This master thesis is an attempt to illustrate the role of a feminist and abolitionist organization towards the enhancement of women’s social conditions and their representation in society. The study is based on my three months training at an Icelandic organization, Stígamót, which is an “Education and Counselling Centre for Survivors of Sexual Abuse and Violence”. My stay there included a series of interviews with social workers and survivors of prostitution and sexual trafficking.  The centre has a multi-faceted approach, using feminist empowerment as a methodological process for the purpose of increasing the quality of life. Together with feminist theories on intersectionality and empowerment as methodological tools, I am researching the relations between survivors’ empowerment, their agency, with a radical political change, leading to gender-equal society.

Ce mémoire s’intéresse aux expériences de femmes en processus de sortie de la prostitution. Il vise à comprendre les obstacles auxquels ces femmes sont confrontées pour pouvoir bénéficier d’interventions sociales accessibles et facilitant leur sortie de la prostitution. Cette recherche qualitative prend appui sur 11 entretiens individuels réalisés auprès de femmes âgées de 26 à 55 ans et habitant Montréal, les Laurentides et l’Abitibi. Bien que nombre de femmes aux prises avec la prostitution souhaitent en sortir, on compte peu d’interventions sociales pour les aider en ce sens. Les services publics sont largement insuffisants à la fois du point de vue de leur accessibilité et de leur réponse aux besoins de ces femmes. Peu d’études s’intéressent aux services d’aide à la sortie de la prostitution, notamment au Québec. Ce mémoire privilégie une perspective féministe abolitionniste et un cadre épistémologique de la théorie standpoint. Les résultats mettent en lumière les obstacles à l’accessibilité des interventions sociales, dont le cloisonnement des services et le refus manifeste d’offrir de l’aide aux femmes. Cette recherche rend compte également de l’expérience de pratiques d’intervention entravant le processus de sortie : 1) les pratiques punitives, 2) celles proposant une aide limitée aux femmes ou 3) leur adaptation à la prostitution. La conclusion de ce mémoire propose la mise en œuvre de pratiques sociales novatrices qui prennent en compte les contraintes sociales qui mènent les femmes à l’industrie du sexe et les y maintiennent ainsi que les conséquences de l’expérience même de la prostitution sur elles. / This thesis focuses on the experiences of women in the process of leaving prostitution. It aims to understand the barriers these women face in order to receive social interventions that are accessible and that facilitate their exit from prostitution. This qualitative research builds on 11 individual interviews with women aged between 26 and 55 years and living in Montreal, the Laurentians and Abitibi. Although many women in prostitution want to exit, there are few social interventions to help them in this regard. Public services are largely inadequate both regarding their accessibility and their response to the needs of these women. Few studies have focused on support services to facilitate exiting prostitution, especially in Quebec. This thesis is anchored in a feminist abolitionist perspective with standpoint theory as the epistemological framework. The results highlight the barriers to accessibility of services including compartmentalisation of services and a manifest refusal to provide social support interventions for women. This study also gives an account of the experience of interventions that hinder the exiting process: 1) punitive practices, 2) those providing limited assistance to women or 3) their adaptation to prostitution. The conclusion proposes the implementation of innovative social practices that take into account the social constraints that lead women into the sex industry and keep them there as well as the consequences of the very experience of prostitution on them.