Protecting Sex Workers:

Public policies designed to eliminate sex workers in France have not worked. Two

observations: these workers have not disappeared, and the precariousness and invisibility they

have suffered as a result of these policies will not enable them to leave this profession. In a more

than negative assessment, the state and its institutions, particularly the police, are viewed with

mistrust by these women. There is no confidence toward them, only fear and a desire to keep

them at a distance. It is in opposition to these past public policies, and in order to change the

relationship between sex workers and our public institutions that I am writing this public policy

paper.

The approach must change. We must invent a new method that rejects preconceptions, ready-

made ideas, clichés, and simplistic schematizations. We must refuse to think in terms of morality.

We must listen to those who are affected. First and foremost, the women and men who do this

work. Next, the researchers who have studied sex workers. The goal is clear: to draw on their

experiences and knowledge to truly build effective public policy. Rather than punishing them,

we must consider and protect their rights: their right to work, their right to live, their right to

protection, and their right to safety.