International Topless Jihad Day: FEMEN Activists Stage Protests Across Europe (NSFW PHOTOS@link)

[Paul E Ester]

FEMEN strikes again: Topless protesters staged demonstrations near mosques and Tunisian embassies across Europe on Thursday to express support for embattled FEMEN activist Amina Tyler.

"We're free, we're naked, it's our right, it's our body, it's our rules, and nobody can use religion, and some other holy things, to abuse women, to oppress them," FEMEN member Alexandra Shevchenko said in Berlin, according to AFP.

"And we'll fight against them. And our boobs will be stronger than their stones," she added.

Tunisian student Amina Tyler sparked a massive controversy in mid-March by posting topless photos of herself on Facebook, with the slogans "Fuck Your Morals" and "My Body Belongs To Me, And Is Not The Source Of Anyone’s Honor," painted on her body.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/04/international-topless-jihad-day_n_3014943.html

[idwiyo]

1. K&R

[riderinthestorm]

2. K&R nt

[Kurska]

3. Hells to yes, you go girls.

Bullies need to be stood up to whether they are western or eastern.

No one's religion gives them the right to rule other people's bodies.

[R B Garr]

4. I must need the Cliff's Notes on these demonstrations. Anyone?

I admit I haven't been following the whole progression of these protests, so I'm obviously not clear. If I remember, the first recent FEMEN protests were about prostitution at an international conference (?). Now it's about women being able to do whatever they want with their bodies and f*ck morals. It seems like these two messages are at cross-purposes. I'm not trying to be deliberately obtuse since I admit I don't spend a lot of time on the issues they are protesting because it seems mostly about the bewb pictures. What am I missing?

[geek tragedy]

5. Opposing exploitation and favoring personal

freedom are not opposing values.

And, yes, the FEMEN posts here are mostly a pretense to post pictures of naked b00bs.

[R B Garr]

9. Okay, that was a good quick contrast

Although some might say that prostitutes are not exploited but are paid sex workers. For the record, I tend to agree they are exploited, so I can agree with the protestors sentiments.

OTOH, these protestors may be subjecting themselves to exploitation since there seem to be an adundance of men smirking at them and taking their pictures. Well, good luck to them. I know I would be too chicken to do what they're doing. Not just modest, but just chicken. They are brave.

[geek tragedy]

12. Well, yeah, they're likely banking on a certain

amount of juvenalia amongst men to spread word of their cause.

Pragmatic, I guess.

[Gore1FL]

15. That must be it... n/t

[geek tragedy]

23. I rest my case. nt

[Gore1FL]

24. I'm sure you do. n/t

[geek tragedy]

22. No, not even close. nt

[Whisp]

26. if you are seeing the breasts instead of the reasons, well....

that could explain some things.

or not.

[Warren DeMontague]

27. I'm seeing both

I know that drives some folks fucking bonkers. Guess what? Nudity's not going away. Never gonna put that cat back in the bag. Ever.

Pat Robertson, Andrea Dworkin, Ed Meese and Catherine MacKinnon are NEVER going to get people to stop looking at other people nude.

Sorry.

[Paul E Ester]

6. They are protesting against the imposition of islamic modesty in the arab world.

Over the last 40 years the rich syphilitic princes of the gulf states have been exporting a culture of female enslavement including the use of the veil and sharia. The rise of islamists in Tunisia and Egypt are symptoms of this cultural slavery imposed on previously secular societies fueled by PetroDollars.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1017106743 will give you some perspective on the changes in Egypt and what these RADICAL women are fighting against.

These women are fighting to stay in the modern era, and not slip back into medieval slavery.

[ismnotwasm]

8. I won't be participating in FEMEN threads

Too many of them are for shit stirring purposes, but Egypt has one of the highest rates Female Genital Mutilation in the world.

The issue goes much deeper than clothing, or the lack thereof. The rates are declining but at one time they were over 90%.

Do you think if I posted about that it could be productive?

[R B Garr]

11. Thanks for the information!

I can see the issues about cultural slavery vs. the modern era. It's just the other FEMEN protests got me a little confused about the overall message. Thanks.

[bettyellen]

16. They are very loosely organized and allow ad hoc protesters to

Use their name, so sometimes it seems a bit unfocused. I'm not sure if they ever specify specific laws or policies they are fighting. The big theme is religion = patriarchy /oppression. They also went after the pope recently!

[R B Garr]

25. Okay, thanks

I suppose the pope needs getting after sometimes! I'm all for traditions and religion, as long as large groups of people aren't feeling diminished or opressed as a result. Do no harm type of thing.

[sufrommich]

14. They are a Ukrainian group that protests throughout Europe.

Wiki counts their numbers at 40 activists in the Ukraine and 100 abroad.There are groups that are active in the Middle East that are much larger and in much more danger than protesting in Europe,like this group:

http://uprisingofwomeninthearabworld.org/en/?cat=41

Or this group:

http://www.awdf.org/

Or this group:

http://nwrcegypt.org/en/

there are countless others in the Middle East and Africa with thousands of activists.


They generate zero interest at Huffington Post or DU.

[Paul E Ester]

17. Thanks for the links...nt

[Go Vols]

7. "Fuck your morals"

[LittleBlue]

10. It's your body, show it off if you want. Own it.

"We're free, we're naked, it's our right, it's our body, it's our rules, and nobody can use religion, and some other holy things, to abuse women, to oppress them," FEMEN member Alexandra Shevchenko said in Berlin, according to AFP.

Seriously this.

I can support this if nothing else because it's about the freedom to do what you want without being constrained. Go for it, ladies.

[LadyHawkAZ]

13. K&R

"Fuck Your Morals" indeed!

[Spitfire of ATJ]

18. The Huffington Post lives for this.

[kwassa]

19. No shit.

Their stock-in-trade.

[Go Vols]

28. So do the activist,

Huff Post spits out their agenda to millions.

[fujiyama]

29. Thanks for the NSFW tagline!

Another thread posted did not have it. I appreciate the courtesy especially when checking DU at work!