[12] Claudia calls herself a putain respectueuse and 42-year-old Audrey assumes her role with "dignity", while Barbara considers herself "generous" in offering "everything", all demonstrating lucidity with respect to the profession.

[13] Valérie tells of some police officers taking advantage of the situation, offering a quid pro quo consisting of sexual favours in exchange for avoiding a night in jail.

[13] The subject of Sexe de rue was not entirely untrodden ground for Richard Boutet [fr], whose previous works frequently focus on marginalized members of society, survivors of harsh conditions or victims of criminal enterprises.

[14] As early as 1973, Boutet offered a glimpse of a relationship between sex work and drug addiction in his documentary, Suzanne et Lucie, about two exotic dancers with a heroin habit.

[5] Memorial screenings of Sexe de rue, along with other films by Boutet, took place at the 6th Montreal International Documentary Festival, in November.

[5] Writing for L'Itinéraire, Gabriel Bissonnette welcomed the documentary as a rare instance of an unprejudiced, sympathetic light being shed on those who work the street, avering that the film's scenes scream truth (criantes de vérité).

[9] Odile Tremblay, writing for Le Devoir, embraced what she saw as the documentary's plea for the decriminalization of "solicitation", and for rights for the vulnerable street prostitutes, and against a hypocritical society.

[12] Both Bissonnette and Tremblay were personally moved by the stories told by the sex workers themselves, particularly Marie-Claude and Marianne, whom she calls a revolutionary poet whose acid words are like war cries, or wails of suffering (Marianne, poétesse révoltée qui lance ses mots acides comme des cris de guerre et de douleur).