Liberalized sex work proposals are often associated with the Left, but in France, it is the populist right-wing National Rally party that is pushing this reform, with support from former leader Marine LePen. The National Rally proposal is to make the brothels cooperatives run by the sex workers themselves: legislator Jean-Philippe Tanguy said, they “would be empresses in their kingdom.” Brothels have been banned in France since 1946, and paying for sex was made illegal in 2016, but critics say that driving sex work underground only makes conditions for both workers and clients more dangerous. The party may be trying to distinguish itself from the feminist-inspired reforms of the ruling coalition and instead position itself as a defender of traditional French culture, of which courtesans and brothels were a prominent feature at least since the days of Louis XIV.
French Right Wants to Re-open Brothels
