‘Muslim Women Against Femen’ pushes back against topless protesters
Activists of the women’s rights movement Femen face riot policemen during a topless protest near Tunisia’s Embassy in Paris on April 4, 2013. Femen called for a day of international “topless jihad” on April 4 with Femen groups staging protests in various European cities in support of Amina, a young Tunisian woman who caused a scandal when she published photos of herself bare-chested on the internet in March.
The Ukrainian women's protest group Femen drew the ire of at least some Muslim women with their "International Topless Jihad Day" which was held in European capitals such as Berlin, Paris and Kiev on Thursday.
"We as Muslim women and those who stand with us, need to show FEMEN and their supporters, that their actions are counterproductive and we as Muslim women oppose it," wrote the group Muslim Women Against Femen.
Thirteen members of the group, which claims that Femen is Islamophobic and imperialist, wrote about their objections to the Ukrainian group, according to The Huffington Post UK:
"We understand that it’s really hard for a lot of you white colonial “feminists” to believe, but- SHOCKER! – Muslim women and women of colour can come with their own autonomy, and fight back as well! And speak out for themselves! Who knew?
"We are proud Muslimahs, and we’re sick of your colonial, racist rubbish disguised as 'women’s liberation!'
Femen's leader Inna Shevchenko gave HuffPost her response to the anti-Femen group:
"So what can i say about the reaction of those Muslim women? They say they are against Femen, but we still say we are here for them.
"They write on their posters that they don't need liberation but in their eyes it's written 'help me'."You know, through all history of humanity, all slaves deny that they are slaves being scared to fight for freedom.
Al Jazeera noted that netizens used the hashtag #MuslimahPride to criticize Femen's protest, saying it reinforced Western stereotypes about Islam and Muslim women.
Bim Adewunmi, in an essay on NewStatesman, wrote about Femen's movement:
"Like much of the feminisms that have been exported from the West, it does not seem to take into account the obstacles to carrying out this form of protest. It rides roughshod over grassroots organisations and the work they may have been quietly and steadfastly engaged in over years, and stipulates that this feminism, the one where you bare your breasts and sloganise your skin, is the feminism. It does not take into account community mores, and, in this case, incorporates more than a little Islamophobia."
The Femen protests were in support of a Tunisian activist who called herself Amina Tyler, according to Agence France-Presse. Tyler's pictures of herself with the words "My body belongs to me" and "F*** your morals" across her uncovered chest sparked scandal in the country, with some supporters fearing that she could face prosecution.