Last we checked in on the Euro 2012 tournament, there were apparently stray dogs and soiled mattresses on the corners of every street in Kiev, but that wasn’t stopping European countries from sending their best soccer players to compete for the Henri Delaunay Trophy in between nailing every wannabe soccer WAG in sight.
Here’s a look at the Euro 2012 tournament field when action begins on June 8:
Um. There you have it. I think.
Unfortunately, the real news isn’t the actual games taking place in the Ukraine and Poland, but the trophy itself, as the radical Ukrainian feminist group FEMEN has tried and succeeded on multiple occasions to knock over the Delaunay Trophy during the preliminary trophy tour. But I don’t mean radical like, “GRRRRR VIOLENCE!” I mean it like, “Bro, they’re all topless.”
Created in 2008, FEMEN is devoted to raising awareness to the sex trade problems in the Ukraine and the violence against women who are unwittingly lured into lives of prostitution. But its members quickly realized that there are roughly a zillion other protest groups across the planet, so they needed a strong gimmick to get our attention. That gimmick? No shirts. Because nothing says, “Take us seriously about prostitution” like airing out the chesticles.
It shouldn’t be much of a surprise that they’re targeting the Euro 2012 tournament and the coveted Delaunay Trophy, because the eyes of the soccer-loving world are on FEMEN’s home country. And, honestly, if they weren’t topless, we wouldn’t be talking about this right now.
Since we’re talking about this, it’s worth noting that FEMEN’s questionable tactics are working. Sure, it doesn’t help that FEMEN’s members have painted “FUCK EURO 2012” across their stomachs and are openly boasting about their criminal efforts (NSFW Twitter feed) – the young lady in the banner image will spend 5 days in jail for knocking the trophy over. Hell, it’s pretty ridiculous that they’re outright accusing the UEFA and Euro organizers of supporting and endorsing the sex trade, but here we are, paying attention to FEMEN.
The global media is talking about the rampant prostitution problem in the Ukraine, and especially how it is thriving during a massive sporting event such as this. Obviously, this means that Ukrainian officials are cracking down and criminalizing this kind of behavior, right? Haha, no.
They’re giving out condoms. Sigh.
Well, it’s a start. You take your punches and you keep fighting the good, topless fight, FEMEN.
(Images via Buzzfeed, but they’ve got the NSFW versions so tread lightly.)
