The Femen "Scandal"

[Boethius]

Kitty Green, an Australian documentary maker, spent a year in Ukraine with FEMEN.  One of the most startling revelations of her documentary, which is now causing controversy,, includes an interview with Viktor Svyatski, who claims he founded FEMEN, and handpicked the women who appeared bare breasted around the world.  His perception?  - "These girls are weak. They don't have the strength of character … Instead they show submissiveness, spinelessness, lack of punctuality, and many other factors which prevent them from becoming political activists."   Ms Green also managed to cajole Mr. Svyatski into admitting that, "subconsciously", he may have started FEMEN to meet women.
 
This is interesting, in part, because while FEMEN has been mentioned here often, I have often believed they lack a focus or goal.  Protest does not necessarily mean "activism".  I have also read, in Ukrainian media social commentary opinions, criticism of the number of Ukrainian women working in prostitution, the number of sex tourists who visit because of that prostitution, and, lumped with that, was FEMEN as an example of why Ukrainian women are willing to work as prostitutes around the globe.
 
Inna Shevchenko, who proclaims herself the founder of FEMEN, wrote a piece in response to this new "scandal". which I have included below -
 

This week I have been told that I'm not a feminist, that my fight is not real. I have been told that people don't believe my slogans any more, that my ideas are fake. I have been condemned for fighting male domination in my life, for fighting the patriarchy.

The Australian director Kitty Green spent one year with Femen activists in Ukraine shooting a documentary that is showing at the 70th Venice film festival. The film, Ukraine is not a brothel, is a history of Femen. It shows a crucial paradox of the movement, one that has now become a scandal. It concerns one of the men interviewed in the film, Victor Svyatski, who proclaimed himself the leader of our feminist movement. It has become an unwelcome surprise for our supporters, and, of course, more fodder for those who criticise Femen.
So, after having read many articles written by journalists who have not yet seen the film, I am now making Femen's response, leaving no space for the fantasies of Femen's enemies.
 
Yes, Svyatski was part of the Femen movement. He is not a founder of Femen, nor a creator of our topless strategy and ideology. But he did lead the movement some time ago. This story is not so much about how the movement was born. It is rather the story of how the struggle began.
 
Femen was founded by group of young female students in a culture in which men talk and women listen. In which men decide and women accept their decisions. In which men dominate and women accept that domination. And this explains why Svyatski could become Femen's leader. After Femen became a known movement in Ukraine, Svyatski, a supporter, took control of Femen's team. Why and how could he do this? Because he was a man. The story described in the film – by Svyatski himself – amounts to nothing other than patriarchy. He is sexism, male domination, and oppression against women personified.
 
When he presented himself as the father of our new feminism, I was taken aback by such a brave declaration – one that only a man could make in my country. I was surprised: why have we suddenly acquired a father? Where is the mother? Having been born in a country in which feminism was unknown, in the best traditions of patriarchal society we just accepted the fact of a man taking control of us. We accepted this because we did not know how to resist and fight it. From that moment on, I realised that the patriarchy was not somewhere
outside. It was right in front of us, in Femen's office. And our global fight with patriarchy started with the fight in our own private life.
 
This is when I decided to leave Ukraine for France to build a new Femen. A Femen in which women decide and follow their own ideas, not someone else's demands. One year ago I started from the beginning again with new colleagues from France, Germany, Spain, Belgium, Sweden, Canada, Mexico, Netherlands and Tunisia. The Femen fight still involves men – those who support us but do not dominate. Unlike Svyatski, from whom we broke free.
 
The original ideology of Femen remains as we created it, but now we are applying it the way it was originally intended. This change has already paid off: Femen has inspired women all over the world.
 
We have come to the Venice film festival to tell our story because this is the patriarchal reality that we all live in.  Criticising us for our fight against men's domination in our own lives is like criticising the fight against
all patriarchy in the world. Today we tell our story hoping that we can inspire women suffering the same oppression in their fight against it tomorrow.

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/sep/05/victory-svyatski-femen-man
 

[Boethius]

Here is more on the film -
http://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/movies/films-revealing-look-at-barebreasted-warriors-20130905-2t7pj.html

[Patagonie]

Interesting, thank Boethius.

[Muzh]

[mendeleyev]

I've tried to respect these ladies and their rights to protest, but at times it seems the method behind their message gets in the way. But, one cannot escape the fact that they do get noticed and maybe their way is the only way.

[Muzh]

I've tried to respect these ladies and their rights to protest, but at times it seems the method behind their message gets in the way. But, one cannot escape the fact that they do get noticed and maybe their way is the only way.

See above.

[Boethius]

They receive a significant amount of media attention, but in a decade, what have they achieved?  Compare it to what American feminists achieved from the 1960's to the 1980's.

[Muzh]

They receive a significant amount of media attention, but in a decade, what have they achieved?  Compare it to what American feminists achieved from the 1960's to the 1980's.

LOL

Actually, I think they have achieved what they set their goals: exposure. No pun intended.

Now, keep in mind that their antics brought to light the "Ukraine is not a Bordello" theme.

Still, I read some of the comments from the Guardian and, of course, the bullshit artists were coming out in droves. Some claimed that because of them they wanted to be a prostitute or though a prostitute was cool. But, I have my doubts whoever wrote that. Either a guy being funny or a dog who really wanted to be one.

Point is, they will always get mixed reviews. However, the attention will always be there and that, in my book, says they had "mission accomplished."

[GQBlues]

While I very much admire their objective and persistence, I think the manner in which they chose to deliver the message is questionable at best.

What I think they need is a notable entity, either a person or corporation, to stand along with them.

Just as Helen Reddy, etc. had done to the early AW movement.





They direly need the right type of 'exposure'.

[lordtiberius]

FEMEN is a joke - a rather sad and pathetic one at that.