Since the beginning of the year, a series of powerful men from some of France's most prominent fields including politics, sports, academia and the arts have faced direct and public accusations of sexual abuse in a reversal from mostly years of silence
On July 10, 2020, several thousand demonstrators protested in Paris and several cities in France against the presence in the government of Gérald Darmanin, accused of rape, and Eric Dupond-Moretti, very critical of the #metoo movement. Image: Samuel Boivin/NurPhoto via Getty Images
PARIS — When Sandra Muller started France’s #MeToo social media campaign in 2017, tens of thousands of women responded to her calls to “#ExposeYourPig.”
But the backlash was overwhelming. Some of the most prominent women in the country, led by Catherine Deneuve, denounced the movement in a letter that came to define France’s initial response to #MeToo. In 2019, Muller lost a defamation case against a former television executive she had exposed on Twitter, with France appearing immune to the larger global forces challenging the dominance of men.
Last week, Muller won her appeal. although there were no new facts, a significant ruling by the appeals court underscored how things have changed in the past two years.
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