page_title: Prostitution in France
section_title: Prostitution and culture
hierarchical_section_title: Prostitution in France / Prostitution and culture
context_page_description: Prostitution in France was legal until April 2016, but several surrounding activities were illegal, like operating a brothel, living off the avails, and paying for sex with someone under the age of 18.
  On 6 April 2016, the French National Assembly voted to punish customers of prostitutes by a fine of €1,500.
  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. France thus became a major supporter of the international abolitionist movement for the eradication of prostitution.
context_section_description: Nicolas Sarkozy recognized that the traditional sex worker was part of France's national cultural heritage. 
  Paintings and drawings of maisons closes (brothels), and prostitution appear frequently in art over the centuries, some of which are shown here. Some of the best known are scenes in brothels produced by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Edgar Degas and Pablo Picasso, among others. 
  Brassaï published photographs of brothels in his 1935 book Voluptés de Paris. A voluminous illustrated work on the phenomenon is Maisons closes. L'histoire, l'art, la littérature, les moeurs by Romi (Robert Miquet), first published in 1952.
  Amongst writers depicting the life of women in prostitution in France are Honoré de Balzac and Victor Hugo (see bibliography).
  The Musée de l'Erotisme in Paris devotes one floor to the maisons closes. It exhibits Polissons et galipettes, a collection of short erotic silent movies that were used to entertain brothel visitors, and copies of Le Guide Rose, a contemporary brothel guide that also carried advertising. The 2003 BBC Four documentary Storyville - Paris Brothel describes the maisons closes.
  An exhibition about historical Paris brothels took place from November 2009 to January 2010 in an art gallery across the street from the former Le Chabanais.
caption: The Salon of the Rue des Moulins [fr], by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, 1894
exif: {}