Will France fine the john or punish the prostitute?

Article here. Excerpt:

'When it comes to sexual matters, the French tend to be much more liberal and close-lipped than their American peers. Here, it is largely considered a private concern.

But lately, sex has taken center stage of French public debate, splashed across editorials and magazine covers and featured on television news programs, as French lawmakers this week debate whether to penalize clients who pay for prostitutes.

A wide range of critics disagree with the plan, from Medecins du Monde (Doctors of the World), which says that penalizing the client will only push prostitution further “underground,” to a group of influential writers and other personalities who balk at the government legislating what they do in the bedroom.
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“For the first time in history we are tackling prostitution on the right side of the problem, which is the client,” says Anne-Cecile Mailfert, the spokesperson for Osez Le Feminisme, or “Dare to be a Feminist.”
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Prostitution itself is not illegal in France – although various aspects of it are, such as pimping or soliciting underage women. The new law would add an extra punishment that places the burden on clients, fining them some $2,000 for their acts, a sum that would double if they are caught again. It would also give aid to vulnerable women, particularly foreigners who are trafficked into France and have no papers. The government counts between 20,000 and 40,000 prostitutes in France.

Maud Olivier, the socialist lawmaker who co-wrote the bill, told the French daily Le Monde that the point is to make clients aware that they are participating in the sexual exploitation of prostituted persons, which does not respect the fundamental human rights of France.
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And well-known feminist Elisabeth Badinter argues in Le Monde that “the state has no place legislating on individual sexual activity.” She went on to say that the bill itself is incoherent and unjust, since France authorizes women to prostitute themselves but prohibits men from using them.'