Prostitution // Current TV

French Prostitutes Oppose Reopening Brothels

PARIS, France — A French lawmaker wants to reopen brothels, outlawed in France since 1946, in order to protect prostitutes from predatory pimps and exploitation. But the sex workers say no thanks.

“All of the prostitutes are against the reopening of the brothels,” said Janine Mossuz-Lavau, a sociologist and expert on sexuality and prostitution.

A 2003 law introduced by then-Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, which made passive public solicitation a punishable crime, is partly to blame for the impasse. Criminalizing activities around prostitution, which itself is legal for anyone over 18, sent workers underground to massage parlors and bars, but also away from the city centers, to peripheral areas, the woods and the internet. It “rendered exercising this profession much more dangerous” since workers found themselves isolated, Mossuz-Lavau said.

Almost seven years to the day that parliament adopted that law in March 2003, Chantal Brunel, a member of Sarkozy’s UMP party who had voted for it, announced she wants to change the government’s response to prostitution. She envisions reopening the brothels as spaces where workers would be safe from human trafficking and violence, treated with dignity and would even receive medical care. An estimated 59 percent of French citizens support the idea, according to a poll released last month.

But the sex workers’ union, which represents more than 250 prostitutes in France, is adamantly opposed to government meddling in its business and would rather maintain as much independence over its members' livelihoods as possible.

Reached by phone, Tiphaine Besnard, a union spokeswoman, said it had been a while since she heard any news from government officials one way or another about how the matter was progressing. In any case, the workers rarely participate in political discussions or decisions involving them.

“Our elected officials … are doomed to repeat the same failures if they do not consult the people who live prostitution daily and know all the consequences of their policies,” the union said in a March press release. “We alone possess the expertise on our lives.”

Among the reasons the union cites for opposing the government’s proposal is the fear that brothel keepers who want to receive a cut of their proceeds would exploit the workers. Plus, the union argues, mandatory testing for sexually transmitted diseases could lead to discriminatory policies that might bar those infected from working. Instances of HIV in the pornography industry has led politicians to ask if they should be doing more to police that industry — a scenario prostitutes would like to avoid. They are also against a system that might divide workers into camps of regular brothel workers and others who refuse to work within that system.PARIS, France — A French lawmaker wants to reopen brothels, outlawed in France... more

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There goes the neighborhood

Tomorrow, Vanguard is moving offices from here in Hollywood to a lot in downtown Los Angeles. Like other lots, this one has a lot of security and badges and so forth. Where we are now is a little less informal, with a double garage door that rolls up to admit light and air on warmer days, such as today. It’s also, as I’ve alluded, in a pretty vivid part of Hollywood in terms of street action. I think I’ve also mentioned that back in 2001, a block away, Laura Ling and I shot an hour episode of the “Breaking It Down with Serena,” series that we produced for MTV called “A Week on the Streets.”

But the first time I shot a story here was in December of 2001. My friend and former colleague Anderson Cooper, then an ABC News correspondent, had gotten the news division to agree to do a story on the male street hustlers who stood out on Santa Monica Boulevard, and my employer of the time, Channel One News, agreed to loan me out to help produce it.

Anderson and I were happy to be working together again, and, so, one rainy and cold—for LA—night in early December, there we were on Santa Monica Boulevard. Anderson had a small format camera. I had a small format camera. There was a two person union crew with a beta cam to make things meet the union requirements then in place at ABC News. The only thing there wasn’t at the end of the evening were any male street hustlers on camera.

We all came back the following night, and initially, had no better luck.

It turned out that simply by standing there with all of our cameras, looking friendly, we couldn’t get them to walk up to us and spontaneously start telling us their stories. It was kind of discouraging.

But that’s because had lost sight of an important point in this business: You can’t be sure if people will talk to you unless you ask them. So I was obliged to start walking up to people and saying: “Excuse me, sir, I couldn’t help notice that you’re standing here on this curb, looking into the cars that drive past. Are you perhaps a male sex worker? If so, would like to be on ABC News?” After approaching no more than two or three people, I got one to agree. Then it was easy to find more. Pretty soon, there’s a street hustler who’s also selling methamphetamine, standing next to Anderson on the corner of Highland and Santa Monica near midnight on a Saturday, talking about what he looks for in the passing cars.

No one in Vanguard seems to have ever done a follow-up with these guys, to see how their business is serving the toughest economic times since the 1930s. On the one hand, you might expect that there are more of them out there now—the LAPD and LA Sheriff’s Department permitting. On the other hand, it could be the johns have less money to spend too. And now we won’t know, unless someone else does the story, because we’re moving out of the neighborhood and going downtown.

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