Red-Light District in Paris? No Official Zone — Pigalle Has Historic Association

Paris has no legal "red-light district." Prostitution is illegal in France (buying sex criminalized 2016; selling decriminalized but regulated).

Pigalle — Historic Adult Entertainment Area

• 9th/18th arrondissements, around Place Pigalle & Boulevard de Clichy.
• Famous for: Moulin Rouge, Folies Bergère, sex shops, peep shows, cabarets.
• Not a sanctioned prostitution zone — businesses operate as "entertainment."
• Daytime: tourists, shopping (music instruments, fabrics). Night: nightlife, some street solicitation (police monitor).

Other Areas

• Bois de Boulogne / Bois de Vincennes: Woodland parks — street prostitution at night (police tolerate if no nuisance).
• Online/escorts: Majority of sex work now indoor/digital.

Legal Framework

• 2016 Law: Clients fined €1,500 (€3,000 repeat); sex workers not penalized.
• Brothels (maisons closes) banned since 1946 (Loi Marthe Richard).
• Trafficking, pimping, procurement — severe penalties.

Pigalle is a cultural landmark, not a legal red-light district.