Gangs and Girls: Understanding Juvenile Prostitution

By Michel Dorais and Patrice Corriveau
Montreal, QC: McGill-Queen’s University Press. 2009

Gangs and Girls holds considerable promise as a baseline for further research since it’s based on Canadian data but also tackles the under-researched areas of girls in juvenile prostitution and boys as pimps within street gangs.  Overall, Gangs and Girls presents a succinct description of the process of involvement in, and the power relations that exist between, francophone street gangs and juvenile prostitution.  The goal of this exploratory research is to understand the dynamics between street gangs and juvenile prostitution and was originally published in French under the title Jeunes filles sous influence: Prostitution juvenile et gangs de rue (2006).  The authors state this English version builds on the French although by how much is unclear based on the information provided in Appendix Two (“Study Methodology”).  The results presented are based on accounts and interviews with social workers, community and street workers, educators, and police officers.  I argue that this 129 page book is written for this audience as well.  Prior to discussing my overall impressions, I would like to share with the reader some interesting findings from the data collected in this three year study.

Dorais and Corriveau have developed a unique and realistic typology of street gangs.  After briefly reviewing some of the prominant gang typologies developed in the United States, the authors present their concentric circles model in Chapter 1 which differs from the others due to its simple, intuitive design.  Approximately 10-15% of gang members belong to the inner circle that is involved in the strategic direction of the gang and also controls the finances.  Another 30-40% are middle members that have a strong allegiance to the gang but may not be involved full-time.  Finally, another 45-60% are periphery/hangers on and aspirants who haven’t proved their loyalty to the street gang.         Entrance into prostitution is a process over time rather than an event.  Often gang-related research neglects to recognize this fact and incorporate this premise in the research questions and design.  That is not the case with Gangs and Girls.  The characteristics of the girls involved in prostitution and the gang members who act as pimps are presented in conjunction with examples such as gang-bang initiation rites and the desire to feel loved (with the notion that love and sexual desire are synonymous).  Dorais and Corriveau also develop a typology that classifies juvenile prostitutes into four types: sex slaves, submissives (most common), daredevils, and independents (see Chapter 5). 

What appear to have drawn considerable attention with the French publication are the chapters on prevention and intervention.  The authors suggest viewing involvement as a “strategic choice” (p. 99) and go on to provide ten suggestions for helping girls overcome their victimization, develop alternative strategies, and “rebuild and reconceive their lives” (p. 103).  These suggestions likely represent a very good amalgamation of knowledge from the representatives of formal social control that were interviewed for this study.  The authors also suggest that the one-size-fits-all approach to prevention isn’t likely to be successful with these boys and girls.  As is the case with other forms of delinquency and analogous behaviour, this is largely correct.  As the authors state, the approach needs to address the motivations and individual circumstances that led to their involvement in the first place.  This requires interagency cooperation and this book will certainly facilitate the communication and knowledge transfer necessary for this to occur.  This cooperation is integral given the important point raised by the authors.  Canadian law sees juvenile prostitution as a form of sexual exploitation:  “Anyone under 18 who participates in prostitution is deemed to be non-consenting” (p. 35; see also Appendix One).

Yes, our knowledge is still lacking about Canadian street gangs and juvenile prostitution as a whole.  My concerns are not meant to diminish the import of the findings presented in Gangs and Girls but to raise questions and critical inquiry into how the results are developed and presented (i.e. methodology, analysis, write-up).  Over a three year period, “about” (p. 137) fifty respondents were interviewed individually or in small groups primarily in Quebec City and Montreal.  After the release of the French book, the authors interviewed or corresponded with two more young women, two parents and “others” (p. 138) who contacted the authors directly.  Thus, the question is how many respondents?  How many of each type of respondent?

This qualitative study includes chapters on the motivations and experiences of girls involved in juvenile prostitution but it does not appear to be based on any data, or at best very little, collected from these girls and boys.  These findings are based on the interpretations of system actors.  This overgeneralization and questions of validity are not addressed by the authors.  The authors admit that there were no attempts made to secure interviews with clients (p. 138) yet Chapter 7 is all about clients and their motivations and defence arguments for their use of juvenile prostitutes.  A similar issue arises in Chapter 11 “What after-effects do prostituted girls experience?” 

The authors very briefly state they took a heuristic approach to data analysis whereby hypotheses were developed after initial data collection and conducting a literature review.  First, this seems a bit presumptuous given the stated exploratory nature of the study and the little we know about these social phenomena.  How many interviews were in the initial data collection efforts?  With what types of respondents did these interview data include?  A more common approach is to let the data speak and tell the descriptive story much like the analytical practices used in anthropology.  Anthropological inquiries can be culturally-based and street gangs are also a (sub)culture in and of themselves.  Second, there are no anonymous quotations provided from the interviews to support the assertions and conclusions made by the authors.  Finally, there is an inadequate description of the sample (e.g. snowball), data collection process (e.g. length of interviews), coding procedures, ethics concerns or protocols followed, and the analytical strategy as it relates to the theoretical frameworks of strategic and gender analysis.

I do want to emphasize this exploratory study has many merits.  The critiques are primarily related to the lack of information provided than necessarily methodological or analytical problems that diminish the validity and generalizability of the results in their entirety.  Practitioners would gain much from reading and absorbing the material in this book.  I question the applicability for use in academic research given the lack of empirical support presented for the findings and conclusions.  Yet, Gangs and Girls would certainly be an excellent supplementary text for a course in deviant behaviour or juvenile delinquency.