Femen
Femen is a Ukrainian radical feminist activist group whose goal is to protect women's rights. The organization became internationally known for organizing controversial topless protests against sex tourism, religious institutions, sexism, homophobia, and other social, national, and international topics. Founded in Ukraine, the group is now based in France. Femen describes its ideology as being "sextremism, atheism and feminism".
The organization describes itself as "fighting patriarchy in its three manifestations – sexual exploitation of women, dictatorship and religion" and has stated that its goal is "sextremism serving to protect women's rights". Femen activists have been regularly detained by police in response to their protests.
History
is credited as having founded the Femen movement on 10 April 2008, after she became aware of stories of Ukrainian women duped into going abroad and then taken advantage of sexually. However, according to the 2013 documentary by Kitty Green, Ukraine Is Not a Brothel, Femen was founded by Viktor Sviatsky. In September 2013 Inna Shevchenko responded to the documentary stating that Sviatsky "did lead the movement some time ago....We accepted this because we did not know how to resist and fight it....This is when I decided to leave Ukraine for France to build a new Femen". Femen member Inna Shevchenko discussed Sviatsky with The Independent in January, 2014, and, while not using the word 'founder' said: "I will never deny that he is a smart person. He was the reason why we knew each other. He was one of those smart people around us at the beginning, who were more experienced". Since 2013 Femen has been led by Inna Shevchenko.Initially, Femen gained attention by demonstrating in skimpy or erotic clothing. For example, on 21 September 2008 in front of the Turkish embassy in Kyiv, a dozen Femen members were dressed as nurses with smudged makeup and high pink heels; however, at the 24 August 2009 demonstration on Ukrainian independence day, Oksana Shachko went topless. Since this approach obtained such great publicity, it rapidly became FEMEN's signature approach. While most of the protests have been confined to bare breasts, in October 2010 Shachko exposed her buttocks outside a locked toilet in a demonstration to protest the lack of public toilets in Kyiv, and four of the group members staged a similar protest in Kyiv in February 2011.
File:Election Protest Crucified Ukraine.jpg|thumb|Femen protest in Kyiv during the 2010 Ukrainian presidential election against the election of Victor Yanukovych. The signs read "The War Begins Today" and "Stop Raping the Country."
Since May 2011, a host of international news outlets have started to report about the organization's actions; this has sharply heightened Femen's international profile.
From late 2011, the Ukrainian Femen activists started to hold more international protests. In December 2011, three Femen activists stated that the State Security Committee of the Republic of Belarus had abducted and terrorized them after they staged topless protests in Minsk. On 8 April 2013, five Femen members "topless ambushed" Russian president Vladimir Putin at the Hanover trade fair.
After Inna Shevchenko chopped down a wooden cross overlooking Maidan Nezalezhnosti in Kyiv on 17 August 2012, she stated that she had received several death threats and that her front door had been kicked in. Fearing arrest, she sought asylum in France and moved to Paris. There, in September 2012, she established a training facility for activists for Femen in France.
In late July 2013, one of the ideologists of the Femen, Viktor Sviatsky, and Hutsol were assaulted on the eve of a visit by Putin to Kyiv to celebrate the 1,025th anniversary of the Christianization of Kievan Rus'. According to Hutsol, those who attacked them "resemble those cooperating with secret services SBU and FSB".
One of the founding members, Oksana Shachko, was found dead in Paris on 24 July 2018; her death is believed to have been a suicide. She was living as an independent artist separated from the group after disputes with other members.
Organization
Femen has several international branches. The Femen office in their native Kyiv was closed and the organization's leadership left Ukraine in August 2013.In October 2012, the organization stated it had about 40 activists in Ukraine, and another 100 who had joined their protests abroad, as well as twelve thousand followers via the social network Vkontakte.
In October 2013, Femen had its largest membership in France. In January 2013, Femen France counted 30 local activists. In 2010, the group comprised some 320 activists, with about 300 of the active participants being in Kyiv. In a 2010 interview, Anna Hutsol said that in addition to 20 core organizers there are 300 activists in Kyiv, as well as a social network based on vkontakte of about 20,000 persons. Female university students between 18 and 20 years old formed the backbone of the movement when it was formed in 2008, with few male members. In 2011, various sources stated that in an interview Anna Hutsol said that the movement has 150 thousand supporters. In October 2012, the organization said that it had about 40 activists in Ukraine, and another 100 who had joined their protests abroad.
Hutsol stated in July 2010: "We are working better than any news agency. We have a photographer, cinematographer, designer and content manager." In Ukraine, most of Femen's demonstrations were staged in Kyiv, but the organization also held actions in other cities including Odesa, Dnipro, and Zaporizhzhia. In April 2010 the organization contemplated becoming a political party to run for seats in the October 2012 Ukrainian parliamentary election. However, it did not take part in these elections.
Femen explained its methodology of topless protesting by saying: "This is the only way to be heard in this country. If we staged simple protests with banners, then our claims would not have been noticed". The organization plans to become the biggest and the most influential movement in Europe.
Facebook initially blocked the Femen page because it suspected it was pornographic. In addition, Femen has displayed several provocative images on its Facebook page, including images of Femen activists taking a chainsaw to the heads of Vladimir Putin and Kirill I of Moscow, who were depicted covered in blood.
In 2010 and 2011, Ukrainian members had stated that their involvement in Femen had caused their families to become alienated from them. Some Femen members, including Inna Shevchenko and Oksana Shachko, were also subject to threats, kidnapping, beating and other intimidation.
Criminal cases against the organization
Several criminal cases have been opened against the organization in Ukraine on charges of "hooliganism" and "desecration of state symbols", among others, and the group has been fined. In addition, most Femen activists are detained by the police after protesting; in one case, the State Security Committee of the Republic of Belarus arrested Femen activists, "threatening them with knives and cutting their hair". According to Femen, after the early 2010 election of President Viktor Yanukovych, the Security Service of Ukraine attempted to intimidate the Femen activists.The Ukrainian police opened a criminal case against Femen when during its 27 August 2013 raid in the movement's Kyiv office it purportedly found a TT pistol and a grenade. Femen stated that these items were planted there by the Ukrainian police as part of a conspiracy by the Russian and Ukrainian secret services to prosecute the movement, which the police denied. On 30 August 2013, Femen activist Yana Zhdanova, Anna Hutsol and Alexandra Shevchenko were called in for questioning; instead, "fearing for their lives and freedom the activists escaped from Ukraine to Europe to continue Femen activities". The Kyiv office became a bookstore on 23 October 2013. By early March, Hutsol said that although the regime that had criminally probed them had fallen, it was "too risky to return to Ukraine"; in a February 2014 interview, Hutsol also stated that Femen activists who had stayed in Ukraine had helped during the Euromaidan protests that ultimately toppled this regime. Femen actions did recur in Kyiv in the summer of 2014.
International branches
Femen France
Femen France is the French branch of Femen. After cutting down a crucifix near Maidan Nezalezhnosti in Kyiv in August 2012, Inna Shevchenko left the country and went to Paris to set up Femen France, a training center for activists. The international training center opened on 18 September 2012.As of early January 2013, the organization consisted of 30 local activists. The only Ukrainians regularly present were Oksana Shachko and Inna Shevchenko. On 6 March 2013, Femen activists, together with French writer Galia Ackerman, released their first book, Femen, which was published by Calmann-Lévy.
The international training center opened on 18 September 2012. 15 activists marched topless from the metro station Château Rouge to the Lavoir Moderne Parisien, where their new headquarters are located, and organized a press conference there.
On 3 October 2012, French activists Éloïse Bouton, Elvire Duvelle-Charles, Miyabi K., Julia Javel, Jenny Bah, Nathalie Vignes and Inna Shevchenko protested against rape by standing topless in front of the Venus de Milo statue in the Louvre Museum. The Femen activists shouted, "We have hands to stop rape". They stated they chose the Venus de Milo because it has no arms, arguing this best symbolizes a woman's helplessness and vulnerability. This protest followed an incident in Tunisia where a woman faced charges of indecency after she said she was raped by police officers.
On 15 October 2012, eight topless activists protested in front of the French Ministry of Justice at the Place Vendôme in Paris in response to the verdict in the trial of fourteen men for the gang rape of teenage girls. After a four-week trial in Fontenay-sous-Bois near Paris, four of the accused were found guilty of taking part in gang rapes, ten were acquitted. The sentences were far lighter than those recommended by the state prosecutor, who had called for prison sentences of five to seven years for eight of the men. The protesters accused the French authorities of tolerating the rape of minors.
Femen activists held protests in front of Great Mosque of Paris on 3 April 2013, to demand the release of Amina Tyler, a Femen activist in Tunisia. They also burned the Salafist flag. In September 2015 two topless Femen activists jumped onto the stage of a conservative Muslim conference in Paris.