The “DSK affair” of alleged rape seems to have triggered a feminist awakening in France. Women’s organizations that had fallen out of view suddenly are getting renewed attention in the political sphere and the media. Suddenly, issues like rape, incest and sexual harassment have become worthy of public debate, according to the New York Times' Elaine Sciolino, author of a new book about France entitled "La Seduction."
More quietly, militancy about women’s rights already had been regaining ground in France in recent years, but the focus then was mostly on the poorer Arab-dominated “banlieues” where women’s basic rights have often been suppressed. Forty feminist organizations met at a conference in the Paris suburb of Évry and pledged to make the war against rape their main cause in the coming year.
-- European Affairs