In 2004, there were between 7,000 and 7,500 prostitutes of all kinds in Paris, according to OCRTEH (Central Agency for the Fight against Trafficking in Human Beings). Marie-Elizabeth Handman and Janine Mossuz-Lavau argue that these figures do not take into account forms of prostitution that participants have never had to deal with the police, such as escorts who find clients on the Internet, or employed women who are limited to a few connections per month. [13] In 2010, Brain Magazine published a map of prostitution in Paris by region of origin: South American transsexuals in the Bois de Boulogne; African prostitutes in Barbès-Rochechouart and in vans called “BMC” (military field brothel) in the Bois de Vincennes, French in Strasbourg – Saint-Denis; Chinese, Mongolian and Romanian at the Porte Saint-Martin; And finally, along the boulevards des Maréchaux, there are Romanian, North African and African prostitutes. [14] Today, customers are subject to fines of up to €1,500 ($1,700) for a first offense and a fine of €3,750 for repeat offences. Lawmakers hailed the measure at the time as a way to end prostitution and human trafficking while protecting sex workers. “For example, when it comes to labor exploitation, the exploitation of farm workers and domestic workers – whether they work here legally or not – people seem to be saying, `Yes, we should give them the right to reduce exploitation, we should regulate their work and empower them.` But as soon as you start talking about sex workers, it suddenly seems to be a different topic,” Suzanne Hoff, international coordinator of La Strada International, told DW. This puts the France in line with Sweden, which has had the same law since 1999. Some claim that this has helped halve prostitution in the Nordic country, while critics say it has simply shielded them from scrutiny by the authorities, which is also the fear of sex workers` unions in France. Since the adoption of the law on the repression of prostituted clients in April 2016, the conviction of more than 400 clients in Paris from 2016 to 2017 has been recorded. [Note 4] Most of these offenders were caught in the boulevards of Marshall, the Bois de Boulogne, the Bois de Vincennes or the 350 massage parlors of the capital. [15] Jean-Paul Mégret, head of the Brigade for the Repression of Pimping (BRP) of the Regional Directorate of the Judicial Police of Paris, believes that this law has the effect of “pushing street girls to hotels and apartments, everything is done via cyberprostitution”.

[16] In France, prostitution itself – receiving money for sex – is not a crime. But the activities around it are. The laws prohibit pimping, human trafficking, and the purchase of sexual services from minors. Brothels were banned in 1946. In 1971, photographer Jane Evelyn Atwood moved to Paris. In 1976, she began photographing the world of prostitution in Paris, particularly in the rue des Lombards and the Pigalle district. [34] The UN estimates that 80% of young Nigerian women arriving in Italy – usually their first stopover in Europe – are already in the clutches of prostitution rings or quickly fall under their control. But many wondered how prostitution could be legalized when the purchase of sexual services is now illegal. France`s 2016 prostitution reform was inspired by Sweden, which in 1999 became the first country in the world to criminalize the purchase of sexual services but not the sale. “If clients are penalized, they will be afraid, girls will have to hide to practice their profession, which is legal, and as someone who could be in legal trouble, the client will be able to enforce their decisions even more, including unprotected sex.” The measure has been criticized not only by prostitutes who fear further “violence, stigma and poverty,” but also by police, charities and human rights groups who doubt it has the desired effect in reducing prostitution. Although prostitution has a long history in Europe, its legality varies from country to country. In countries like Germany and Greece, sex trafficking is fully legalized and regulated, while in many northern European countries like Sweden, it is illegal to buy sex, but not illegal to sell it.

This is corroborated by a December 2020 assessment by researchers at Sciences Po`s Institute of Political Studies in Paris, who examined the “failure” of the prostitution law in terms of the balance of power between sex workers and clients. Writers describing the lives of prostituted women in France include Honoré de Balzac and Victor Hugo. Meanwhile, sex workers are no longer punished or imprisoned for public publicity. And foreign sex workers who are actively trying to exit prostitution can get a six-month residency permit and government funding to prevent prostitution.