Soltan, Margaret. The Lost Narrative of Lost Women. Feminist Studies. Vol. 1, No. 3. Autumn, 1989: 563 572. Margaret Soltan's essayistic article on the scholarly perception of prostitution is presented as a reaction to another article published in the journal Ethics, in which the author described prostitutes as being similar to nurses in that they carry out unpleasant but humane services for society. Soltan describes herself as being angered by the article and she concludes that this anger came as a result of a certain affinity that she feels towards prostitutes. The article was written after Soltan spent time in Paris for a fellowship and it often refers to her experiences and observations of prostitution in Paris. Soltan believes that prostitution comes as a result of a sort of self-alienation and commoditization and, also, that prostitution is rarely viewed as a real social problem in support of this claim, she refers to the establishment of regulations and the systematization of prostitution in Paris via designated prostitution zones and medical tests for prostitutes. The problem of prostitution, Soltan says, is a result of a tendency for passivity among woman: they tend to desire freedom from responsibility and thus they turn themselves over to prostitution (all women, Soltan says, do this in a less explicit way by selling themselves in their daily lives). Soltan's article examines prostitution as a real social problem in much the same way Jean-Luc Godard examines it in Vivre Sa Vie. Nana, the main character in Vivre Sa Vie believes that she is responsible for all of her actions, but Godard demonstrates the social constraints that led to Nana's descent into prostitution and portrays Nana as having little control over it. A similar critical view of society is reflected in Soltan's writing a view of women being misled into believing they carry out prostitution in a detached manner without being mentally affected- and both Soltan and Godard refer to the regulatory laws on prostitution in Paris as attempts to streamline prostitution as if it were not a true problem.