Topless demonstrators in Ukraine are part of the self-defined "sextremist" Femen group - radical women protesting the Russian invasion of Crimea. Femen is a stark example of frontline femmes who use their bodies and their voices to fight status-quo corruption, war and a political oligarchy. They are the most recent vocal group of women to take to the streets to defeat structures that often claim them as the first and greatest casualties.Russian aggression has driven women to exhibit the latest extreme manifestation of a long protest tradition >>>

The documentary Ukraine Is Not a Brothel, directed by Kitty Green, opens in a most unusual way. A man is seated on a couch, his face obscured by a demented-looking rabbit mask. It resembles the apparition in Donnie Darko. He unleashes a wide grin.This camouflaged huckster is Victor Svyatski and he is the alleged mastermind behind Femen, a Ukrainian organization comprised of topless female protesters. The striking (mostly blond) women, sporting floral headdresses, paint messages on their chests and backs, describe themselves as “sextremists” whose mission is “fighting patriarchy in its three >>>

Topless demonstrators in Ukraine are part of the self-defined “sextremist” Femen group – radical women protesting the Russian invasion of Crimea. Femen is a stark example of frontline femmes who use their bodies and their voices to fight status quo corruption, war and a political oligarchy. They are the most recent vocal group of women to take to the streets to defeat structures that often claim them as the first and greatest casualties. Russian aggression has driven women to exhibit the latest extreme manifestation of a long protest tradition dating back to the ancient Greek play >>>

Admittedly, I'm not sure what to make of Ukraine is Not a Brothel. The premise certainly is compelling; a group of young, passionate woman streak topless in front of important military and political locations in and around Ukraine to protest the status and treatment of women in their country. The general consensus, by these young women and much of their country, is that women in Ukraine are objects of desire, relegated to prostitution, marriage for hire, or the international sex tourism industry. Since its inception in 2008, FEMEN has garnered a lot of international attention for their topless >>>

While President Barack Obama receives generally negative ratings for his response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the American public approves of imposing sanctions on Russia for its role in the crisis, a pair of polls released Tuesday finds.A Washington Post/ABC News poll finds that 42 percent of Americans favor the president’s response to the situation involving Russia and Ukraine, while 43 percent disapprove and 15 percent have no opinion.The president fares even worse in a poll released by Pew Research, which found that just 30 percent of American >>>

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama has spoken with the leaders of Spain and Kazakhstan about the crisis in Ukraine. The calls on Monday come as the U.S. is seeking to show a united front with world leaders on Ukraine. The White House says Obama and Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy (mah-ree-AH'-noh rah-HOY') agreed that Ukraine's sovereignty must be respected and were gravely concerned over what they deem Russia's violation of international law. Obama and Rajoy also praised Ukraine's new government for showing >>>

It turns out, everything you thought you knew about Femen is wrong. Kitty Green’s insightful look into the Ukrainian protest organization is a documentary as matryoshka doll. Operatic bombast gives way to dignified resignation. Independence is weighed down with cultish reliance. And at the very heart of a feminist organization, you’ll find a patriarch. That is, of course, the big reveal of Ukraine Is Not a Brothel: The breast-bearing troupe of activists is controlled by a man. But by the time the film >>>

Admittedly, I'm not sure what to make of Ukraine is Not a Brothel. The premise certainly is compelling; a group of young, passionate woman streak topless in front of important military and political locations in and around Ukraine to protest the status and treatment of women in their country. The general consensus, by these young women and much of their country, is that women in Ukraine are objects of desire, relegated to prostitution, marriage for hire, or the international sex tourism industry. Since its inception in 2008, FEMEN has garnered a lot of international attention for their topless >>>

Shades of Stalinism

Apart from Russians and Ukrainians, the Crimean population also includes a minority of Muslim Crimean Tatars. They were the majority on the peninsula at the beginning of the 20th century, but were accused of Nazi collaboration by Stalin during World War II and deported. After the fall of the Soviet Union, many returned to Crimea. Fearing new deportation, some, like this family, are fleeing.

Via: dw.de

Feminism has long been a dirty word in Russia. Just ask Svetlana Smetanina, a journalist for the state-owned Rossiyskaya Gazeta newspaper who, in a 2010 article, voiced an opinion that many Russians seem to share: women who self-identify as feminists are harpies, she wrote, “unfulfilled in their personal lives and bent on revenging themselves on men for their own unhappiness.”Smetanina’s op-ed is representative of the outright disdain in Russia toward feminists—an attitude on full display in recent months, crystallized in the Western mind by images of the punk art collective Pussy Riot >>>