page_title: Prostitution in France
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Prostitution in France / History
caption_attribution_description: a painting by Louis-Léopold Boilly showing some of the transient and ephemeral extremes that accompanied the adoption of strongly neo-classically influenced styles in Paris during the second half of the 1790s (ca. 1797). The woman has been interpreted as a prostitute (who is disdaining the inadequate coin proferred by the fashionable gentleman getting his shoes shined at left), so her outfit obviously should not be taken as typical of trendy Parisian women's attire of the time. On the other hand, 18th-century and 19th-century streetwalkers did not generally wear clothing that looks extra "sexy" in 21st-century eyes as compared with normal women's attire of the time (streetwalkers sported faded finery worn in an inappropriate context more often than excessively revealing attire -- see Image:1787-prostitutes-caricature.jpg, for example), and the idea that such an outfit could be worn on the streets of Paris tells its own story (it could never have been worn outdoors in London).
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: 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).
caption: Louis-Léopold Boilly (1761-1845). "Point de Convention" c. 1797 (Woman refusing money offered by a gentleman who has assumed she is a prostitute)
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