Assault on Femen supporter and kidnappings hint at Vladimir Putin's sensitivity to LGBT protests
Regular readers of Straight.com are likely aware of Femen, a "sextremist" feminist group that relies on outrageous tactics to deliver its antipatriarchal and anticlerical messages.
Femen, which originated in Ukraine, sends attractive young women out to remove their tops at protests, exposing slogans written across their breasts and backs.
But this approach has riled right wingers in Kiev, who recently assaulted Femen supporter and political scientist Viktor Svyatsky.
According to a report in the Mail Online, he was attacked close to Femen's headquarters and may have suffered a broken jaw.
His assailants allegedly declared that "the girls will be next" if there were any Femen protests when Russian president Vladimir Putin visited the city.
The following day, Femen posted a notice on its website about how an "organized criminal group of people attacked three activists of FEMEN and one journalist".
Oksana Shachko, Alexander Shevchenko, Yana Zhdanova and Dmitry Kostukov were also reportedly kidnapped, according to Femen. It adds that Kostukov is a former AFP photographer who has also worked for the New York Times.
"FEMEN says that Putin and the hypocrites surrounding him were responsible for the attack on activists FEMEN!," the website declares.
It adds that this is retaliation for Femen's regular criticism of the Russian government's policies. This included a protest against Putin in Hanover, Germany (see photo above).
The notice ends with this statement: "WOMEN SPRING IS COMING!"
Femen invariably generates a torrent of media attention, whether it concerns the Catholic Church's opposition to same-sex marriage, the Davos economic summit, or the Tunisian government's decision to imprison a Femen member.
This has occasionally led to a backlash. (For more on the backlash to feminist initiatives in the past, see U.S. writer Susan Faludi's book on this topic.)
But the brutal beating of Svyatsky and the alleged kidnapping of three women and a photographer mark a serious escalation.
Many of Femen's actions have been against those who oppose equal rights for the LGBT community.
The recent vicious responses come as the Russian leader is under international fire for his country's outrageous repression of gays and lesbians.
Putin recently signed a law making it illegal for same-sex parents to adopt Russian kids.
He also supports police arresting tourists who are suspected of being gay or lesbian. This has prompted fears that anyone attending the 2014 Olympics in Sochi could be jailed on mere suspicion of being homosexual.
Meanwhile, Straight columnist Dan Savage has called for a boycott of Russian vodka. And as the Straight's lead writer on LGBT issues, Craig Takeuchi, reported on Friday, several Vancouver bars that serve LGBT customers have joined this campaign.
Even Vancouver's mayor, Gregor Robertson, has jumped into the fray.
He recently issued a statement calling on Russia to "end its violent crackdown on the human rights and free expression of the LGBTQ community ahead of hosting the world in Sochi".
With Robertson as mayor, Vancouver hosted the last Winter Olympics in 2010.
Comments
8 Comments
gary
Jul 28, 2013 at 10:57am
Gregor Robertson, has jumped into the fray.....
Please, just shut the fuck up!
Ben Sili
Jul 28, 2013 at 3:01pm
"Meanwhile, Straight columnist Dan Savage has called for a boycott of Russian vodka. And as the Straight's lead writer on LGBT issues, Craig Takeuchi, reported on Friday, several Vancouver bars that serve LGBT customers have joined this campaign."
Cool! Now sexual orientation decides what you can drink or not... Do we have to disclose it to get served in bars -how do we know this one is mostly for LGBT?- or do we get shafted when asking for a drink that does not fit the sexual political crave of the moment? Or do we have to get the the HRC look into this discrimination? Just wondering...
morgus3
Jul 28, 2013 at 5:15pm
It is not that simple; the reality is that the overwhelming majority of the Russian population, no matter what it thinks of Putin, does not see homosexuality as acceptable.
It is unfortunate what happened to FEMEN but what they did was extraordinarily offensive, ineffective and their association with actual reformers in Russia caused a lot of damage.
Fuck you all, well, except you. You, there in the back. Yeah, you're ok.
Jul 28, 2013 at 6:21pm
Yeah, feminism here in the west has become something of a cover for lunatics and semi-fascist ideologues. They spend their time pushing silly ideas like "schrodinger's rapist". With this lovely little bit of nonsense, they demand men think of themselves as rapists in order to empathize with women more effectively. What I wanna know is why stop at rapist? Why not demand that men all think of themselves as murderers? What's more, if one doesn't look like a nice man, they note, then you really should walk on the other side of the street from women. You know, so as to not frighten them too much.
Yes, the left here in the west has become something of a joke - headed up by a sad collection of intolerant fools that look to wield their supposed victimhood like a cudgel over anyone that disagrees with them. The real tragedy to this fact is that the political and social right are even worse than the left - much worse.
Make no mistake: There are places in the world where women's rights are seriously threatened. Places where violence is more common and laws that attack the rights of minorities like the LGBT community DO exist. And if the worst any of us has to suffer is a temporary lack of access to our favorite brand of vodka in order express support for those minorities, well, fuck - it's probably, very literally, the least we can do.
And Ben, seriously, dude, you're either a bad troll or a hilariously shitty human being. Whatever the case, I did get a good laugh out of you. So, thanks, I guess.
Gary K
Jul 29, 2013 at 9:04am
Not serving Russian alcohol on this side of the divide, isn't going to save anyone's skin. If you feel that you might be in danger, just don't go, it's that simple. If you are a Volunteer, pull your name and look for other Volunteer jobs. If you are an Athlete, talk with the rest of your team to see if they might back you up by also pulling out. If you are a Tourist who is going to the Games, see if you can get a refund of your tickets. What all this might do is hit them in the pocket books and would be more direct.
Hazlit
Jul 29, 2013 at 10:25am
I think using beautiful topless women as forms of political protest is brilliant. I will ALWAYS listen and ALWAYS be on their side because of this tactic :)
blah
Jul 29, 2013 at 4:22pm
Hazlit, using topless women does nothing except distract from whatever the point is. Most people just notice their tits and not the message. just as useless as the hypocritical peta people who kill animals to "save"them. Really, what is the point?
Esmeralda
Jul 31, 2013 at 11:02am
Some of you on here forget, if you lived in Russia, you would not be able to speak out against anything you felt Putin did was wrong. Anything. You are not allowed to call Putin out like you are in your countries about your leaders.
In a recent interview in Russian press, a man from the Kremlin said the reason why they don't have leakers like Snowden in Russia is because they don't have independent media there. Which is so funny because of the joke and infamous RT, Russian independent media aimed at anything western. No independent media in Russia but " Question More" when it comes to their speal of independent media for westerners. That enough should show how stupid RT is. If you watch RT, you are a hypocrite .
All of you complaining about the western countries you live in and how bad it is would not like that at all would you? You would complain and get all riled up but in Russia you would be silenced. All of you complaining about gays and your western countries on here would not last a month in Russia unless you are filthy rich. Even the rich have problems in Russia because they are told were to invest . Putin owns the rich. He owns every thing there.
So stop your bitching and grow up. Stop supporting a small man who takes his shirt off and stages fake treasure hunts because he thinks people are stupid enough to fall for it and work on your own country, stop looking to Russia, or move there. That way you can remember how stupid you were once you live under Putins rule.
Stop acting like spoiled western brats.