Femen: Who Are They And Why Do They Cause So Much Rejection?
Femen is an activist and peaceful resistance group that leaves no one indifferent, not even a good part of the feminist groups, who often view them with suspicion. There are also different theories about its foundation, some pointing out that they have served the United States of America as a weapon to destabilize the countries of the Middle East, and others attributing to them a role as a group financed by businessmen to harm the feminist struggle.
Although their public appearances are rare, they always turn out to be extremely high-profile and manage to appear in the headlines of newspapers internationally. Their fields of action are usually congresses or political meetings, transnational economic entities or even openings of women’s fashion companies, always with the same modus operandi: attracting attention.
Femen defines itself as an international organization that combats sexism and religious impositions against women, in addition to considering itself “the special forces of feminism”, the militias of the movement, as mentioned on its website. They make it clear that they use the transgression of norms to vindicate themselves
The context must be taken into account to understand the emergence of a group with radical slogans or actions justifying violence. The origin of Femen is Ukrainian, and although it seeks an internationalist sense, the main object of denunciation is the sexist abuses that occur in that country, as well as in neighboring Russia. Most of their actions are acts of protest carried out by women naked from the waist up, with slogans painted on the body
Numerous non-governmental organizations, human rights entities and local journalists show that in these Eastern countries there continues to be a sexist line to the detriment of the female gender, both at the socio-family level and at the political-economic level. Let us remember the incidents of the feminist musical group “Pussy Riot”, who were imprisoned and dissolved as a group for having broken into a church.
On the other hand, The members of the Femen group are constantly exposed to potential police repression as well as sentences that can sometimes reach two years in prison, since Ukrainian laws are significantly more severe than in the rest of Europe.
One of Femen’s main purposes is to reach where institutionalized feminism does not reach directly: charge strongly against religion In 2014 they appeared directly in front of Pope Francis in Vatican Square, when the usual mass mass was being celebrated, to carry out one of their acts of protest.
The Femen method
As we have already mentioned, Femen’s modus operandi responds to what the Suffragettes began with Emmeline Pankhurst back in the 20th century: street violence and public uproar to attract the media. With one more addition that involves her naked torso and a clear intention to show her breasts with a message inscribed on them.
Why are they so rejected by feminism?
The most classic feminism, the well-known first and second wave feminisms, view with skepticism the use of women’s bodies as a showcase to achieve impact, even more so when the activists in question are unrepresentative of the majority of women, being white, with little connection to religion and, in their early stages, close to the canons of beauty. Some associations and institutionalized organizations see this method as counterproductive, and denounce that women’s physique is once again exposed in the service of media consumption.
Femen is also rejected due to a great historical difference: Western feminism is almost a century ahead of them. Outside of Femen, protests against sexism no longer focus on questioning religion as a simple fact that “contaminates reason”, but instead attempts are made to include in feminism groups that try to make non-sexist readings of their own religiosity. , which represents a clash of interests in the methodology.
Furthermore, these feminist institutions decline to support Femen openly because They consider it an ambiguous group and little elaborated in its theories This group of Ukrainian origin seems to position itself towards a very ambiguous idea of sexism, while the majority of feminist groups develop theories based on the concept of patriarchy. In this sense, Femen’s orientation seems to be closer to a liberal conception of gender problems, since it protests against the violation of forms of repression applied against women as individuals, not as a collective.
