Prostitution in France (the exchange of sexual acts for money) was legal until April 2016, but several surrounding activities were illegal, like operating a brothel, living off the avails (pimping), and paying for sex with someone under the age of 18 (the age of consent for sex in France is 15).
On 6 April 2016, the French National Assembly voted to subject those found engaging with prostitutes with a fine of €1,500.Prostitution : le Parlement adopte définitivement la pénalisation des clients 'Le Monde', accessed 7 April 2016
In the Napoleonic era, France became the model for the regulatory approach to prostitution. In the 20th century, however, a policy shift became apparent. Brothels became illegal in 1946, and France signed the Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others in 1960, thus becoming a major supporter of the international abolitionist movement for the eradication of prostitution (see Abolitionism in France).
History
The history of prostitution in France is similar to that in other European countries, with alternating periods of tolerance and repression (Tolérance générale, répression occasionnelle), but is marked by the length of time during which the maisons (brothels) were tolerated. Prostitutes were not marginalized, but integrated into society where they had a role to play. In stories (which were often ribald), prostitutes would be complicit with other women in avenging men. The great Cathedral of Chartres had a window endowed by prostitutes (The Prodigal Son) in the same way as other windows were endowed by various other trade guilds (The Trade Windows).Madeline H. Caviness. Review of "Les Vitraux Légendaires de Chartres: Des Récits en Images" by Jean-Paul Deremble and Colette ManhesWolfgang Kemp "Sermo Corporeus: Die Erzählung der Mittelalterlichen Glasfenster". Speculum; Vol. 65, No. 4 (Oct., 1990), pp. 972–975.Jane Williams has disputed that the windows were actually dedicated by the guilds, in The Windows of the Trades at Chartres Cathedral. PhD thesis, University of California, Los Angeles, 1987; published as: Bread, Wine & Money: the Windows of the Trades at Chartres Cathedral. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1993Cathédrale de Chartres: Parabole du fils prodigue
Early period After the period of Roman rule, the Visigoth monarch Alaric II (485–507 AD) seems to be the first French ruler to prosecute prostitution.
Middle Ages During the Middle Ages, the various authorities, civil or noble, oversaw prostitution as an institution. Regulation was largely at the municipal level, restricting activity on certain streets, travel, liaisons, required distinctive dress (gold belts, or ceinture dorée)Véronique Bui. "Le châle jaune des prostituées au XIXe siècle : signe d'appartenance ou signe de reconnaissance?". Fabula; Feb 7 2008 and opening hours of the maisons (10–6, or 10–8 in Paris).
Charlemagne (768–814 AD) was amongst those rulers who attempted to suppress prostitution, declaring flogging (300 lashes) as a punishment in his capitularies. This was primarily aimed at the common man, since harems and concubines were common amongst the ruling classes. Some idea of the seriousness with which the state regarded the offense is provided by the fact that 300 lashes was the severest sentence prescribed by the Code Alaric. Offenders also had their hair cut off, and in the case of recidivism, could be sold as slaves. There is no evidence that those sentences effectively decreased prostitution. Under Philip II (1180–1223) an irregular militia, the Ribauds were created in 1189 to police prostitution and gambling, headed by a Roi des Ribauds, but abolished by Philip IV (1285–1314) due to their licentiousness.
Saint Louis IX (1226–1270) In the interim, Louis IX (1226–1270) attempted to ban prostitution in December 1254, with disastrous social consequences and widespread protests. The decree ordered the expulsion of all "women of evil life" from the kingdom and confiscation of their belongings, but simply drove the trade underground. Eventually he was forced to revoke this by 1256. Although still railing against women who were "free with their bodies and other common harlots", he acknowledged the pragmatic desirability of housing them away from respectable streets and religious establishments, and so obliged them to reside outside of the borders of the city walls. His resolve to do away with prostitution was affirmed in a letter of 1269 to the regents, as he set out on the Eighth Crusade, in which he refers to the need to extirpate the evil, root and branch. The punishment for infraction was an 8 sous fine and risking imprisonment in the Châtelet (see below). He designated nine streets in which prostitution would be allowed in Paris, three of them being in the sarcastically named Beaubourg quartier (Beautiful Neighbourhood) (Rue de la Huchette, Rue Froimon, Rue du Renard-Saint-Merri, Rue Taille pain, Rue Brisemiches, Rue Champ-Fleury, Rue Trace-putain, Rue Gratte-cul, and the Rue Tire-Putain) (see below)Jacques Rossiaud. Medieval Prostitution; trans. Lydia G. Cochrane, New York, 1988
Today, this area corresponds to the 1st–4th arrondissements clustered on the Rive Droite (right bank) of the Seine (see map). These streets, associated with prostitution, had very evocative if indelicate names including the Rue du Poil-au-con (or hair of the con, from the Latin cunnus meaning female genitalia, hence Street of the Pubic Hair, or Poil du pubis), later altered to the Rue du Pélican, in the 1st arrondissement, near the first Porte Saint-Honoré,Le saviez-vous ? Rue du Poil-au-Con... urban trip paris Feb 2 2010 and the Rue Tire-Vit (Pull-Cock, i.e. penis, later the Rue Tire-Boudin, Pull-Sausage) now Rue Marie-Stuart, in the 2nd arrondissement, near the first Porte Saint-Denis. It is said that Tire-Boudin was a euphemism invented for Mary Queen of Scots when she asked after its name, and the street is now named after her.Realms of Memory: The construction of the French past. II: Traditions; p. 363 Pierre Nora, Lawrence D. Kritzman. Columbia University Press, 1997 The nearby Rue Gratte-Cul (Scratch-bottom) is now the Rue Dussoubs, and the Rue Pute-y-Musse (Whore [who] hides there) the Rue du Petit-Musc by corruption. The "rue Trousse-Nonnain" (fuck nun), later became Trace-Putain, Tasse-Nonnain, and Transnonain; then in 1851 it was amalgamated into the Rue Beaubourg.In the 3rd arondissement from Porte Hydron to the Saint-Martin-des-Champs Priory. Rue Transnonnain. Le Garde-mots Nov 23 2009 The Rue Baille-Hoë (Give Joy) is now Rue Taillepain in the 4th arondissement near the Porte Saint-Merri. Parisians: an adventure history of Paris, by Graham Robb. Norton, 2010
In 1358, the Grand Conseil of John II (1350–1364) echoing the "necessary evil" doctrine of Saints Augustine (354–430 AD) and Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) declared that "les pécheresses sont absolument nécessaires à la Terre" (Sinners are an absolute necessity for the country).La Prostitution au moyen age; medieval.mrugala Prostitution remained confined to designated areas, as indicated in this decree in the reign of Charles V (1364–1380), by Hugh Aubriot, Provost of Paris in 1367, outlining the areas outside of which prostitutes would be punished 'according to the ordinance of Saint Louis'; Que toutes les femmes prostituées, tenant bordel en la ville de Paris, allassent demeurer et tenir leurs bordels en places et lieux publics à ce ordonnés et accoutumés, selon l'ordonnance de Saint Louis. C'est à savoir : à L'Abreuvoir de Mascon (à l'angle du pont Saint-Michel et de la rue de la Huchette), en La Boucherie (voisine de la rue de la Huchette), rue Froidmentel, près du clos Brunel (à l'est du Collège de France aboutissant au carrefour du Puits-Certain), en Glatigny (rue nommée Val d'Amour dans la Cité), en la Court-Robert de Pris (rue du Renard-Saint-Merri), en Baille-Hoë (près de l'église Saint-Merri et communiquant avec la rue Taille-Pain et à la rue Brise-Miche), en Tyron (rue entre la rue Saint-Antoine et du roi de Sicile), en la rue Chapon (aboutissant rue du Temple) et en Champ-Flory (rue Champ-Fleury, près du Louvre). Si les femmes publiques, d'écris ensuite cette ordonnance, se permettent d'habiter des rues ou quartiers autres que ceux ci-dessus désignés, elles seront emprisonnées au Châtelet puis bannies de Paris. Et les sergents, pour salaire, prendront sur leurs biens huit sous parisis…
Contemporary accounts suggest that this decree was rarely enforced.Histoire de maisons.... closes mais d'un point de vue architectural !; batiweb. Retrieved 3 August 2007.
The appearance of syphilis at the end of the 15th century had stigmatized these houses by the end of the 16th century, but their continued existence was confirmed by King Henry IV (1589–1610).Die Schliessung der "Maisons closes" lag im Zug der Zeit, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 15 October 1996.
Réglementation (Regulation) In 1804 Napoleon ordered the registration and bi-weekly health inspection of all prostitutes, the so called Regulation System. State controlled legal brothels (then known as "maisons de tolérance" or "maisons closes") started to appear in Paris and in other cities and became highly popular throughout the century. By 1810, Paris alone had 180 officially approved brothels.
By law, they had to be run by a woman (typically a former prostitute) and their external appearance had to be discreet. Prostitutes working in the maisons, or any woman arrested twice for soliciting had to be registered as such.Kiedrowski, J.S., & Van Dijk, J.M. (1984). Working papers on Pornography and Prostitution Report 1. Pornography and prostitution in Denmark, France, West Germany, The Netherlands and Sweden, Ottawa: Department of Justice Canada. pp. 14-15 Registration involved having their name on a national register, and agreeing to abide by the regulations and twice weekly medical examinations.Scibelli, Pasqua (1987). Empowering prostitutes: A proposal for international legal reform. Harvard Women's Law Journal, 10, 117–157 This pattern of regulation rapidly spread throughout Europe, partly aided by the Napoleonic occupations.
Among the most expensive and best known maisons de tolérance in Paris were: le Chabanais (opened 1878 and favored by Prince Edward, who had himself made a special "love seat" there),Dirty Bertie's seat of pleasure, The Times, 17 January 2004 le Sphinx, la Rue des Moulins, le One-Two-Two (opened in the mid-1920s and soon became the top address) Hotel Marigny was the best known brothel for male homosexual clients; it opened in 1917 near Opera in the second arrondissement
More sordid brothels, the maisons d'abattage, offering quick and dirty "services", were popular amongst the lower-class.
The 19th century was also the time of several fabulously rich courtesans in Paris, with La Païva being the most famous one.
World War I
During World War I, in Paris alone, US Army officials estimated that there were 40 major brothels, 5,000 professionally licensed streetwalkers, and another 70,000 unlicensed prostitutes. By 1917, there were at least 137 such establishments across 35 towns on or close to the Western front.