The French far-right National Rally is preparing a bill to reopen brothels, positioning them as sex worker-run cooperatives to increase safety, while opponents argue against the move and cite the party’s anti-immigration stance.
France’s far-right National Rally (RN) party is pushing a bill to parliament that would reopen brothels, which have been banned since 1946, and establish them as cooperatives managed by sex workers. RN lawmaker Jean-Philippe Tanguy, who states the legislation has the backing of Marine Le Pen, argues the current system of criminalizing clients is “the height of bourgeois hypocrisy” and has made sex workers’ lives more perilous by driving the trade underground.
Tanguy stated his proposal would allow sex workers to be “empresses in their kingdom,” contrasting it with the 2016 law that fined clients. However, the plan faces strong criticism from sex worker support groups, with Delphine Jarraud of Amicale du Nid stating, “Recreating places where human beings are locked up… that’s unimaginable.” Opponents also cite the RN’s anti-immigration stance, as most sex workers in France are foreign nationals.