sparkchaser

Some of you might want to consider changing your travel plans

http://metro.co.uk/2016/04/07/france...legal-5800771/

<i>There were protests by sex workers outside the country’s parliament during the final debate on a bill that will affect around 30,000 prostitutes in France.

Anyone caught paying for sex will face a fine of up to £3,040.

Some of those protested held banners saying ‘Don’t liberate me, I’ll take care of myself!’, and ‘Sex work is work’.

Pimping is illegal across Europe, but France is only the fifth to punish prostitutes clients. The other countries are the UK, Sweden, Norway and Iceland.

Sweden became the first country to make it illegal to pay for sex in 1999.

The proposal, which has been debated since 2013, has divided public opinion prompting a group of 343 public figures to issue what they called a ‘scumbags’ manifesto’ asserting the right to use prostitutes.

The signatories, who included journalists, writers and actors, said they resented being depicted as ‘perverts or psychopaths’ and refused to allow ‘deputies (to) legislate norms on our desires and our pleasures’.

Socialist lawmaker Maud Olivier, the architect of the bill, has argued repeatedly that prostitutes should be seen as ‘victims and no longer as delinquents’.

The new law will supersede a little enforced 2003 measure penalising the solicitation of clients for sex.</i>

flpab

Criminalization is a systemic problem that drives the international HIV epidemic for women & girls http://bit.ly/HIVCriminalization … #HLM2016AIDS

IMDonehere

First the French get mad at you for touching the fresh fruit in the stores, now this.

IMDonehere

You would think that with the threat of terrorism effecting tourism, they would hold off on this.

brubenow

<<You would think that with the threat of terrorism effecting tourism, they would hold off on this.>>

So, you are saying that tourism might suffer because of the prostitures protesting? Or because prostitution is now illegal there?

<<First the French get mad at you for touching the fresh fruit in the stores, now this.>>

I can't tell if I'm detecting sarcasm here, or if you're serious?

IMDonehere

These are jokes folks. Fodor's should shut the lights and turn this place into a morgue.

Christina

I presumed that was a joke.

I thought they did that a long time ago in France, I remember articles about it, but guess I was wrong. The Assembly passed that at the end of 2013. I guess the Senate then rejected it so it never became law at that time (and it was revisited in 2015, and the Senate again rejected it). IN fact, the OP"s quote says there was a 2003 law but for some reason, it wasn't enforced, not sure why they needed a new one.

http://www.publicsenat.fr/lcp/politi...client-1075271

dwdvagamundo

Doesn't look like a joke to me, except for this bit:

"Socialist lawmaker Maud Olivier, the architect of the bill, has argued repeatedly that prostitutes should be seen as ‘victims and no longer as delinquents’"

Guess this is an attempt to destroy prostitution in order to save it? Good luck with that.

IMDonehere

There are about four people here with a sense of humor. The rest have the have assumed the frowning posture of an autodidactic oenophile.

flpab

Back in the day, my Dad's unit came into Nice. The unit's Doctor was tired of treating his soldiers for stds so he pick a few prostitute's, treated them and assigned them to his unit. No more sick soldiers. Today illegal prostitution creates aids so make it legal and stop disease.

Robert2533

In outlawing prostitution, the only prostitutes left will be lawmakers...

FuryFluffy

^ This.

brubenow

<<These are jokes folks. Fodor's should shut the lights and turn this place into a morgue.>>

I was hoping you were joking, but humor doesn't always translate well into text. Sorry.

Pvoyageuse

"First the French get mad at you for touching the fresh fruit in the stores".
If you like to eat strawberries or peaches that have been handled by a dozen customers before you, bon appétit.

StCirq

I'm surprised at this. I don't pretend to understand the complexities behind the decision, but it doesn't strike me as a particularly French stance.

mensayank

"There are about four people here with a sense of humor. The rest have the have assumed the frowning posture of an autodidactic oenophile."

Or... Maybe you're just not funny. Go work on your delivery and take your dictionary with you.

NewbE

I applaud the effort to mete out equal punishment for both the client and the prostitute, and even to recognize that the client should bear the brunt of the law's wrath, but I have to agree with flpab, criminalization of sex work creates more problems than it solves. Better to legalize and regulate, in my view.

Whathello

Some time ago in a far away kingdom the princess was given a curse by a witch.
If she drank one drop of alcohol she would laugh and laugh and laugh.
Her father king of the real ordered that no alcohol was to be drunk anymore.

After several year prince al Capone brought illegally alcohol and the realm laughed again.

Morality : when there is a need there will be providers.
Whatever Puritanists think.
I'd rather listen to social workers confronted to the problem.
However I like the idea of punishing the immoral bastard who abuses a sexual slave I don't think we can hide behind laws.
So I would agree with flpab.
But we still should punish the clients.
Now French will go to Switzerland in the city of Sion to find mrs the girl who broke her leg whilst falling.
Where is the miss who Fell a Sion please ?


Another Koelsh for those who get this one.

PatrickLondon

This isn't the law in all of the UK, just (I think) Northern Ireland.

annhig

There are about four people here with a sense of humor. The rest have the have assumed the frowning posture of an autodidactic oenophile>>

I'm getting blackberries....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAG39jKi0lI