Masters Theses

Date of Award

5-2015

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Major

German

Major Professor

Maria Stehle

Committee Members

Stefanie Ohnesorg, Sarah Eldridge

Abstract

Feminist movements that arose in the early 2000s have triggered renewed discussions in academia and in the media about the validity and the future of feminism in the 21st century. One important protest group in the context of post – and popfeminism is the group FEMEN, a feminist protest group that originated in Ukraine. Research has already begun to discuss FEMEN’s protest forms and their ideologies, and their bare-breasted calls for the demolition of patriarchy. So far, researchers mostly concentrated on the question if FEMEN are feminists and if FEMEN’s naked protest is effectively reaching their goal to liberate the female body/women. This thesis instead focuses on the relationship between FEMEN and their protests against what they describe as patriarchal religions by examining how their actions against Islam and Christianity were depicted in German media. By analyzing the reactions and comments to these events or, as FEMEN calls them ‘happenings’, this thesis shows that FEMEN, who claims to liberate women’s bodies, has not thus far succeed in this goal in the way they plan or claim. This research calls attention to the importance of an intersectional perspective in feminist activism and discourse. FEMEN’s claim to fight for all women by liberating their bodies does not include racial, cultural, social, or religious differences. Feminism in the 21st century is no longer limited to the political sphere, but rather infiltrates political, social and cultural and religious lives. This in turn expands the sphere of influence for feminist actions, but also makes the effects of feminist activism more complex and often politically ambivalent.

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