FEMEN: drunken fraternity stunt or political protest?

FEMEN: drunken fraternity stunt or political protest? December 26, 2014

In the midst of  the Christmas festivities in Rome yesterday, a topless protester from the lunatic fringe radical feminist group FEMEN squeezed through the crowd and stole the baby Jesus from the Nativity Scene, before making a run for it.

She didn’t get very far.

Topless FEMEN Protesters Kidnap Baby Jesus From Vatican Nativity Scene

It looks less like a political protest than it does a fraternity prank gone wrong. I have this mental image of them sitting around, slightly sloshed, going “I triple-dog dare you to go snatch the baby Jesus….Topless! You should totally do it topless!!!”

I don’t understand the toplessness. Is there a point to that? Are boobs supposed to be shocking? Are they supposed to be shocking to the Catholic Church? Have these women never seen the artwork of the Renaissance? There’s not much there except religious art, boobs, penises, and a little bit more religiously themed art. Seriously, we stopped being shocked by nudity 500 years ago. We’ve got naked people on the walls and ceilings of our churches. They’d know that if they stopped running long enough to look around at stuff…

This is part of their aptly named “Massacre of the Innocents” campaign. They’re stealing babies from Nativity scenes to make a point that “Abortion is sacred.” I’m not sure exactly who it is that abortion is sacred to, but that’s their position. I have to admit that there’s a certain twisted irony to stealing babies in order to make a point about how you should be able to kill babies…I suppose. Truthfully, I’m not in favor of the FEMEN girls raising babies. I’m not in favor of them killing their babies, but I’d hate to see children raised with that kind of crazy. It’s not good for them.

I went to the FEMEN website (I’m not linking to them. Do a Google search if it’s important to you.) and looked around a little bit. They say that they’re against people trying to control women’s bodies.  They’re also against  men, governments, organized religion, industry, anyone who’s not them. So I think that maybe they’re feminist anarchists? I do know that they’re in favor of legalizing abortion and contraception…which makes them pretty crappy anarchists. Just sayin’.

So while I know all the stuff they’re against, I don’t actually know what they want as a long term goal. It’s hard to have long term goals for an organization whose whole goal seems to be to have no future generations.

I just get the feeling that if I were some sort of magical Big Wish Fairy, had temporarily lost my good sense, and stood in front of them in my twinkly dress holding my magic wand and I said “With a wave of my wand I can remake this world into the utopia of which you dream. Tell me, boob ladies, what does that look like?” I don’t even know that they’d say once they’d finished chastising me for using a magic wand that is a phallically reminiscent symbol of an oppressive patriarchy.

IMG_1173[1]

So after I sighed in exasperation, and tapped my foot a little and say “What. do. you. want.?” I don’t think they know. I don’t think they’ve thought about the world that would be created if their every wish came true. I think they enjoy yelling in public, and being shocking, running around half-naked, and causing mischief; but I don’t think they think beyond that. They’re too busy coming up with shock-value stunts and hanging with their girls to consider the world they’re creating for the next generation…

the next generation that they don’t want to exist…but I don’t think they’ve thought about that either.

 


Browse Our Archives