Topless warriors start boot camp for global feminism

[obamanut2012]

Activists set up an international training center in Paris to teach women the art of naked protest

In a chaotic and crumbling former public washhouse in a rundown district of northern Paris, Inna Shevchenko was explaining how a large leather punchbag hanging from the rafters might be used by the foot soldiers of a new generation of feminists.

As she prepared to welcome recruits to the Ukrainian-based feminist group Femen’s first “international training camp”, it was clear that the instruction would not be all ideological. The talk was of “war”, “soldiers”, “terrorism” and “enemies”. Was it not curious, one French journalist asked, that Inna and her warriors had adopted the language of combat, traditionally a male domain, to describe their mission?

Was it not also inconsistent, another asked, that the new feminists were using nakedness to rail against female exploitation? In a week that had seen the banning of photographs of a topless Duchess of Cambridge, it was certainly topical.

<snip>



http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/09/22/topless-warriors-start-boot-camp-for-global-feminism

[FreakinDJ]

1. If you ain't got pictures - it never happened ...

[JoeyT]

2. Hmm.

There was, she explained patiently, no contradiction in going topless or naked to protest against what they view as the three main evils of a global “patriarchal society”: sexual exploitation, dictatorship and religion. Protesting naked, as Femen’s slogans insist, is liberté, a reappropriation of their own bodies as opposed to pornography or snatched photographs which are exploitation.

Sounds like a good movement with a good compass.

[stevenleser]

3. I checked out their website. They are much braver than I am, thats for sure.

They are serious folks who are making people pay attention.

[obamanut2012]

4. I did, too, and I agree

[stevenleser]

5. After thinking about it a few more days, there is an interesting power in what they are doing.

It's hard to imagine a more repressive act than police and military forcibly arresting topless protesting women. Call it patriarchical/cultures impact on me, but seeing the videos on the femen site of police in various countries cracking down on them was even more repulsive than typical police vs protester videos.

Thus, there is an interesting vulnerable/powerful dichotomy going on there. Topless women seem vulnerable. A police officer in riot gear arresting them seems exponentially more repressive than normal. This means they are going to generally get away with things that other protesters are not going to get away with. Very interesting stuff.