Olexandra Shevchenko ( uk, Олександра Шевченко) is a member of the Ukrainian

radical feminist Radical feminism is a perspective within feminism that calls for a radical re-ordering of society in which male supremacy is eliminated in all social and economic contexts, while recognizing that women's experiences are also affected by other ...

protest group FEMEN, which regularly demonstrates

topless Toplessness refers to the state in which a woman's breasts, including her areolas and nipples, are exposed, especially in a public place or in a visual medium. The male equivalent is barechestedness, also commonly called shirtlessness. Expose ...

against manifestations of patriarchy,

dictatorship A dictatorship is a form of government which is characterized by a leader, or a group of leaders, which holds governmental powers with few to no limitations on them. The leader of a dictatorship is called a dictator. Politics in a dictatorship a ...

religion Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatural, ...

, and the

sex industry The sex industry (also called the sex trade) consists of businesses that either directly or indirectly provide sex-related products and services or adult entertainment. The industry includes activities involving direct provision of sex-related ...

Early life

Shevchenko was born and grew up in

Khmelnytskyi Khmelnytskyi ( uk, Хмельни́цький, Khmelnytskyi, ), until 1954 Proskuriv ( uk, Проску́рів, links=no ), is a city in western Ukraine, the administrative center for Khmelnytskyi Oblast (region) and Khmelnytskyi Raion (dist ...

(in

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

FEMEN

Anna Hutsol formed FEMEN in Kyiv on 10 April 2008, with her two friends from their hometown of

, Olexandra Shevchenko and Oksana Shachko. They initially protested about issues effecting women students, but rapidly moved on to demonstrating against the sexual exploitation of Ukrainian women. It was in late August 2009 that Oksana Shachko became the first member of the group to bare her breasts during a protest, but it was not until 2010 that this approach became the usual tactic in FEMEN demonstrations, justified on the grounds that without the media attention generated by topless protests their message would not be heard. In 2011, international news agencies started to pay more attention to this unusual group of Feminist protesters, In late 2011, Shevchenko, along with Inna Shevchenko and Jenia Kraizman, took their protest onto the international stage. On 31 October 2011 they demonstrated dressed as French maids in Paris against

Dominique Strauss-Kahn Dominique Gaston André Strauss-Kahn (; born 25 April 1949), also known as DSK, is a French economist and politician who served as the tenth managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and was a member of the French Socialist P ...

, on 5 November 2011 they protested against

Silvio Berlusconi Silvio Berlusconi ( ; ; born 29 September 1936) is an Italian media tycoon and politician who served as Prime Minister of Italy in four governments from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006 and 2008 to 2011. He was a member of the Chamber of Deputies f ...

in Rome, the following day they protested against the Pope outside St. Peters, and on 10 November protested against prostitution in Zurich. On 9 December 2011 Shevchenko was in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...

demonstrating against

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who holds the office of president of Russia. Putin has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime min ...

outside Christ the Saviour Cathedral. In 2013, Shevchenko established a training facility for FEMEN Germany in Berlin. On 9 February 2013, Shevchenko protested against female genital mutilation at the Berlin Film Festival - she had the words 'Stop Cutting my Pussy' written across her bare chest. On 6 March 2013, FEMEN activists (including Shevchenko) in cooperation with French writer Galia Ackerman released their first book called 'FEMEN' published by Calmann-Lévy in French. In August 2013, Shevchenko fled out of Ukraine.У колишньому офісі Femen відкрили книжкову крамницю ''In the former office Femen opened a bookstore''

Ukrayinska Pravda ''Ukrainska Pravda'' ( uk, Українська правда, lit=Ukrainian Truth) is a Ukrainian online newspaper founded by Georgiy Gongadze on 16 April 2000 (the day of the Ukrainian constitutional referendum). Published mainly in Ukrai ...

(23 October 2013)Активістки Femen втекли з України ''Femen activists fled from Ukraine''

(31 August 2013)Femen закриє офіс в Україні, але діяльність не припинить ''Femen closes office in Ukraine, however, the activities do not stop''

(27 August 2013)

Bibliography

*Ackerman, Galia, with Anna Hutsol, Oksana Shachko, Alexandra 'Sasha' Shevchenko, & Inna Shevchenko, ''FEMEN'', Published by Calmann-Lévy (Paris 2013), 280 pages. . (French language publication)

Filmography

* "Nos seins, nos armes!" (Our breasts, our weapons!), documentary film (1hour 10 mins), written and directed by

Caroline Fourest Caroline Fourest (; born 19 September 1975), is a French feminist writer, film director, journalist, radio presenter at ''France Culture'', and editor of the magazine ''ProChoix.'' She was also a columnist for '' Charlie Hebdo'', for ''Le Monde' ...

and Nadia El Fani, produced by Nilaya Productions, aired on

France 2 France 2 () is a French public national television channel. It is part of the state-owned France Télévisions group, along with France 3, France 4 and France 5. France Télévisions also participates in Arte and Euronews. Since 3:20 CET on 7 A ...

on 5 March 2013. * "Everyday Rebellion", documentary film (1hour 58 mins), written and directed by the Riahi Brothers and , Austria / Switzerland / Germany, 2013, world premiere at Copenhagen International Documentary Festival on 13 November 2013. * ''

Ukraine Is Not a Brothel ''Ukraine Is Not a Brothel'' is a 2013 Australian documentary film directed by Kitty Green. The film debuted at the 70th Venice International Film Festival, although it was not part of the competition. The documentary concerns the FEMEN (Фе ...

References

External links