The purpose of this critical essay is to demonstrate that female sex work is linked to diversified stakes which all have an impact on the social representations conveyed towards women. It adopts a constructivist analysis (foucaldienne) to illustrate the institutionalization of the standards of women’s sexuality. The text demonstrates how female prostitution is a social construction. Il then depicts the political debate which surrounds the question and from which various types of feminism and models of regulation have emerged. Finally, an analysis of female prostitution as an object of intervention in social work is exposed.