WATCH ABOVE: Enter the world of Femen Quebec, a controversial group fighting for women’s rights.
MONTREAL – Femen Quebec isn’t your typical activist group.
Members have stripped down and bared it all unapologetically at events from the National Assembly to the Grand Prix in order to bring awareness to feminist issues.
But do their shock and awe tactics actually work?
That’s what Vice journalist Brigitte Noël wanted to know as she set out to create her latest mini-documentary Femen: Sextremism in Canada.
Femen is a movement that started in Ukraine and then spread across Europe; members use their bodies to bring attention to issues like abortion, prostitution and other feminist battles.
“A lot of feminists don’t agree with the Femen approach,” said Noël.
“They’re very, very polarizing. They do trigger conversations. Do they trigger the right kinds of conversations? That is the big issue.”
The Quebec sector is based out of Montreal – the only group of its kind in North America.
![FEMEN_protester_blurred_BEST](http://femen.info/wp-content/images/cache/0/25/811/a26f97_femen_protester_blurred_best.jpg)
Concerned about access to abortion, a topless activist staged a dramatic interruption at a news conference held by Quebec’s culture minister on April 30, 2015.
Jean Vincent Verville/Global News
![Germany European Central Bank](http://femen.info/wp-content/images/cache/0/25/811/ad5d93_ecb5.jpg)
A Femen activist is carried away after attacking ECB President Mario Draghi during a press conference of the European Central Bank, ECB, in Frankfurt, Germany, Wednesday, April 15, 2015.
AP Photo/Michael Probst
![Femen protest quebec](http://femen.info/wp-content/images/cache/0/25/811/ad5d93_femen-quebec.jpg)
Two half-naked Femen protesters created a disruption at a Quebec Liberal Party press conference in Montreal on April 4, 2014.
The Canadian Press
![model-protest](http://femen.info/wp-content/images/cache/0/25/811/4d0420_model-protest.jpg)
An activist of Femen, a feminist Ukrainian protest group, leaves the Tuileries Gardens after two of them were removed by security staff while disturbing the presentation of Nina Ricci’s ready-to-wear Spring/Summer 2014 fashion collection Thursday, Sept. 26, 2013 in Paris.
Getty Images
![FEMEN](http://femen.info/wp-content/images/cache/0/25/811/a8b5f5_femen-e1436885203185.jpg)
Police detain members of the feminist Ukrainian protest group Femen as they demonstrate while chanting ‘Merkel Free Femen!’ in front of the German federal chancellery prior to the visit of Tunisian Prime Minister Ali Larayedh.
Adam Berry/Getty Images
“We wanted to know why Montreal, why do they exist here and what are they like behind the scenes,” said Noël.
“We wanted to talk to them to find out what kind of women they were, what their beliefs were and what motivated them to do these stunts.”
While Femen bring feminism to the forefront, the women are also known to disturb the status quo with their breast-baring chests and controversial comments.
During filming, Noël discovered that the Femen believe feminist discussions are held too “delicately,” and doesn’t prompt enough action.
“They are very convinced that what they’re doing is the right way. It’s kind of like this post-feminism revolt,” said Noël.
“They are frustrated with the way feminism exists as it is, and they are trying to take it further by saying: ‘Let’s take feminism out of academia and make it louder and bolder.'”
WATCH the full documentary below:
© Shaw Media, 2015
Via: globalnews.ca
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