Caught in the victim/criminal paradigm: female migrant prostitution in contemporary Italy

Abstract

This article offers a critical exploration of exclusionary practices enacted in Italy towards migrant prostitute women. It identifies the double construction of migrant prostitute women as victims of sex trafficking and as illegal/criminal migrants as a dominant paradigm that informs policy approaches aimed at addressing their presence in the country. It explores how this paradigm has emerged in the specific context of contemporary Italy, how it has been sustained, by whom and with what consequences. By drawing on the exploration of a specific incident, the article shows how gendered and racialised constructions of dangerous migrant sexualities can inform decisions over what determines the slippery and unstable demarcation between those who are identified as victims and those who are identified as criminals. Finally, the article suggests that, caught within the restrictive victim/criminal paradigm, migrant prostitutes fail to be recognised and treated as subjects.

Keywords:

• migrant prostitution
• sex trafficking
• victim/criminal paradigm
• gender, sexuality and ‘race’

Notes

Notes

1. This article focuses specifically on gendered, sexualised and racialised dimensions of female migrant prostitution. However, it is important to mention that migrant prostitutes in Italy and beyond are not just women, but also men, children and transsexuals.

2. The discussion presented in this article is based on the analysis of public statements made by institutional figures involved in the incident that resulted in the picture of the woman being taken, as reported directly and indirectly in various media. The data collected during empirical research conducted in Italy between 2002 and 2006 also inform this analysis. During this time, I carried out participant observation and conducted several interviews with local authorities and NGOs operating in the field of migrant prostitution across the country, investigating the motivations and modalities of their interventions.

3. The first migrant women to start operating in the Italian sex industry in significant numbers (significantly enough to become socially visible – data on the numbers of migrants in this sector remain incongruous and unaccounted for) came from Eastern Europe and Latin America, followed by large influxes of Nigerians (who remain to this day very numerous), Peruvians, and Albanians, and more recently women from Bulgaria, Moldavia, Romania, Russia and Ukraine (Gruppo Abele 2008).

4. The diminished interest in prostitution had resulted from a number of factors, including the introduction in 1958 of a regime of ‘partial criminalisation’ with the passing of a new prostitution law (the so-called Merlin law, which is still in place to this day), and the decrease in the number of prostitute women following major changes in the gender regime in the country (Sapio 2007).

5. Article 18 of the 1998 Consolidated Act of Immigration states that ‘foreign citizens’ who are in a condition of abuse or severe exploitation and are in a situation of danger should be given the right to receive protection, assistance and a temporary visa. These provisions are granted subject to the victim participating in the programmes of assistance and social integration that generally last six months to a year.

6. According to the Catholic Church, prostitution is a form of modern-day slavery and violence that constitutes an offence to the dignity of women involved in it (Pontifical Council 2005). In the course of my fieldwork, I observed some Catholic organisations distancing themselves from this definition to recognise a more complex understanding of prostitution and of migrant prostitutes’ experiences, including the possibility that some of them may want to continue their activity as prostitutes. Nevertheless, they also acknowledged the difficulty in maintaining this position at an official level, especially in light of the increasing attention commanded by the victim-centric perspective of organisations such as APG23.

7. See On the Road (2002) for a more in-depth discussion of the different perspectives informing these bodies’ activities.

8. Constructions of migrant men as dangerous ‘sex traffickers’ are also exploited by the Northern League, and are common in mainstream media representations.

9. Parma is a large city in the north of Italy.

10. The police raids ordered in August 2008 had been prompted by a new set of national legislations – the so-called ‘Security Package’ – approved by the government in August 2008, and aimed at protecting public security and fighting ‘phenomena of diffused illegality linked to illegal immigration and organised crime’ (Governo Italiano 2008). The package conferred local mayors with stronger powers to intervene in a number of areas, including street prostitution.