Will fines and prison sentences, or the threat of them, kill off the controversial protest movement, which, if nothing else, has done much at least in Europe to counter images of women as sex objects, or as weak and submissive? From almost the beginning of the movement, Femen members have been in and out of courtrooms and police stations for their protests, which have included daring physical attacks on the men—among them, Putin , former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi , and the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill —whom they regard as enemies of women and of human rights in general.
But this time, they confront their cascading judicial tribulations without the support of their longtime, well-connected media champion, the prominent French journalist Caroline Fourest, who earlier this year published an unflattering memoir about her relationship with Shevchenko and has distanced herself from the movement. Charges of Islamophobia have also dogged the group, souring some in the French media on providing it coverage.
But we got tired of the petty intrigues and personal rivalries we found among the activists in France. We never had this problem when we were just in Ukraine. We have members in France and 25 regular activists in Paris, so how can three leaving be called a split? Shevchenko believes predictions of doom stem from resentment against her movement and a desire, on the part of the French government, to shut down Femen and drive her out of the country.
Though the government granted her political asylum in , it has inexplicably refused to pay her the modest financial aid usually accorded refugees. Two other Ukrainian Femen members say they have received both asylum and the subsidy. Yet despite the surveillance, in July , a fire erupted in her room at the Lavoir, incinerating the few belongings she had taken with her when she fled Ukraine. This March, a man asking for Shevchenko entered the Lavoir and knifed two people , apparently mistaking them for Femen members, and almost wounding Shachko, who escaped spattered with blood.
The French government surely has cause to regret its decision to shelter Shevchenko and even put a likeness of her face on the national postage stamp— an honor she shares with movie-star icons Brigitte Bardo and Catherine Deneuve.
Femen angered Muslims across the globe when, in April , they burned a Salafist flag in front of the Great Mosque of Paris. Radical words require radical actions. Since , FEMEN have become increasingly visible on the international political scene because of their turbulent interventions throughout Europe. FEMEN have been protesting intensively against sexism, homophobia, prostitution and religion. We live in the world of male economic, cultural and ideological occupation.
In this world, a woman is a slave, she is stripped of the right to any property but above all she is stripped of ownership of her own body. All functions of the female body are harshly controlled and regulated by patriarchy. Separated from the woman, her body is an object to monstrous patriarchal exploitation, animated by production of heirs, surplus profits, sexual pleasures and pornographic shows.
Manifestation of the right to her body by the woman is the first and the most important step to her liberation. To recognize that sex-industry is the most large-scale and long-term genocide against women;.
Sextremism is female sexuality rebelling against patriarchy and embodied in the extremal political direct action events. Sexist style of the actions is a way to destruct the patriarchal understanding of what is the destination of female sexuality to the benefit of the great revolutionary mission. Extremal nature of sextremism demonstrates intellectual, psychological and physical superiority of female activists from FEMEN over the bandogs of patriarchy.
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