Metro : Strasbourg-St-Denis. 2nd
arrondissement.
In the mid-1970s, Paris's prostitutes demonstrated in churches,
monuments and public squares, demanding unionization. They marched down
rue St-Denis, the central artery of the city's prostitution district,
to picket for equal rights and protection under the law. Their campaign
was successful and prostitution is now legal in france. Officially, sx
workers are still not allowed to work the streets, and only the
prostitutes themselves can use the money they earn on the job. This
creates a problem, since even if a woman uses her earnings to support
her family, her husband can be prosecuted as a procurer. Despite its
legalization, however, prostitution in France is far less common than
in the Netherlands or Thailand. except, of course, along rue St-Denis,
an enclave of debauchery and a place that sx shops and sketchy clubs
call home, in the otherwise G-rated 2ème.