ABSTRACT
After the coup d’état of 1851 and the resuscitation of the Empire in 1852 the outlook for feminism in France was not promising. Napoleon III liked to think of himself as a man of progress but his modernising ideas did not include the advancement of women’s rights. Above all a politique and political manipulator, Napoleon III’s main preoccupation was maintaining himself in power and perpetuating his dynasty. Though not the despot that his many enemies on both Left and Right made him out to be, he had more than enough problems without seeking to add to them through embroilment in the ‘woman question’. His interest in women remained personal and sexual, as a long stream of mistresses attested. 1
