Activists of women’s rights organization Femen wear face masks and hold a banner reading “Male chauvinism” during a protest in Plaza Colon in Madrid, Spain, 03/05/2021.
The organization, which was founded in Ukraine in 2008 and now has chapters across Europe and beyond, aims to fight patriarchy through its trademark method of “sextremism,” topless protests against a range of women’s rights issues like sex tourism, reproductive freedom and discrimination.
Lara Alcazar, the leader of Femen Spain, has said she and fellow activists are “more than a naked body. We are naked, but we are fighting, screaming, running, climbing fences, mocking dictators such as Putin, Lukashenko or Erdogan. The bodies they wanted to keep passive, just for their own pleasure, are now active, reactive, free bodies that don’t represent anybody’s honor or property.”
