Should paying for sex be illegal?

A French parliamentary commission is due to present a report this Wednesday on whether or not to propose a law to criminalise the clients of prostitutes. Some feminist groups welcome the idea of penalising clients, which is based on a Swedish law introduced in 1999. Others, including some prostitutes themselves, say it would only push the phenomenon further underground.

by-nc-sa/2.0/Alain Bachellier

"I find that it would be completely idiotic," says Roxanne, 45, about the idea of penalising her clients. She has been a prostitute for the last 27 years, and says no law will keep them away.

"It will not keep them from coming. If they can't come by car, they will come on foot. We'll do it by phone or internet."

French Solidarity Minister Rosselyne Bachelot has proposed fining clients, and imposing jail time for repeat offenders. But some clients say this would not stop them.

“There are phone numbers in newspapers to find prostitutes who work from apartments. If we can’t find prostitutes in the street, we’ll go elsewhere," says Pierre, a regular customer.

Christian, a doctor who says he pays for sex because he does not have enough self-esteem to seduce women on his own, says he would feel obliged to disobey the law, because it is an infringement on his rights.

"You have a duty to disobey laws you disagree with," he says. "There are quite a lot of young people who go to prostitutes as a kind of sexual education. Are we going to punish those people? It’s a bit Orwellian. It’s almost a criminalization of sexuality."

Prostitution is already only marginally legal in France.

"Prostitution is tolerated. As a private activity, you have the right to sell sexual services which are almost all prohibited, or at least they make it very difficult," explains Marie-Elisabeth Handman, an anthropologist who worked on a survey on prostitution for the city of Paris.

Since 2003 solicitation - picking up people on the street - has been illegal. There are very strict laws against pimping that implicate anyone associated with a prostitute, including landlords, taxi drivers, and even family members.

Handman says that these laws were put in place in the 1990s when an influx of foreign sex workers started appearing in France, from Africa, Eastern Europe and from China.

"Some have come by their own will, but had to pay smugglers, and until they repay them, they are not free," she explains. "Others are really in the hand of the pimps. And there are also mafias."

Handman says the 2003 law banning soliciting, introduced by Nicolas Sarkozy when he was Interior Minister, did not reduce the number of prostitutes, as it was meant to do. Instead, it pushed them underground.

"They left the cities and have gone into the woods, along the highways, where it's difficult to find them and provide medical and social assistance," she says, adding that as a result, there has been a rise in sexually transmitted diseases. It has also cleared the way for criminal groups.

"Mafias gain more and more importance when there is more and more prohibition in a country, because if you have to be underground, then you need help. And the help comes from the mafias," she says.

Handman says during her research for the city of Paris, she found there were some prostitutes who worked willingly.

"There was a continuum of freedom among the prostitutes. Of course, the free prostitutes were probably a minority. It's very difficult to give numbers - even the police are unable to do it," she says.

"This minority is composed of women who had pimps in the past, but managed to get rid of them during the 1970s, and they say 'We have become prostitutes because we don't want to have a boss'. And also: 'In the relationship with the client, we are the ones who have the power, because we chose the clients, we chose the prices, we chose the practices'."

Roxanne is one of those who say she has chosen to be a prostitute. After 27 years in the profession, she considers herself a 'traditional' prostitute.

"I personally don't feel like a victim," she explains. "I am traditional. I do what I want, I work when I want. I’d like those people who say we are victims to come see how we work, if we work."

The Minister of Solidarity, Roselyne Bachelot, has says all prostitution degrades the dignity of women, and has encouraged Parliament to consider criminalising clients. The findings presented by the parliamentary commission will inform whether or not there will be a law to vote on by the end of the year.

Additional reporting by Laurence Theault.