#112 Listen to Survivors: Alexine Solis - Abolitionist from France
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Alexine Solis is a young woman from France who was in prostitution between 19 and 21 years old. After exiting prostitution, Alexine participated in the "Listen to Survivors" march in Germany in 2019 and embraced abolitionism. In our podcast, she explains from the survivors' point of view, why should the sex buyers be criminalized.
Find Alexine on Instagram
This podcast was edited by wonderful FiLiA volunteer Michelle Kerwin.
This episode is part of our #ListenToSurvivors Series.
Transcript
F – Alexine is a prostitution survivor and an activist from France.
Alexine, tell us about your journey in the sex trade. How did you get in there? How many years have you been in it? How did you manage to get out?
A – When I was 19 years old I was a student and in extreme poverty and I had a lot of debts for my rent and I thought I would exchange sex for money. I thought it would be easy, I thought it would be good for me, that I would be taken care of by these men and I thought it would last for 2 weeks or something, it would be temporary.
I kept having more debts, I thought that the rent was really expensive and I never exited prostitution. Two years I was in prostitution.
It was awful. I got a lot of traumas from that experience. It was so hard for me emotionally and mentally that I exited not only prostitution but my studies as well.
I got out of prostitution when one punter who was very manipulative and violent towards me, threatened me with revenge porn of my prostitution and I told him I was really not okay with that and I would like to exit and everything and I was also very scared to get a sexual illness because he would never wear a condom, he never wanted to and I was really scared.
I just changed my phone number twice and that was the end of prostitution for me.
F – This is the story I hear so many times, people enter prostitution from some financial problem but the financial problem doesn’t go away and almost no woman is able to achieve her financial goals. Sometimes the financial problems deepen.
A – Yes, it was like that. Then I was very poor and today I’m still poor. I don’t have any money at all. I can’t find a job, not only because I’m very inexperienced with work but also because I’m afraid of people in general. I have a social phobia.
F – Yes that’s true, the slogan – Don’t fight prostitution, fight poverty – is actually a little bit manipulated because prostitution isn’t a solution to poverty.
What type of sex trade have you experienced?
A – I was in prostitution with no pimp, I was a student. I was calling myself an escort, I wasn’t escorting anybody, I was just prostituted, plain and simple.
F – No one of us escorted anyone. I have talked with thousands of survivors and not a single survivor escorted men to events or whatever.
How is the reality of the sex trade different from what most people think or what we are shown in the media?
A – I think that prostitution is really glamorised in the media all the time. When I was younger I used to have a lot of culture that was really based on prostitution in itself. When you think of all the pop music for example, it really encourages women and girls to think of themselves as sex objects. All the time you always have to be beautiful to comply to the male gaze. In a way it trains you to be a prostitute.
For example when I was younger I would watch movies like The Secretary or like the one with Julia Roberts, that kind of movie. It really brainwashed me when I was young.
F – Have you ever seen a representation of a woman in the sex trade and you can say – this is me, this is exactly what happened to me, I can relate to this woman, it reminds me of myself?
A – I think I’ve related to those women in movies and books but the problem is prostitution in books, it’s normal for the woman to suffer, if she has a good outcome in the end like having babies and a man for example, all the time I see women in movies, they either finish with the man or die.
I get this idea that if you’re not protected by a man you’ll die.
F – You cannot exit prostitution if a man doesn’t rescue you?
A – Like a damsel in distress. And the man is just a Gentleman.
F – This is true; I have never thought about it. Only one movie is different, a French movie. Its name is Chaos in English. I will send you a link. The woman rescues herself. This is the only movie and I loved it a lot. I could identify with her also. I would like to recommend it to you.
Many survivors I have met told me that when they were still in the sex trade they tended to defend prostitution, calling it work, bragging about it, making big money, insisting it is better to be a prostitute than a cashier. Can you relate to that? Is that familiar to you?
A – Yes, when I was in prostitution, I would not call it work. I would call it an activity and only temporary, no big deal, just something that happens for a lot of woman.
I remember when I was in university, there was a debate in class, the teacher asked – should prostitution be legal or not? – I was for the legalisation of it. The problem, I was in prostitution and always brain washed by punters who told me that prostitution was illegal in France and that if I could talk to someone about that it would make me confess that I was a criminal and I was afraid. I thought that legalising or giving rights to women in prostitution would help to alleviate our conditions and maybe exit the industry but it was the contrary. I didn’t know at that time that it was women in prostitution who were considered victims of the industry and men, punters were considered the criminals.
F – Many people say about the sex trade ‘We should not criminalise clients, we can target brothel owners’ or ‘we can educate women so women won’t enter prostitution’ or ‘we will supply good exit services for everyone so women who want to exit will exit and women who want to stay will stay.
What would you say to those people as to why we should criminalise clients?
A – Because they are rapists – that’s all! I’m not projecting or lying. They want to have sex with somebody who doesn’t want to have sex with them. They know. Someone told me they don’t know if there are children or that women don’t want it. Of course they know.
F – My friend told me – how can the clients know that the woman doesn’t want them? – The client can give her the money and say – if you don’t feel like having sex, here’s the money and you can go – and see how many women will stay!
A – Well if the woman was not poor or traumatised already, she wouldn’t have the idea to be in prostitution at all. The whole point is giving money to someone who doesn’t want it. It’s bribery.
F – What is special about you is that when we met you, you were a well-known activist. Half a year ago there was a Facebook post about you that mentioned that you were beaten on a Women’s march demonstration against the sex trade. Can you tell me what happened there?
A – It was not me who was beaten, it was another friend of mine, a survivor of prostitution who was in Paris who was beaten. I was chased by queer, pro the trade activists and they tried to take away my sign where it was written – Survivor of prostitution and incest and Abolitionist – just because they were angry about my abolitionists sign, they tried to take it away from me and insult me.
F – Who are these people who can beat survivors of prostitution and incest? Who are they?
A – Trans activists. It’s always trans activists chasing us down on marches like that. It’s one sign in millions of signs they have to chase me and insult me.
F – Are you involved in some gender critical activism or are you just chased for your abolitionism?
A – I think both.
F – Nothing can justify being beaten – in a women’s march. How symbolic!
Do you feel that your activism turns you into a target for violent groups and individuals?
A – Yes, because there’s pimp lobbies who would like to sabotage our actions. It’s always women complying to what men want.
I must say it – in the photo just behind me, we can clearly see a big sign where it’s written – Transfeminism – it was them who tried to chase me and tried to silence me.
F – Transfeminism? Someone who wasn’t born a feminist but identifies as a feminist?
A – They are not feminists at all.
F - What are the other activities you are involved in?
A – In activism? I glue slogans on the walls in the streets to denounce domestic violence and injustices against women in general. In weeks to come I will denounce pornography in particular.
F – Pornography is part of the sex trade. Sometimes we forget about it and isn’t targeted enough.
A – It’s a real depiction of violence against women. I think it’s really important to denounce it or maybe try to abolish it.
F – Not just depicted, it’s documented violence.
A woman who was in pornography told me that her past in pornography is chasing her until now and she cannot fully exit, her abuse is documented.
A – It’s on the internet and you can’t take it back. I worry about that and revenge porn. All porn is revenge porn. I’m afraid of finding out there are porn videos of me on the internet.
F – Thank you for your time and good luck with your activism and your recovery, Thank you.