Pension reform will be tough for sex workers

• The retirement reform planned by the government risks penalizing sex workers, who are meeting this weekend at the Erotic Fair, in Rennes.
• Careers in the industry are often short and chopped and few can go full-time.
• The sex work union (Strass) is trying to set up a plan to protect the most vulnerable.

“All actors are supposed to have access to intermittency. But in porn, this is almost never the case. " In one sentence, Eva summed it all up. Aged 27, this actress X has done like all sex workers, creating her box to become a self-entrepreneur. The status of intermittent spectacle that her counterparts in “traditional” cinema can aspire to, she will never have. “The profession is very stigmatized so we have no choice. But it is precarious ”.

This weekend, visitors to the erotic fair, which is held at the Parc Expo in Rennes, will undoubtedly not have a head for pension reform. But behind the light outfits and the smiles will hide many questions and anxieties. Escort girls, hostesses, X actresses, prostitutes ... All sex workers and their male counterparts face the threat of a very small retirement, particularly due to the precariousness of the profession, a legal vagueness and short careers .

"Forty annuities for a sex worker, it's impossible"

“Yes, we have to worry about the longer contribution periods. We do not have the right to unemployment insurance, so the mentality that dominates is the resourcefulness, "explains Thierry Schaffauser, prostitute and spokesperson for the Sex Work Union (STRASS). “This is also what we observe for retirement, those who are doing the best make investment projects to ensure material security with age. But not everyone succeeds and the minimum old age is the only solution, ”says Thierry Schaffauser.

Recently, his union created a mutual health insurance for its members and he is now looking for a collective provident contract. The objective is clear: to protect the most vulnerable in an environment where it is almost impossible to hope for a full-rate retirement. “Forty years for a sex worker is impossible as long as the laws are prohibitionist. We have no special retirement, no arduousness, no seniority. We have no common law, except the obligation to pay our taxes and taxes for self-employed workers, "says Mylène, a prostitute who claims" 18 years of street tapin ".

"We hope to put it aside, like everyone else"

In the community, the question of remuneration is often thorny, even taboo. Whether prostitutes or actresses, income can quickly rise. But how many are declared? And how many are saved? "Yes, this activity brings more than salaried workers without a diploma, yes we hope to put it aside, like everyone else," adds Mylène. “An actress will earn between 150 and 1,500 euros for a one-day shoot. It may seem a lot but it hides important disparities, especially since we have neither sick leave nor leave. Financially, it is very unstable and this is where people come to take risks or accept anything, ”says Eva.

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In the past, "some people married a wealthy client or bought real estate and then lived on rentals," recalls the spokesperson for Strass. But today, the practice is more rare. “I don't want to get married to be able to live. I want to stay free, ”sums up Eva.

Like many, the young actress X admits that she does not know how long she will work in the sector. And worries even more since the publication of the new law Avia supposed to fight hate content on the Internet and which limits access to pornography. “The sector is very stigmatized, badly perceived. It is very complicated to retrain ”. Thierry Schaffauser agrees: "We receive a lot of requests from people who are discriminated against in the world of work because of a past in the sex industry". As prisoners of a precarious environment.

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