quote:

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In their first national demonstration for more than a quarter of a century, some 400 prostitutes marched through the streets of Paris this week in protest at a government bill that will effectively outlaw streetwalking.
"Whores: neither victims nor criminals," read one of the banners held aloft by the women, most of whom wore white masks as they gathered outside the Senate to demand the withdrawal of the bill, tabled by the hardline interior minister, Nicolas Sarkozy.

Other banners proclaimed: "Sarkozy, it's hypocrisy, sex is therapy," "You sleep with us, then you vote against us," and "The state taxes us; the state criminalises us." Dozens of women wore stickers printed with an even more direct slogan: "Sarkozy, you give fascists a hard-on."

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Many streetwalkers fear the legislation will make their lives both more difficult and more dangerous; prostitution will be driven underground, into isolated and inaccessible corners where women will be even more exposed to violence and abuse from their clients.

"We are ordinary women, wives, daughters, mothers and neighbours," said Betty, 36, who had travelled up from Marseille with four colleagues. "We have a life beyond our work, we have our dignity too. Why should we be forced even further into the gutter, dumped among the dregs?"

Besides simply demanding the right to work, many of France's prostitutes are outraged that the bill makes no attempt to distinguish between women who decide for themselves, for whatever reason, to become sex workers, and those who are the victims of organised criminal gangs.

"Sarkozy should attack the real problem, the east European mafia gangs who turn young foreign girls into slaves," said Barbara, 44, a Parisian from the capital's main red-light street, the rue Saint-Denis. "I don't see how women like me are a security problem. He's got the wrong target."

The demonstration was the first by French prostitutes since 1975, when a national movement was formed to protest at the violent and exploitative excesses of the country's pimps and the police's refusal to prosecute them.

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btw, slightly off-topic, but seeing as this article is written by a "Jon" (no pun intended), how do you feel about the problematics of a male writing in defense of prostitutes and prostitution. ok? not ok? ok but problematic nonetheless?

it's a fascinating situation, especially in certain Asian contexts--for instance, in Sa`dat Hasan Manto's writings in the middle of the last century, and in Jafar Panahi's recent film work.