Exploitation sexuelle d’adolescentes et jeunes femmes au Québec : perceptions et interventions. De l’ambivalence des sujets aux dilemmes d’intervention

This thesis addresses the problem of commercial sexual exploitation (ESC) of adolescent girls and young women in Quebec (greater region of Montreal, including Longueuil) and examines and contrasts the perspectives of both adolescents and practitioners about the experiences of ESC, on the one hand, and about the youth’s experience of the services, on the other hand. Three objectives were covered by this research: 1) to explore the trajectory and lived experiences of adolescent girls and young women (between 16 and 25 years) who lived ESC in order to better understand how young people conceive, perceive and understand these experiences of ESC 2) to document the experiences and perceptions of practitioners, mainly from the Youth Protection sector, but also the community and police sectors about their experience working with these young people, and 3) to document current practices with regard to intersectoral collaboration, and its implications for the work of practitioners. Underlying and linking these three objectives, the participants’ narratives are put into dialogue with the current socio-political context. Indeed, the current research takes place in a context of resurgence of interest for the issue of ESC, which is strongly linked with an increased association with sexual trafficking issue. This research is qualitative and exploratory, based on a grounded theory approach, an which draws on in-depth interviews with adolescents (n = 8) and practitioners from different sectors (n = 30). This research has contributed to filling some of the gaps identified in the existing body of knowledge: in particular the absence of the voices of the young people, the lack of research on the challenges and realities of social intervention with those youth, as well as the perspectives of the young people on these services/practices, and finally this study brings a new stance with regard to the absence of a critical reading of current and emerging concern for CSE – which is reformulated in close relation to sex trafficking. In addition, this thesis explores certain themes that emerged from participants’ narratives and which are still under-studied. First, the concept of ambivalence will be central in our analysis, in order to explore the youth’ ambivalence about their CSE experience – given that they often experience conflicting emotions - as well as the inclusion of ambivalence in the intervention in order to foster youth’s disengagement from CSE. Then, the issue of providing support for reporting and laying accusation against the adolescents’ abuser (recruiter or pimp), and the phenomenon of adolescent females who recruit other minors into CSE. The dilemmas of interventions are raised and discussed in relation to these themes.

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