[11]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.

For example, on 21 September 2008 in front of the Turkish embassy in Kyiv, a dozen Femen members were dressed as nurses with smudged makeup and high pink heels; however, at the 24 August 2009 demonstration on Ukrainian independence day, Oksana Shachko went topless.

[25][nb 1] On 8 April 2013, five Femen members "topless ambushed" Russian President Vladimir Putin (accompanied by German Chancellor Angela Merkel) at the Hanover trade fair.

[27] After Inna Shevchenko chopped down a wooden cross overlooking Maidan Nezalezhnosti in Kyiv on 17 August 2012, she stated that she had received several death threats and that her front door had been kicked in.

[28] In late July 2013, one of the ideologists of the Femen, Viktor Sviatsky,[nb 2] and Hutsol were assaulted on the eve of a visit by Putin to Kyiv to celebrate the 1,025th anniversary of the Christianization of Kievan Rus'.

[32][33][34] In October 2012, the organization stated it had about 40 activists in Ukraine, and another 100 who had joined their protests abroad,[8] as well as twelve thousand followers via the social network Vkontakte.

[45] The Ukrainian police opened a criminal case against Femen when during its 27 August 2013 raid in the movement's Kyiv office it purportedly found a TT pistol and a grenade.

After cutting down a crucifix near Maidan Nezalezhnosti in Kyiv in August 2012,[58] Inna Shevchenko left the country and went to Paris to set up Femen France, a training center for activists.

15 activists marched topless from the metro station Château Rouge to the Lavoir Moderne Parisien, where their new headquarters are located, and organized a press conference there.

[3] On 3 October 2012, French activists Éloïse Bouton, Elvire Duvelle-Charles, Miyabi K., Julia Javel, Jenny Bah, Nathalie Vignes and Inna Shevchenko protested against rape by standing topless in front of the Venus de Milo statue in the Louvre Museum.

[61] On 15 October 2012, eight topless activists protested in front of the French Ministry of Justice at the Place Vendôme in Paris in response to the verdict in the trial of fourteen men for the gang rape of teenage girls.

[62] After a four-week trial in Fontenay-sous-Bois near Paris, four of the accused were found guilty of taking part in gang rapes, ten were acquitted.

[65][66] In late April 2011, the organization said it was setting up international branches in Warsaw, Zürich, Rome, Tel Aviv, and Rio de Janeiro.

[37] On 23 January 2013, a third national Femen-group was opened officially when Alexandra Shevchenko launched Femen in Germany proposing to train and lead the group from Berlin and Hamburg bases.

Right before the pink plastic building opened, a Femen member emerged topless from a model high-heel shoe burning a Barbie doll, in protest of what was widely seen as giving girls an unrealistic view of life.

[76] In August 2016, a branch of Femen launched in the United States of America, based in Seattle, Washington and led by Jordan Robson.

[77] Femen describes its stance as "radical feminism",[78] and says that it is "fighting patriarchy in its three manifestations – sexual exploitation of women, dictatorship and religion".

[2][12] Femen has expressed both support for and opposition against various public figures and organizations; for example, the group lauded Pussy Riot[84] and collaborated with Aliaa Elmahdy.

[91][nb 5] Despite Femen's objection to the sex industry, the group has fought against the prosecution of Anastasia Grishay by Ukrainian authorities (initiated by a prominent Communist member of parliament)[93][94] on grounds of her involvement in pornography.

[8][98][99] When asked (in April 2013) if she considered German Chancellor Angela Merkel "the enemy" Alexandra Shevchenko replied: "In so far as she shakes the hand of the dictator, yes; like Yulia Tymoshenko and like Margaret Thatcher before them, she has hardly spoken out for women's rights".

[27] Femen has protested "against the limitation of democratic liberties and freedom of the press" during Viktor Yanukovich's presidency[100] and against (Ukrainian) government corruption.

[110] An 8 April 2013 "topless ambush" of Russian President Vladimir Putin (accompanied by German Chancellor Angela Merkel) at the Hanover trade fair was described by Alexandra Shevchenko as "non-violent women protesting against the most dangerous dictator in the world, it got great coverage and will hopefully inspire people in Russia as well as helping us to recruit new members".

[11] Pauline Hillier, Marguerite Stern and Josephine Markmann were released on 26 June 2013 after a Tunisian court lifted their prison sentence.

[136] Amina Tyler was acquitted for contempt and defamation on 29 July 2013; but she remained jailed pending trial on a separate charge of desecrating a cemetery.

Amina upon release in August 2013 from detention in a Tunisian jail declared she was leaving the group in protest adding that she thought FEMEN's actions in Paris were disrespectful to the Muslim world and because she saw a lack of financial transparency in the organization.

[137] Critics have stated Femen members are more interested in self-promotion than real reform, and that their antics are often tacky and undermine the cause of their protests.

[138] Ukrainian sociologist Oleh Demkiv has spoken out against the controversial nature of FEMEN's protests and in July 2011 he stated they "unfortunately, do not enjoy popular support, or lead to changes in Ukraine's consciousness".

[78] Positive remarks in Ukraine about Femen came from Maria Mayerchyk (of Lviv University), who has spoken about Femen, saying that they are a "positive, radical and important phenomenon that is able to raise social issues",[138] and Larysa Kobelianska (UN-led women's rights program) said the group has succeeded in attracting public attention to women's problems, even if by questionable means.

"[141] Jeffrey Tayler noted: "Femen originated in Ukraine, born of young women who grew up without exposure to the West's culture of political correctness and who have scant respect for it; from their country's Soviet past, they know how deleterious the stifling of free speech can be.

[143] In September 2013, Femen came under criticism when an Australian documentary filmmaker Kitty Green exposed a man named Victor Svyatski as the founder of the group.