Marine Le Pen’s National Rally (RN) has ignited a fierce debate in France by proposing the re-legalization of brothels, nearly 80 years after they were outlawed. The far-right party plans to submit a bill allowing "maisons closes" to operate as cooperatives owned and managed by sex workers themselves.
Jean-Philippe Tanguy, the RN lawmaker drafting the legislation, argues that the 2016 law criminalizing clients has failed, forcing prostitution underground and worsening safety conditions. He contends that a cooperative model would empower workers, offering them safety, autonomy, and access to social security benefits—rights recently granted to sex workers in neighboring Belgium.
Political and Social Backlash
The initiative has faced immediate opposition from the government and left-wing parties. Equality Minister Aurore Berge firmly rejected the plan, asserting that "desire cannot be bought" and describing prostitution as a system of male domination. Socialist critics branded the move "sexual populism," while the Communist Party denounced it as a "reactionary vision."
Crucially, the proposal has been rejected by the very community it claims to help. STRASS, the union representing sex workers, explicitly refused to collaborate with the National Rally. While the union supports the concept of cooperatives, spokesman Thierry Schaffauser accused the RN of exploiting a political void left by mainstream parties. Other workers dismissed the bill as an anti-immigration tactic or a publicity stunt ahead of the 2027 presidential elections.
While RN leadership has since downplayed the urgency of the bill, the proposal has successfully thrust the rights and safety of sex workers back into the national spotlight.