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France debates the return of bordellos
French MPs are calling for bordellos to return to France more than 60 years after they were banned.
Chantal Brunel, a political ally of President Nicolas Sarkozy, says it should be made legal for women to sell sex on licensed premises, and pay tax on their earnings.
Her demand comes as survey revealed six out of ten French people wanted brothels to be legalised.
Ms Brunel, an MP for the ruling UMP party, said: "Women selling sex should be allowed to do so legally on special licensed premises.
"This would free thousands of women from the exploitation they suffer at the hands of pimps and criminal gangs and offer them much more security they currently have on the streets.
"It would give them a legal taxable income and they would not be handing over large sums of their earning to a pimp."
France had 1,400 legal brothels before they were all shut down under a law banning prostitution in 1946.
Brothels are still legal in Germany, Holland and Switzerland, and tolerated in Spain.
Ms Chantal said her proposal was now being studied 'very carefully' by French interior minister Brice Hortefeux.
She added: "A parliamentary working group on prostitution, of which I will be part, is being set up and it's first meeting will be on March 25."