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A
Dog's Life...
In a search for cleaner sidewalks an expat looks at pampered
Parisian pooches
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Prostitution: The Debate
France has never been considered a great
enthusiast of American-style stodgy moral laws. But recently the
government has tasked a Steering Committee with finding new ways
to put a stop to the worlds oldest profession.
As the number of prostitutes walking parisian
streets has gone up, public outcry has increased. It seems residents
are concerned that the working girls are moving out of their traditional
haunts around Pigalle and the rue St. Denis and into new territory.
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One proposed solution is a law that would penalize
the customers -- six months of prison and a 7,500 Euro fine. At
the same time there are suggestions that subsidies be increased
for associations that work to "prevent" the expansion
of the profession.
What is behind the new "concern" seems
to be the latest wave of young women from Eastern Europe who have
taken to the streets of Paris – out of necessity or worse.
Some policy-makers advocate the "reintegration" of these
women to their former countries – a proposal that sound suspiciously
like deportation. Others point out that the women are victims of
violent mafia networks, and as such they should be given a helping
hand rather than a boot out of the country. Many would like to see
the profession simply disappear from the parisian landscape.
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In a "strange bedfellows" moment, we
see stodgy moralists and idealistic feminists on the same side for
radically different reasons. While the petits-bourgeois decry prostition
as a moral blight, women’s rights advocates see the issue as
a fight against a form of modern slavery and the mafia that runs
it.
Luckily there are a few wise voices speaking out against all this
morality-legality. Some of those who oppose new legislation regulating
the world’s oldest profession fear that any attempt at criminalizing
prostition will push it further underground – making it more
difficult for the women to get assistance.Others point out that
it is simply not right to be deciding policy for a portion of the
population without getting input from that population.
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The legal status of prostitution
in France is murky. Prostitution itself is legal, but open
soliciting is not. Brothels have been illegal since 1946,
but thinly disguised "lounge bars," "private
clubs" and "massage parlors" function relatively
openly.
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