It is now a lot harder to live as a prostitute in France, as a new law passed on Wednesday has rendered the act of paying for sex has been illegal. Once caught, those violating the law would face fines of up to $4,274 and be required to attend classes in order to be informed of the risks of the sex trade.
The controversial legislation took quite a while to be passed fully into law, with the two houses of parliament being severely divided over the issue. Overall, it ultimately took two years of debates before the law was finally passed.
Due to the nature of the legislation, numerous critics have emerged to challenge it, most notable of which is the Strass sex workers' union, which argued that the law severely affects the livelihood of France's thousands of sex workers. It is speculated that the country is home to about 30,000 to 40,000 prostitutes who rely on the trade to make a living.
The French government says, however, that the law serves as an ideal way for those in the sex trade to leave the profession and move on to a less risky, albeit more conventional, form of work. The legislation has also set aside more than $5 million in order to aid prostitutes in finding a new job, as well as provide a temporary residency permit for foreign sex workers, which are estimated to number as much as 80 percent of all the prostitutes in the country.
Though the legislation is aimed at reforming sex workers and providing them with less risky options, a number of advocacy groups have warned that penalizing those who are buying sex might ultimately make the trade more dangerous than it already is.
Catherine Stephens, an activist with the U.K.-based International Union of Sex Workers, and who also works as a sex worker, expressed the increased risks that workers would now face due to the legislation.
"Criminalisation makes those in the industry much more likely to have to accept clients who are obscuring their identity, which benefits people who want to perpetrate violence," she said.
"We have had cases where clients have helped people escape from situations of coercion. Criminalising the client actively works against that, discouraging them from coming forward. We need to create a situation in which it is easy to report harm, violence and coercion. Blanket criminalisation of premises, brothels, or clients absolutely works against that."
Norway, Sweden, Iceland and Northern Ireland have also passed similar laws against the sex trade.
