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FEMEN, is a Ukrainian radical feminist activist group intended to protect women’s rights. Femen protest in Kiev, 9 November 2009. Early protests were provocative but not topless. Anna Hutsol is credited as having founded the Femen movement on 10 April 2008, after she became aware of stories of Ukrainian women duped into going abroad and then taken advantage of sexually.

Initially, Femen gained attention by demonstrating in skimpy or erotic clothing. 24 August 2009 demonstration on Ukrainian independence day, Oksana Shachko went topless. Femen protest in Kiev during the 2010 Ukrainian presidential election against the election of Victor Yanukovych. The signs read “The War Begins Today” and “Stop Raping the Country. From late 2011, the Ukrainian Femen activists started to hold more international protests.

After Inna Shevchenko chopped down a wooden cross overlooking Maidan Nezalezhnosti in Kiev on 17 August 2012, she stated that she had received several death threats and that her front door had been kicked in. In late July 2013, one of the ideologists of the Femen, Viktor Sviatsky, and Hutsol were assaulted on the eve of a visit by Putin to Kiev to celebrate the 1,025th anniversary of the Christianization of Kievan Rus’. She was living as an independent artist separated from the group after disputes with other members. In October 2012, the organization stated it had about 40 activists in Ukraine, and another 100 who had joined their protests abroad, as well as twelve thousand followers via the social network Vkontakte. In October 2013, Femen had its largest membership in France. In January 2013, Femen France counted 30 local activists. Hutsol stated in July 2010: “We are working better than any news agency.