Degas and Toulouse-Lautrec painted them; Hugo, Balzac and Zola wrote about them; Napoleon licensed them and disgraced former presidential candidate Dominique Strauss-Kahn says he has a "horror" of them. Some even argue that they are part of France's cultural heritage. Prostitutes have been a feature of French artistic, literary and political circles – and a target for politicians – for centuries.
On Tuesday, following the New York sex scandal earlier this year that made headlines around the world and effectively ended Strauss-Kahn's hopes of becoming the next French president, MPs will discuss a bill that would make prostitution a crime punishable by six months in prison. Anyone caught buying sex would face a €3,000 (£2,600) fine.
Since the end of the second world war [sic] prostitution in France has been considered a matter of private choice and is not illegal. However, the government has become increasingly abolitionist and the public mood may be hardening following the Strauss-Kahn debacle. A series of unsavoury revelations regarding a high-end prostitution ring based at a luxury hotel in the northern city of Lille will also be in MPs' minds as they vote on the bill. » | Kim Willsher | Sunday, December 04, 2011
