A mentality that puts male desires above women’s human rights
On April 6, 2016, the French National Assembly recognized prostitution as a form of violence against women, voting to criminalize the purchase of sex in France. Under the new law, prostituted people will be decriminalized and men who are caught buying sex will be subject to fines.
In a press release, Ressources Prostitution points out that adopting this law ensures France is in compliance with international and national human rights commitments, including the United Nations Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others (1949) and France’s national rape law, which defines rape as “any act of penetration imposed on someone by violence, surprise, threat, or coercion.”
With today’s 64 to 12 vote, French parliamentarians recognize that buying sexual access to another person’s body is inherently an act of coercion and recognizes that prostitution harms women and society as a whole.
In sharp contrast to the fatuous libertarian view that treats it as just a matter of the “freedom” of individual women to sell access to their bodies.
[B]eyond fines and funding, the bill aims to change the discourse surrounding the sex trade, educating the public and law enforcement alike about the way in which the system of prostitution operates on a foundation of inequality, targeting the most vulnerable and propping up a mentality that puts male desires above women’s human rights, well-being, and dignity.
Vive la France.
So does that mean that the entire French government is now S W E R F and must submit to no – platforming?
That’s most popular in the UK and they already don’t have much love for the froggies, so probably not…
Nope, the law in question doesn’t dictate what women are allowed to do one way or the other (unless they’re the clients of sex workers). The law is criminalizing John and Jane’s behavior. The square-quote bogey “freedom” to engage in sex work you’re decrying is, in fact, upheld.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9wdZOT_3VQ
“any act of penetration imposed on someone by violence, surprise, threat, or coercion.”
That’s what ‘normal’ dating verges on all the time. So long as money is badly distributed, so long as shame, property, ‘honor,’ and commodification etc. are splattered over the space between men and women…there will be violence and exploitation.
Jian Ghomeshi is what he is, whether he’s using bribery or violence. And he is apparently just living down to current standards of ‘normal.’