page_title: Prostitution in France
hierarchical_section_title: Prostitution in France
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Conversations galantes entre prostituées et clients au Palais Royal dans les galeries de Montpensier et de Beaujolais, Paris, 1800.
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: 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 is 15).
  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 (see Abolitionism in France).
caption: Prostitutes and clients conversing at the Palais Royal, Paris, in 1800. Ink and watercolour. Bibliothèque nationale de France
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