Chinese sex workers have attracted lots of attention since 2013 due to their involvement in the recent demonstrations against a new bill on sex work. Since then, the Chinese women, mostly irregular residents, were invited by elected representatives on local and national level and they created a sex worker collective at the end of 2014. To explain the rallying of highly stigmatized and precarious migrant women, three factors can be studied. Firstly, those women share a collective identity based on a common migration experience which is highly stigmatized. Secondly, they have the support of a well-established NGO which mobilized practical, political and media resources for them. Thirdly, their mobilization took place in a period of legislative reform and of broader mobilization among sex workers’ groups, which was a window of opportunity. The article proposes a chronological account of the mobilization process which underlines the synergy between the quest of legitimacy by the Chinese migrants and the militant approach of a humanitarian NGO, Doctors of the World.
Almost invisible in the Parisian urban landscape a few years ago, the Chinese sex workers have attracted lots of attention since 2013 due to their involvement in the recent demonstrations against a new bill on sex work. Since then, the Chinese women, mostly irregular residents, were invited by elected representatives on local and national level and they created a sex worker collective at the end of 2014. To explain the rallying of highly stigmatized and precarious migrant women, three factors can be studied. Firstly, those women share a collective identity based on a common migration experience which is highly stigmatized. Secondly, they have the support of a well-established NGO which mobilized practical, political and media resources for them. Thirdly, their mobilization took place in a period of legislative reform and of broader mobilization among sex workers’ groups, which was a window of opportunity. The article proposes a chronological account of the mobilization process which underlines the synergy between the quest of legitimacy by the Chinese migrants and the militant approach of a humanitarian NGO, Doctors of the World.
Cet article décrit comment des migrantes chinoises se prostituant à Paris, encore invisibles il y a quelques années, se sont fait remarquer dans les manifestations de travailleuses/eurs du sexe en 2013, ont été consultées par les autorités nationales et locales et ont créé une association communautaire en 2014. Trois facteurs de mobilisation sont décrits : une identité collective construite sur une expérience migratoire fortement stigmatisée ; le soutien d’un partenaire associatif militant ayant mobilisé des ressources pratiques, politiques et médiatiques ; enfin, un contexte de réforme législative sur la prostitution et de mobilisation plus large des associations de travailleuses/eurs du sexe en France qui a représenté une fenêtre d’opportunité. L’analyse chronologique des données de terrain met avant tout en évidence un processus de mobilisation soulignant la synergie entre un groupe de femmes chinoises en quête de reconnaissance et un programme humanitaire militant de l’ONG Médecins du Monde.