Femen
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| Founded | 10 April 2008 |
|---|---|
| Founder | Anna Hutsol |
| Type | Protest and activist group |
| Focus | Women's liberation |
| Location |
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Key people
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Anna Hutsol Oksana Shachko Alexandra Shevchenko Inna Shevchenko Yana Zhdanova |
| Slogan | Sextremism |
| Website | femen.org |
Femen (Ukrainian: Фемен), stylized as FEMEN, is a radical feminist activist group intended to protect women's rights. The organization became internationally known for organizing controversialtopless protests against sex tourism, religious institutions, sexism, homophobia and other social, national and international topics. Founded in Ukraine, the group is now based in Paris.
The organization describes itself as "fighting patriarchy in its three - 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.
Anna Hutsol 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 is led by Inna Shevchenko who initiated the international development of the movement. Other Ukrainian founders stopped their activity.
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