Sunlight slants into a first-story loft where half a dozen young women are painting signs for future battles. Signs like "Model do not go to brothel," and "Muslim women: Let's get naked!" Call it downtime for these feminist activists, members of the Ukrainian-born group Femen, whose topless protests capture headlines and rile the establishment. Today, they are preparing their newest battleground - in Paris, where Femen opens its first international headquarters later this month. "France is really the center of feminism," says blond-haired Inna Shevchenko, 22, explaining the choice. "Here >>>

Monday, October 8th, 2012 | Posted by VOA-News |  Print This Article Femen's Topless Protest Tactics Hit Paris PARIS — The Ukrainian feminist movement Femen, best known for its topless protests, is opening its first international training camp in Paris. New recruits are expected to start classes this month - learning how to apply warpaint and jump, run and fight against exploitation. It is downtime for a group of young feminists, veterans of in-your-face manifestos. Sunlight slants into the first-story loft where they prepare signs >>>

We came up with this idea maybe 6 months ago when we got an e-mail that read, “Hello, we’re French women and we need FEMEN in France.” Then it struck us that FEMEN is spreading throughout the world and can be needed in such developed feministic countries as France.You say that you’re “the new face of feminism”. What exactly do you mean by that?Of course, we’re fighting against and for the same things. We’re fighting for freedom of women, for equality. And there’s nothing controversial with classical feminism. But this is what I call “new cover”, this is new style of showing >>>

A controversial Ukrainian feminist group called Femen has been making waves through its unconventional methods of protest against patriarchy, religion, sexual exploitation and violence. They say that their weapons in this fight are their bodies, and they protest by taking off their clothes. They have recently set up in France, saying things such as "better naked than the burqa" or "Muslims, let's get naked". They are a marginal group, hardly worth wasting time over. However, while attention-grabbing, shocking even, their polarising approach to feminist protest can help us to better understand the >>>