San Francisco Frontiers - French far right sparks debate with proposal to reopen brothels

Brothels, or "maisons closes", existed in their hundreds in France before they were outlawed in 1946.

Prostitution is legal in France, although a law introduced in 2016 did make it illegal to buy sex, shifting the criminal responsibility to clients who can be fined if caught.

Now the far-right National Rally (RN) plans to submit a bill that would allow brothels to re-open and be run as cooperatives by sex workers themselves in order to ensure their safety.

Jean-Philippe Tanguy, a member of the party, revealed this week that he has been working on the legislation that he claims has the backing of Le Pen.

The 39-year-old argues that the 2016 law criminalising clients has only worsened the daily lives of sex workers, forcing them to work "even harder" in appalling conditions.

"The only solution is for prostitutes to be their own bosses, to be empresses in their own kingdom," Tanguy told RTL radio.

"It would be a kind of cooperative, an institution run and owned by the prostitutes themselves," he said. The move, he argues, would allow sex workers to contribute to social security and have unemployment and retirement benefits.

In a pioneering move, sex workers in next-door Belgium were last year given full employment rights, such as paid leave.

- 'Don't want to work with RN' -

Tanguy's bombshell initiative was unveiled as France, stuck in a political and economic limbo, is struggling to adopt a budget and cut its budget deficit.

The plan has raised eyebrows and reignited debate about prostitution and sex workers' rights.

France's old "maisons closes" combined the lure of private pleasures with chic bars and restaurants for party-goers, attracting stars such as Humphrey Bogart, Cary Grant and Edith Piaf, as well as politicians and foreign dignitaries.

Painter Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec drew much of his inspiration in the French capital's brothels, including "Le Chabanais" for the elite.

Conservative daily Le Figaro asked if France was heading "towards a return of brothels."

"Surprise! Marine Le Pen herself has given her approval to this reform. When will the madams return?" quipped satirical weekly Le Canard Enchaine.

The party of three-time presidential candidate Le Pen has been steadily gaining ground and senses its best ever chance of taking the Elysee in the 2027 presidential elections.

But some sex workers who support the idea of self-ruled cooperatives rubbished the proposal, saying the anti-immigration party wanted to prevent foreign women from plying their trade in France.

"It will never pass. It's just a publicity stunt," one sex worker, identified only as Mia, told media outlet 20minutes.

The STRASS association that defends the rights of sex workers, which has campaigned for the decriminalisation of prostitution and the establishment of cooperatives, sought to distance itself from National Rally.

"We don't want to work with the RN," spokesman Thierry Schaffauser told AFP.

"What we want is for the other parties to agree to work with us and stop ignoring us. This leaves a void that the RN is rushing to fill."

- 'Sexual populism' -

While some of Tanguy's colleagues admitted they were caught off guard by his initiative, others rushed to his defence.

"This is not the reopening of brothels as we imagine them," RN vice-president Sebastien Chenu told journalists on Tuesday.

"Nor is it an urgent matter, obviously," he said, adding the idea had "come up in conversation" during parliamentary proceedings.

The lawmaker, who participated in a study group on sex work, said the 2016 law on the criminalisation of clients "has solved nothing."

Equality Minister Aurore Berge said France had no plans to change its stance.

"Desire cannot be bought," she said on Instagram.

"Prostitution is not 'the oldest profession in the world.' It is the oldest system of male domination over women."

In 2024, Gabriel Attal's government unveiled a national strategy to combat prostitution, which included measures against massage parlors.

The Communist Party denounced a "reactionary vision that reduces women to bodies for sale", while Socialist MP Jerome Guedj slammed the proposal as "a form of sexual populism".

The Mouvement du Nid, an anti-prostitution group, condemned a vision that it said was "absurd" and "disconnected from people's lives," stressing that "brothels do not protect women, but clients."

"Prostitution is neither work nor sex," said CFDT union chief Marylise Leon.

W.Carter--SFF