“Madame Tian” tells the story of the “Roses d’acier”, a mutual aid association between prostitutes in Paris

We call her “Madame Tian”, but it’s a pseudonym. With her jogging and her backpack, her unvarnished face, nothing predicts the “profession” of this 53-year-old Chinese woman when we meet her: sex worker – or prostitute, others will say. In 2020, this woman discovered breast cancer, which made her activity impossible. How to do, when one is in an irregular situation and deprived of income, to pay his rent? In the Belleville district of Paris, Madame Tian found help with the Steel Roses, a rather unique association of sex workers, united to support each other, and not only financially.

The Steel Roses were born in 2014, following a meeting between these women and elected officials. The association now has 210 members, aged around fifty on average, and claims to be “in direct contact with more than 400 women in France”. The structure offers them the possibility of having access to an interpreter, organizes activities and events to create links and provides them with emergency assistance when they are “in a situation of loss of temporary work capacity beyond three weeks”, via the “U-Care” program. It is from this program that Mrs. Tian benefited, who underwent surgery and radiotherapy, and still has to go to the hospital every three weeks and to the physiotherapist, because she can no longer make certain gestures with her arm. , on the side of her amputated breast.

She emigrates to support her household

The 50-year-old arrived in France in 2014 after her husband had a stroke. His spouse can no longer work, debts accumulate, and he must quickly find a way to make money. Mrs. Tian, ​​according to her story, emigrates, hoping to increase the household’s standard of living and help her daughter who is penniless with three children.

But this is not the promised El Dorado. Not speaking a word of French and without papers, she is unable to find a job. She then embarks on sex work. “If I had family here who worked in the restaurant business, I would have worked in a restaurant. But even to look after children, without speaking French, it’s difficult,” she explains to 20 minutes.

“It’s a way to have my independence”

For many of these sex workers, prostitution turns out to be a kind of default choice, the only accessible job that allows them to repay the amount they owe to the smugglers who transported them, and that brings them enough money. to support their families. Ms. Tian works about ten hours a day in massage parlors, with an average of two or three clients and a lot of waiting between each of these passes.

“Of course I would like to have a more rewarding job, but it’s not easy. And if you work as a nanny, we watch you with a camera. At least in the massage parlour, when I don’t like it I move, I can refuse a client if I want. And it’s a way of having my independence,” she explains. Before adding with a touch of humor: “I don’t intend to find a man who will give me 30,000 euros, because I have less and less patience with men! »

A book

These living conditions are recounted among others in the book steel roses by Rémi Yang, released on March 15 by Marchialy, which sheds light on the solidarity mechanisms of the association, supported by Doctors of the World. In 2021, during the covid, she distributed 2,800 euros to ten women and 1,750 euros in service tickets.

The book traces the moments of joy but also the hardships that these women go through, exposed to violence, with their coordinator and interpreter Ting, a man who is difficult to access but warm, as seen by 20 minutesand described by the journalist as a real “bonze”, who keeps his calm at all times.

Arbitrate between money and security

In 2019, the Steel Roses had to deal with three murders in their community. Sex workers must therefore always arbitrate between money and safety, with some finding themselves taking risks to ensure their subsistence and that of their families, as a group conversation traced in the book shows.

Especially since the 2016 law on the abolition of prostitution has reduced the number of customers and lowered the price of passes, exposing these women to increase their risk-taking. Faced with the violence, the Steel Roses financed alarm systems and an emergency number.

Knitting workshops

Beyond these practical aspects, the collective offers women who join it moral support and a friendly space, in short, a good reason to investigate the Tsingtao in front of steamed dumplings. “It’s an association that allows you to break with isolation,” explains Ting. Mrs. Tian has three friends there, one of whom has just come out of an operation, and the other is none other than the president of the association herself, a former “retired” worker, who leads knitting workshops today.

The Roses d’acier celebrate the birthday of the president of the association, a former “retired” worker, who today leads knitting workshops, making it possible to make the flowers visible here which will go on the bags sent to donors and donors. -Ting

“Many Chinese women in their youth lived in poor and large families. They learned knitting, for example, to reinforce trousers for work. But now knitting has become a creative and contemplative activity, for women who want to spend some zen time. Madame Tian participated very actively in this knitting workshop. As it is also a collective activity, by weaving, they weave the links. They often tell their journeys and their stories by knitting,” says Ting.

Workshops where you unpack your worries and which allow the association to make colorful tote bags used to thank donors. Because with a budget of 45,000 euros, including 25,000 euros matched by private donors such as the Doctors of the World Foundation and Sidaction, the association “is still in financial difficulty” according to Ting.

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