Femen protest Sharia constitution, Putin, homophobia, and more

by Craig Takeuchi on December 24th, 2012 at 2:20 PM

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(Warning: The embedded videos contain nudity and are NSFW.)

Those breast-baring sextremist protesters have had their pre-Christmas schedules packed. And not with the usual seasonal preparations.

Femen, the Ukranian feminist, activist group garnering attention for their topless rallies, teamed up on December 20 with Egyptian womens' rights activist blogger Aliaa Magda Elmahdy to protest the Sharia constitution in Egypt. They held a demonstration at the Embassy of Egypt in Stockholm, Sweden. The draft constitution has sparked controversy, particularly in its reference to Islamic law being the basis for national law.

This protest went beyond Femen's usual topless tactic and involved full nudity. Elmahdy has previously posted nude photos on her blog, which she calls "screams against a society of violence, racism, sexism, sexual harassment and hypocrisy."

Femen also staged another Islamic-related protest in Paris, chanting "Muslim women, let's get naked!"

Femen also tried to disrupt the European Union-Russia summit in Brussels in an attempt to dissuade EU leaders from relations with the Kremlin and the Russian natural gas monopoly Gazprom. They're warning that European dependence on Russian natural gas will result in economic disaster and other problems.

Four topless protesters, who told Russian president Vladimir Putin to go to hell, were detained on December 21.

Here's another pro-gay rally they held in Paris, in which Femen were painted in colours of the rainbow and chanted "In gay we trust". (They had previously confronted a Catholic march against same-sex marriage in Paris, which they deemed homophobic, in November, resulting in a chaotic street fracas.)