Scantily clad French women might have to invest in a new wardrobe if officials approve a law banning women from merely looking like a prostitute, according to the Mirror.
The new anti-vice law would make "passive soliciting," dressing in a manner suggesting sex for sale, an illegal offense. Officials hope to pass the measure in an effort to change the image of well-known red light districts, including Pigalle (Pig Alley) and Rue St. Denis in Paris.
But sex workers in the nation of an estimated 20,000 prostitutes slammed the proposal as an affront to their livelihood.
"It is making criminals of women for how they dress and victimizing prostitutes for doing their job and aggravating their working conditions," said Chloe Navarro, spokesman for the French sex worker's union Strass, according to the newspaper.
France has a fickle relationship with prostitution. Brothels once exist freely by the hundreds until they were banned in 1946. Current laws make it legal to "seek or offer money for sexual services," but advertising sex for sale is illegal. Pimping and soliciting are also illegal.
As for the brothels, one conservative French politician, Chantal Brunel, began a campaign in 2013 to legalize them as a way to make the industry better for sex workers.
"Women selling sex should be allowed to do so legally on special licensed premises," Brunel previously told parliament, according to the newspaper. "It would give them a legal taxable income and they would not be handing over large sums of their earning to a pimp."
If her proposal were passed it would be well received by the public. Six out of 10 French people said they agree with having brothels legalized, according to a recent survey.
Lawmakers will vote on the "passive soliciting" law this week.
