Since as early as 1914, women have been stripping to their bare breasts as a form of protest against social ills. Such protests gain a certain infamy among some groups, though many see it as exercising their right to free speech. While FEMEN's recent displays of topless protesting have gained attention for the radical feminist movement in Ukraine and the Middle East, the practice is still frowned upon by society at large. This must change. Nudity is often assigned a sexual connotation in the United States, and those who practice social nudity are seen as immoral or offensive to >>>

Protesting against the oppressive status quo comes in many forms. Non-violent protest was Gandhi's weapon of choice. Rosa Parks chose to sit where she was forbidden. Mohamed Bouazizi set fire to himself. Their methods of disobedience fuelled social change. A form of protest that doesn't fit into this pantheon, despite its grandiose and self-important claims, is last week's "International Topless Jihad Day" convened by a Ukrainian group, Femen, whose motto is "better naked than the veil". Tunisian blogger Amina Tyler received death threats and alleged kidnapping by her family after posting pictures >>>

“Nudity DOES NOT liberate me -- and I DO NOT need saving,” one wrote on a sign, held up to the camera in an image posted on Twitter. A furious debate broke out in the blogosphere after radical feminist group Femen launched its “Topless Jihad” last week for Amina Tyler, a Tunisian woman who faced threats after sharing a topless photo of herself online. Tyler, 19,  had written “My body is mine, not somebody's honor" across her chest in Arabic in solidarity with Femen, a Kyiv, Ukraine-based group known for topless protests. >>>

Activists from Ukraine-based feminist group FEMEN stormed a conference attended by Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki in Paris on Friday. The bare-breasted women from the group protested in support 19-year-old Amina Tyler, who caused a scandal in her country with her topless Facebook postings. The three females interrupted a conference the president was giving at the Middle East institute in Paris, chanting “Free Amina.” The protesters were demanding the names of those who killed Tunisia opposition leader Chokri Belaid in February, chanting “Who killed Chokri Belaid?” According to French >>>

PolicyMic contributor Joseph Sarkisian published a piece Wednesday entitled “American Feminism Can Do More Harm Than Good” and used the story of Amina Tyler, the Tunisian FEMEN activist who received death threats and went into hiding after she bared her breasts in a Facebook photo with the words “My body belong to me” scrawled across her chest, to support his argument that American feminism can be and is harmful to non-Western cultures. Sarkisian’s piece is only the latest in a long string of American or Western European blogs and news articles that misrepresents or misinterprets >>>

With weeks of preparation behind her, a pre-dawn start that day and high on an adrenaline rush, Alexandra Shevchenko ran bare-breasted towards two of the most powerful leaders in the world confident that she would make an impact – but unsure as to just how big it would be."I had observed from a distance a group of suited men. The closer I got to them, I recognised the really small one amongst them was Putin. He was so puny, not like the macho pictures you see of him riding a horse bareback, or fishing barechested," she said. "And that was when I realised: now is the moment and started to >>>

April 11, 2013 By Karrin Anderson Now that Ukrainian flash mobbers Femen have started to make regular appearances wherever cameras are guaranteed to record their presence, images like these have become almost commonplace. This time, Femen rushed an industrial fair in Hanover, Germany, where German Chancellor Angela Merkel was hosting Russian President Vladimir Putin. In a piece submitted to The Guardian, Femen leader Inna Shevchenko stated that “Our activists’ bodies represent undisguised hatred for the patriarchal order, and >>>

Femen, a Ukraine-based self-identified “sextremist” women’s movement, labeled April 4 as “International Topless Jihad Day.” Global demonstrations in support of a young Tunisian woman sparked many reactions because images of her naked body were marked with politically charged messages. Years ago, when the veil-ban was a hot topic in France, Femen staged protests where they dressed in burqas before collectively stripping. More recently, the group demonstrated in Stockholm in front of the Egyptian embassy with their bare bodies displaying phrases like “Sharia is not a constitution,” >>>

PKKH Exclusive|By Ghareebah Sofia Ahmed is a student of international relations, based in Manchester, UK. Joined by her friends, she led a campaign on the social media against the so called “Topless Jihad Day” organised on April 4th by a Ukraine-based women’s rights group called. In response to the call of Femen to women across the globe to protest topless and revolt against their morals and religion in support of a Tunisian member of their group, Pride Muslimah campaign organised by the Manchester-based group of Muslim students declared >>>

Another week, another heated debate over the tactics and language used by the feminist protest group Femen, which last Thursday launched an International Topless Jihad Day. The group, started in Ukraine, uses topless protest as a way to raise the profile of women's rights. The day of action was called in response to threats received by a Tunisian Femen activist, Amina Tyler, for posting topless pictures of herself on Facebook.With slogans such as "nudity is freedom" and statements such as "topless protests are the battle flags of women's resistance, a symbol of a woman's acquisition of rights >>>