You're reading: Spring brings Femen on streets to stop sex tourism

Femen, a grassroots women’s movement, came out into the streets on a mission to educate foreigners that Ukraine is not a sex tourism destination.

Spring brings warm weather and short skirts to Kyiv’s streets. The change of season also means stepped-up patrols targeting the nation’s sex tourists — foreign visitors who stroll Ukraine’s streets looking for women to proposition for sex.

Femen, a grassroots women’s movement, is on a mission to tell foreigners that beauty is not for sale. The university students handed out pink leaflets on city’s main drag, Khreshatyk Street, on April 5, warning male visitors that prostitution is illegal in Ukraine. On the same street, representatives of strip club and massage club owners hand out their own counter-advertisements.

The Femen message, delivered provocatively by the group’s scantily-dressed women, is a serious one: Ukraine has one of the fastest-growing rates of AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases in Europe.

Femen is determined to reverse stereotypes of Ukraine as a sexual wonderland.