Femen is a Ukrainian ultra nationalist and radical feminist activist group which is now based in Paris.
According to the Washington Post, "Femen’s members consider atheism to be a fundamental tenet of the group’s ideology."(see also: Atheist feminism and Atheism and women).[3]
Femen engages in topless publicity stunts/protests. Femen was one of the first radical feminist organizations to gain transnational media publicity.
Peter Baklinski and John Jalsevac wrote about Femen:
“ | If the topless protests organized by the radical feminist group Femen - typically featuring skinny, attractive women - have sometimes seemed like a dirty man’s dreams come true, there might be a good reason for that. According to a new documentary, the mastermind behind the group, members of which earlier this year assaulted a Belgian Catholic bishop for his views on homosexuality, was, until recently, a man with a penchant for pretty girls, and a habit of belittling the feminist warriors he led into battle.
“It’s his movement and he hand-picked the girls,” filmmaker Kitty Green, who was given intimate access to the feminist group, told the Independent in reference to Viktor Svyatski’s influence on Femen. “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.” Femen, whose slogan is, “Our mission is protest, our weapons are bare breasts”, is famous for staging numerous incendiary protests, such as attacking Archbishop Andre-Joseph Leonard with water, shouts, and curses in April; chanting "Pope no More" in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican; protesting against government plans in Ukraine to outlaw abortion in some circumstances; and chainsawing Orthodox crosses in the wake of the conviction of a Russian punk band. The revelation of Svyatski's leadership, which has since been confirmed by the group’s current leader, has sparked a furor, generating dozens of headlines in leading newspapers, with some commentators declaring that the group has lost credibility.[4] |
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See also: Atheism and suicide
Oxana Shachko was one of the founders of the radical feminist activist group Femen. In 2018, Shachko committed suicide.[5]
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