Image: Craftivist Collective Femen. The seed of Femen has been suckled (see what I did there? 'Cos tits? I know they are the most important part of Femen) from a small topless protest in the Ukraine to puppies out in Paris to flashing Putin and grabbing headlines. The message is supposed to be about women's rights. The message is 'look how pert this attractive young woman's tits look as the police drag her away'.
Nobody loves a bit of a tit flash coupled with a brief news feature as much as the UK. Therefore it makes sense that Femen should have the UK in their sights for setting up a new branch. What will the group bring to the UK that it doesn't already have in its own homegrown feminist groups?
Nobody loves a bit of a tit flash coupled with a brief news feature as much as the UK. Therefore it makes sense that Femen should have the UK in their sights for setting up a new branch. What will the group bring to the UK that it doesn't already have in its own homegrown feminist groups?
Alexandra Shevchenko, a founder member of Femen said a UK group would focus on issues such as female genital mutilation, forced marriage and the sex industry: "No one is talking about FGM in England, people assume it is too violent and extreme to exist here, that it only happens in Africa and the Middle East, but the UK has some of the highest levels in the west."
Woman of the Year Waris Dirie might be a little irked to hear that from Femen. A quick Google, a listen to the radio, a flick through the paper tells you we do discuss FGM in this country. We talk about the silence surrounding it, we talk of how we treat something that is regarded by some as a culture, we talk about teachers reporting or not reporting mysterious, long holidays of their girl pupils. We know we need to talk about it and we talk about how we don't know how to talk about it.
Woman of the Year Waris Dirie might be a little irked to hear that from Femen. A quick Google, a listen to the radio, a flick through the paper tells you we do discuss FGM in this country. We talk about the silence surrounding it, we talk of how we treat something that is regarded by some as a culture, we talk about teachers reporting or not reporting mysterious, long holidays of their girl pupils. We know we need to talk about it and we talk about how we don't know how to talk about it.
| What can you do? I really don't know, donate money to the Desert Flower Foundation, or Forward, or Trust for London maybe? Nah I'm going to wait until ol' knowledge nipples come to the UK and make me aware of FGM. | We know we need to talk about it and we talk about how we don't know how to talk about it. |
There's a line in the film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind in which Jim Carey tells Kate Winslet "Constantly talking isn't necessarily communicating."
I live in a ground floor flat. Because I live in a city even the sound of someone innocently walking past on the street makes me jump and I worry whenever I hear even the slightest altercation that my windows are sure to be smashed. Of course a life time living in various cities means the most unnerving sound to me is silence and the most annoying birdsong.
Until last night. Last night I heard the sound of male fists raining down on a woman's back. You know the term 'sickening thump'? Yeah. A man was beating a woman on my doorstep, he said because she'd kissed that Scouse cunt. She said because the drugs changed him. We say because social conditioning. We say because she let's him hit her. We say because she has esteem issues. We say because he has esteem issues. We say because his mother didn't love him. We say because her father didn't love her. The police say there's nothing they can do. Meanwhile he's still beating her. On my doorstep.
Maybe there's too much to talk about.
Maybe we should shut up. And listen.
Squeamish Kate
I live in a ground floor flat. Because I live in a city even the sound of someone innocently walking past on the street makes me jump and I worry whenever I hear even the slightest altercation that my windows are sure to be smashed. Of course a life time living in various cities means the most unnerving sound to me is silence and the most annoying birdsong.
Until last night. Last night I heard the sound of male fists raining down on a woman's back. You know the term 'sickening thump'? Yeah. A man was beating a woman on my doorstep, he said because she'd kissed that Scouse cunt. She said because the drugs changed him. We say because social conditioning. We say because she let's him hit her. We say because she has esteem issues. We say because he has esteem issues. We say because his mother didn't love him. We say because her father didn't love her. The police say there's nothing they can do. Meanwhile he's still beating her. On my doorstep.
Maybe there's too much to talk about.
Maybe we should shut up. And listen.
Squeamish Kate
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