The bait of gain pushes fragile young people to sell photos of their bodies against a paying subscription on MyM and Onlyfans platforms. Risk? Back on predators, warns Claire Grangeaud, responsible for the Association du Nid, a specialized association.
Are the predators many on these platforms?
CLAIRE GRANGEAUD. Unfortunately, yes. Part of the young people sexually exploited started on MyM and Onlyfans. Some are 15 years old. At first, they are convinced that they can earn 50 euros by selling a photo of their feet to fetishists. The first euros won fill a need for reinsurance. But, very quickly, sexual solicitations are becoming more and more numerous. Men propose to pay them so that they are stripped. For these girls, often fragile, precarious, with degraded self -esteem, it is difficult to resist. These platforms are a gateway to prostitution.
Who are these men?
Some are looking for priced sex. They will succeed in baiting young girls by offering them gifts. I remember that a teenager agreed to join a man in exchange for an iPhone 14. Others are pimps. They buy photos from a young girl, then threaten to broadcast them if she doesn’t do what they ask her. This is how predators can easily get them out of the virtual to bring them to prostitution.
Where does this easy money mirage come from on the platforms?
Of the reality TV influencers ! Some candidates, followed by millions of subscribers, told how they won crazy sums by selling photos of their feet. One of them spoke of 30,000 euros. From there, lots of teens have launched. These influencers trivialized the commodification of bodies.
How do you help these young girls who have prostitutes to reconcile with themselves?
It’s very long. Before being exploited, many were victims of sexual violence. We listen to them by repeating to them that they are responsible for anything. They have the feeling of no longer being attached to their bodies, this is called “dissociation” or “decorporalization”. During a priced report, they no longer feel anything, their body protects itself, the brain disjuncts. The more they remain in prostitution, the longer the repair is.
