The French MP Chantal Brunel recently called for the country to bring back brothels. Her compatriots seem to agree: a poll suggested that 59% of French people supported the idea while only 10% opposed it.

As a result, many French media have pitted the rightwing Brunel against anti-sex work organisations: the former a pragmatist, the latter ideologues. French sex workers' voices tend not to be heard as much – probably because their demands are not as simple as the debate seems to be.

The Syndicat du Travail Sexuel (Strass), the French sex workers' union, met Brunel three weeks ago. They agreed that the anti-soliciting law passed in 2003 by Nicolas Sarkozy, when interior minister, had failed. This law was supposed to crack down on pimping. Because of it, street sex workers have to work in remote areas where they can escape police repression. Unfortunately, some workers now find themselves in dangerous areas and have to accept pimps' protection.

Since soliciting was criminalised, HIV organisations have noticed an increase in the number of STDs among sex workers. This is a real concern because the law makes it more difficult for outreach programs to reach the workers. The fact that police use the possession of condoms as evidence of soliciting hasn't helped: if police cars follow prevention buses, the workers refuse to accept condoms.

The human rights organisation, Ligue des Droits de l'Homme (LDH) released a report in 2006 about police violence against sex workers and human rights violations. It denounced the confusion between the fight against soliciting and the fight against prostitution. The new concept of "passive" soliciting gives the police power to arrest whoever they want merely on the suspicion that someone is a sex worker. This leads to all sort of abuses.

In 2007, five police officers were convicted of raping an Albanian sex worker. Despite agreeing to testify against them, she was deported after the trial. It is almost impossible for sex workers to persuade the police to log offences against them. Two weeks ago another woman working in Nice reported a rape committed by three police officers. The men acknowledged they had sex with her, but said that she was consenting. How many other cases go unreported?

To many, Brunel's proposal to reopen brothels seems the ideal solution. But like most French sex workers, I remain sceptical. On one hand, brothels could bring a certain safety and guarantee police protection instead of repression, but on the other, it means more control over our lives. I doubt our community will easily consent to working in brothels when traditionally, French sex workers have fought since the beginning of the movement in 1975 and the occupation of churches to remain independent from pimps and state control.

Instead of brothels (called "closed houses" in French), Strass proposed the idea of "open houses". I think this is a good idea. It means that sex workers could work indoors like doctors or lawyers without working for an employer. In France sex workers don't want bosses. UK sex workers and activists from other countries tend to speak only in terms of decriminalisation versus legalisation. We want to keep the choice of our clients, hours, practices and in particular prevention practices. The latter is a serious concern, because Brunel's idea of medical control is unclear and we wonder if she means mandatory testing.

The main problem is that clients are never tested, and are more likely to ask for unprotected sex. Prevention relies on the principles of shared responsibility and medical data confidentiality. Only condoms protect against HIV transmission. When empowered, sex workers can prevent the transmission of disease.

After she met Strass leaders, Brunel started to use the term open house, but she also says that outdoor sex work will remain criminalised. This is clearly a form of blackmail. Either we accept the control of the state, or we continue to be criminalised. It will only divide sex workers between legal and illegal workers and we know migrant workers will probably still risk being deported. Open houses would enable us to choose to work. We are part of society. We pay taxes, so we should be heard seriously and allowed to organise ourselves how we want. We need to be included in the negotiation with local powers about where we work, not imposed bad solutions.

French sex worker unionists are unhappy that they haven't been invited to parliamentary working meetings on the question. Politicians will only repeat the same mistakes if they don't listen to us.

On 24 March, Strass and its allies are organising "Assises de la prostitution", which will take place in the French senate. But very few politicians support us openly. Politicians can be our clients and vote against us at the same time. They are afraid to vote for sex workers' rights by fear of being identified as sexist by feminists who oppose prostitution.

This year, the annual "Pute pride" demonstration will start from the senate after the conference. Visibility is the best way to fight against stigma. When we claim to be proud, it doesn't mean that we all love our job. It means that we refuse to be shamed to death. We need to use coming out as a political strategy like other sexual minorities did before us. I hope Strass will receive more political support. In the UK we can join the GMB, a national mainstream union, but we don't have the same recognition in France.

EU countries have very different laws and models: the Swedish government is pushing for the criminalisation of clients. If France changes its policy it will probably influence other countries. That's why, although I now live in London, I keep an eye on what my friends and colleagues experience across the Channel. Whether new laws will improve sex workers' lives remains to be seen.