The can-can, cabaret and prostitution dominated Belle Epoque Paris. Sex was a commerce, an escape and a lifestyle. Its importance in Parisian culture made sexuality synonymous with power and a tool for obtaining it. The combination of beauty and assertiveness could take you places that hard, honest work simply couldn't reach. Both men and women benefited from this lustful commodity: prostitutes and mistresses were seen as status symbols, while flirtatious "femme fatales" had their way with the rich and successful. But the love, illustrated in Guy de Maupassant's Bel-Ami, was anything but romantic. It was a well-planned ritual, full of lies, deceit and infidelity. However, the power of sexuality in the Belle Epoque doesn't stray far from its place in today's society: "sex sells," after all. Maupassant introduces prostitution into great literature with Bel-Ami. In the Belle Epoque, these women were seen as status symbols since only the wealthy could afford their company. In Bel-Ami, Georges Duroy and Charles Forestier go to the Folies-Bergère, a Parisian nightclub. Forestier, a prominent editor of La Vie francaise, receives special treatment: a free box in the ballroom. Therefore, the combination of sex and status worked both ways: being seen with a prostitute meant wealth, and having high status gave sexual benefits. Forestier comments on the importance of prostitutes, telling Duroy that they are "the quickest way to succeed" (Maupassant 41). In Bel-Ami, Duroy uses this advice to his advantage, first with Rachel, the prostitute he meets at the Folies-Bergere. Rachel pursues Duroy when she sees him with Forestier in the box, thinking he is a wealthy, prominent figure who can afford his services. When she asks him to go home, he lies, "feeling the two gold coins in his pocket" (Maupassant 41), and says he only has twenty francs when in reality he has forty. Duroy uses Rachel both for his sexual lust and for the status her company reflects on him. But the women of Bel-Ami are not used exclusively as objects of lust and wealth: Madame Forestier and Madame Walter, who are both of higher status and wealth than Duroy, aid his career advancement at La Vie francaise. Duroy is asked to write an article about his experiences in Algeria, and when he is overcome by writer's block, Forestier's wife actually writes it for him. The article is