It was the first Olympics opening ceremony to be held outside of a stadium β and, as it was marred by torrential rain that soaked athletes as they sailed down the Seine, it might also be the last.
They pinpoint the Bois de Boulogne and Bois de Vincennes β which are both public parks and famous sex work sites β as well as the Belleville neighbourhood of Paris as crackdown hotspots. The latter is home to a big community of Chinese sex workers who, De Laon says, have faced particular harassment in the last few months.
For context, in April France adopted the Nordic model, a controversial approach to sex work that criminalises clients and third parties as opposed to sex workers themselves. This is clearly evident in France. Plu s, as per openDemocracy , in the last six months of at least ten sex workers were murdered in France, double the already troubling rate of one sex worker death per month in , before the Nordic model was introduced. Crackdowns ahead of the Olympics, then, are yet another hurdle for sex workers trying to work safely in Paris.
Yet, the myth prevails. All of this in the name of anti-trafficking? The sex workers who access our services are scared. In her research, De Lisio found that ahead of the FIFA World Cup in Rio, the police shuttered dedicated sex bars and hotels β places where sex workers could work with safety nets, like security guards, cameras, and staff checking clients before they enter.
There were also violent raids and evictions of sex workers , some of whom alleged to have been raped by the police. Even without these supposed anti-trafficking policies, general Olympics logistics make many public spaces inaccessible for sex workers anyway, like inflated prices of hotels. Also, a lot of my usual clients planned to be away from Paris for the Olympics, meaning I have fewer work opportunities. Having fewer clients means I have to lower my prices or accept more dangerous practices.
