On 22 June The Guardian reported that France’s new Minister for Women wishes to organise a conference to consider ways of outlawing prostitution in Europe. A cross party group of French MPs has argued that paying for sex should be made a criminal offence as it already is in Sweden and Iceland.
The Minister also hopes to meet Britain’s Home Secretary, Teresa  May to discuss ways of tackling prostitution. In the UK as in France prostitution is not illegal but many of the activities associated with it (for example soliciting and kerb crawling) are criminal offences. While it is not an offence to pay for sex in the UK it is against the law to pay for sex with a person who has been trafficked (forced) into prostitution. Under UK law an offence has been committed irrespective of whether the person paying for sex was aware that the prostitute had been forced into prostitution. For the Guardian’s article please visit http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/jun/22/french-minister-abolition-prostitution-europe?newsfeed=true.
For my short story “The First Time” in which I examine the reasons why a young student enters the world of prostitution and the consequences of her doing so please visit http://kevin-morris.co.uk/2012/06/10/the-first-time/
http://kevin-morris.co.uk/2012/06/11/the-first-time-part-2/ and

http://kevin-morris.co.uk/2012/06/14/the-first-time-part-3/

For my short story “The Pain Behind the Smile” which touches on the same subject please visit http://kevin-morris.co.uk/2012/06/20/the-pain-behind-the-smile/