Femen

Femen
Formation	10 April 2008
Headquarters	Paris

Femen is a radical feminist activist group whose goal is to protect women's rights. The organization became internationally known for organizing 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".

Inna Shevchenko cutting down a cross overlooking Independence Square in Kyiv with a chainsaw.

"Ukrainian activist group FEMEN demonstrate underwear made from anti-infection masks at the Independence square in Kiev, Ukraine, 9 November 2009. The youth group in recent days has organized several street protests aimed at reducing public stress brought on by a flu epidemic in the former Soviet republic."

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.

Founder

Australian film-maker Kitty Green “outed” Victor Svyatski as the mastermind behind the group. Syvatski was known as a “consultant” to the movement, but Green revealed that he is not simply a supporter of Femen but its founder and éminence grise. “It’s his movement and he hand-picked the girls. He hand-picked the prettiest girls because the prettiest girls sell more papers. The prettiest girls get on the front page… that became their image, that became the way they sold the brand.”

Initially, Svyatski refused to allow Green to film him but she was determined that he should feature. “It was a big moral thing for me because I realised how this organisation was run. He was quite horrible with the girls. He would scream at them and call them bitches.””

When the Femen founder finally spoke to Green, he sought to justify his role within the organisation and acknowledged the paradox of being a “patriarch” running a feminist protest group. “These girls are weak,” he says in the film...“They don’t have the strength of character. They don’t even have the desire to be strong. Instead, they show submissiveness, spinelessness, lack of punctuality, and many other factors which prevent them from becoming political activists. These are qualities which it was essential to teach them.”

External links

• The man behind Femen, the world's most famous topless protest group - Victor Svyatksi may have joined the bare-breasted feminist group as a way to meet babes

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