I have stumbled upon a feminist group website. This organization is named Femen and it is organized out of Kiev, Ukraine (http://femen.org/en/about) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FEMEN). They are promoting what they call "sextremism", which I gather from the site and videos on the site to mean using your female body, which is viewed a lot as a sex object, to be a weapon and to be used in protest of a patriarchal society. Basically that means that they do all of their protesting topless. They explain that when women are naked everyone wants to look at them, thus if you protest topless/naked then people will pay attention to what you are doing.
Here is a link to a video of Inna Shevchenko, who is one of the main women heading this organization, and she explains "sextremism": http://girlsandrevolts.tumblr.com/post/30515389417/sextremism-is-the-new-weapon-of-feminism-by
At first, I thought that this organization was just a bunch of really bitter women who want all men dead and want women to rule the world. But after poking around the internet and finding out more about them, they seem pretty legit. They mainly protest women's issues such as sex tourism, religious institutions (that are patriarchal), legalized prostitution (they don't want it!), and sexism, but they also protest other social/national/international topics (such as gay marriage!).
I think that it is interesting that women's groups like this exist, and that they are protesting women's issues in a nonviolent way! Femen wants women to be strong, independent, healthily, smart, etc and they are standing up for what they believe in. However, in many countries in Europe, and especially in Ukraine (where the main hub for this group is) they have frequently been detained or arrested when they have done nonviolent protests. I guess that I am surprised at this because they are not hurting anyone, but are standing up for women's rights. But in a way, I am not surprised by this because I feel that anytime women try to stand up for their rights they are shut down. However, I like what Femen is standing for and the fact that they are protesting in a nonviolent way. I think it's great to see a group of women stand up for our entire gender (and for others as well) and to spread a message of equality for all.
What do you think of Femen?
That seems pretty cool. These women as you've described them are not afraid of social constraints (going shirtless) and they are using their deviance from the norm to challenge injustice. I give them a thumbs up. It's a huge leap to act in this way too, it commands that they be treated as "person" and not "object".
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