This is why the world needs FEMEN

With their headline-grabbing tactic of demonstrating topless, the women of Ukraine's FEMEN movement can seem like a novelty act. But believe me, they are deadly serious.

And one of the main reasons they came into existence, a few years ago, was to fight against the way Ukrainian women are perceived and treated — not just in their own country, but around the world.

This year, the focus of their anger has been the 2012 UEFA European Football Championship (Euro 2012), which will be co-hosted by Ukraine and Poland. Like many other major sporting events, Euro 2012 is expected to arouse a boom in prostitution as local women offer to "service" foreign soccer fans.

The potential for widespread exploitation and abuse of women is even worse in Ukraine, which is a well-known European destination for sex tourism.

How well-known? Check out these two ads:





In both cases, the idea that Ukrainian women are Europe's sex toys is simply taken for granted.

FEMEN's founder, Anna Hutsol, told New Europe:

“I don't know what type of people will come or how they see our country, but if they think it is a 'brothel country', how will they behave with young women on the streets? You know, our girls dress quite liberally, which is usually not accepted in a European country, and to some could seem as a sexual call . This will also influence the behaviour of the sport fans. Thus, we need drive home the message: 'Yes, Ukrainian girls usually dress like this, but they are not prostitutes.'”

Women re-appropriating their own sexuality. It's a thing now, with worldwide movements like Slutwalk and Rock The Slut Vote. But before them were these half-dressed Ukrainian women, shivering and screeching against a system that tries to keep them down. Let's all hope in never does.

MILFs for sale #FdAdFriday

Ads of the World featured this interesting guerilla campaign by O&M Buenos Aires for womwn's organization AMMAR.

Apparently, 93% of the country's sex workers are mothers trying to make ends meet. The campaign aims to raise awareness for the need to protect these women with more progressive prostitution laws.

At first blush, however, the campaign seems like more of a way to scare clients away. Argentina's callgirls advertise using business cards left in public places. O&M created surprise fold-outs that showed the maternal reality behind the sexy promotion.

I'm not sure targeting clients is the best direct strategy, but of course these days innovative campaigns are all about indirect reach through PR and social media.

Sugar Daddy site celebrates Women's Month with a 2fer #FdAdFridays

You can't make this stuff up.

From the Press Release:

"Sugar Daddy Website Celebrates Women’s Month with an Empowering 2-For-1 Sugar Baby Offer 

March is the National Women’s Month in the United States and the United Kingdom. This year, the focus of the National Women’s History Month will be on “Women's Education and Women's Empowerment.” As the only Sugar Daddy dating website that encourages women’s education and women’s empowerment through their dating relationships, SeekingArrangement.com is celebrating this year’s Women’s History Month by offering all female members 2-for-1 discounts on any Sugar Baby or Sugar Mommy membership package."

Empowering indeed. Seeking Arrangement is an online dating service that helps attractive young women in need of money sell themselves as a "girlfriend experience" to wealthy older men.

This isn't prostitution, mind you, because these are nice girls. College girls.

"Since “Women’s Education” is the focus of this year’s Women’s Month, SeekingArrangement.com notes that over 40% of its Sugar Baby members are college students using the website as a means to pay for their college education."

Last I heard, the same could be said for 100% of strippers.

“Women are brought up in our country to believe they are princesses who will eventually meet their prince. In Disneyland, even the beast turned out to be a prince,” says [Brandon Wade, the website’s Founder & CEO] who holds a BS and MBA degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “Most girls grow up realizing there is no fairytale ending. Instead of selling the princess fantasy, parents ought to empower their daughters by showing them how to be Sugar Babies and to demand more out of their personal relationships.”

So there you have it, sisters. It's all for women's empowerment.

Tip via Jezebel

Best Typo of Valentine's Day 2012

Courtesy Teleflora. As shared by a Consumerist reader, who explains:

"This was not my intended message. I had said she was the best lover in the whole world. I tried calling Teleflora about it, but it seems as though their lines are all disconnected or overwhelmed. Am I the victim of mistyping by someone else, or is this more widespread and possibly a disgruntled employee making everyone pay?"

That must have been awkward.

If you've seen a better one, please post it below.

Sex tourism, or travel matchmaking?

One thing about working in advertising is you always wonder what's behind some of those sleazy online ads you see as you bounce around the internet.

Here's one I saw on fark.com:

Of course it's a scam, but I wanted to know how obvious a scam it was. So I went where few non-desperate people have gone before:

Okay, that's not too scary. It even makes clear on Google that it is not an escort site.

So what is it? Well, you can't get too far into that with a major breach of privacy.

There's only so much I'm willing to give up online. This is my real name, and I have a wife, a son, and a job. But fortunately others have made the ultimate privacy sacrifice in the interest of science.

According to this blog:

"As soon as you log in women will start sending you chat and email messages that can only be replied to if you are a paying member.  I can not believe with no picture or personal information some girl would text me in seconds. I think it was set up this way so guys would sign up for their premium service."

Someone else wrote:

"I've registered 8 (!) male accounts on Travelgirls.com on the same day. Without photo or any demographics info, exept country. So I suppose such account should not be interesting to any girl. All 8 my fake users got 5 messages from THE SAME 3 girls in ~30 minutes after registration. All those girls of course were very beautiful and had profiles with photos, but...one small problem :) They all were sending almost the same message to all users. For example all users got a message from a girl called Perla. My fake user from France got a message "invite me to France", fake user from Spain got message "Invite me to Spain", etc. So Perla asked all 8 fake guys to invite her to their native country, mentioned in profile. Another one girl Eva also sent message to all users: "Have you been to Kiev/Ukraine?". Also two more girls with russian names sent messages immediately to all users. I don't know what about are those messages, because premium membership is necessary to read them."

So it's basically a porn chat scam. Meh. But more scary exploitation of lonely guys is afoot:

"I met a girl from Belarus on this site; her name there is Baby_MUR. Her actual name, according to what she told me is Evgeniya Serzhan. I met her and for 2 weeks she gave me the impression she was truly interested in me and wanted to travel to the USA. I offered to buy her plane ticket if she could get the visa. She told me it shouldn't be a problem, but a couple of days afterward said the cost would be 150 eur and that her parents wouldn't help her. She asked if I could help and told me maybe she could do something in return for me. I told her we would work together and figure something out. The next day she told me she would borrow the money and go to the Embassy to apply for the visa and that was the last I heard from her. She will now no longer answer any of my messages on the site, answer her phone when I call, nor will she write me back when I send her e-mails. It seems obvious to me that all she wanted was my money and when I didn't offer to send her the 150 eur she decided to drop me and look for someone she might be able to sucker. In short that makes her a romance scammer/gold digger. By the way, I looked at the site for the US Embassy in Minsk and the site shows the cost of the visa to be $140 USD--a far cry from 150 eur, which is about $200 USD. Furthermore, she told me they would process the visa for her there, but the site information shows they are no longer processing tourist visas in Minsk and persons wanting one would have to visit Embassys in other countries for processing. Beware of this site because if there is one like this there are bound to be others as well."

Sad, sad, sad. But what about the girls? Are they real? The site itself asks for a login before clickthrough, but Google seems to have no problem accessing lower level pages directly:

I have no idea if these women are real or not. I don't really want to find out. But I do hope that none of them are being trafficked, or forced into the sex trade through poverty or circumstance.

The guys, by the way, are a little more shy...

Well, some of them...)

Why should I care? I guess there are two things the internet has done to me. First of all, by bringing me news of sex work, tourism, tragedy and scams from around the world, it has made me more aware of the underbelly of human nature. And second, even if I wanted to be blissfully ignorant, these ads would continue to intrude on my world with a reminder of theirs.

By the way, the site owner (it's registered in Lithuania) denies any liability for any real people who may get involved in this particular type of travel.

"4.1. This Site is a venue. Services provided by the Company do not include the introduction of users to one another. This Site is merely a venue for members and/or viewers to learn about one another and, if they wish, arrange stays with one another. The Company is not involved in the actual contact between members and/or viewers . As a result, the Company has no control over the conduct of members and/or viewers or the truth or accuracy of the information that members and/or viewers post on the Site.
4.2. The Company cannot and do not confirm purported identity of the members and/or viewers . Although the Company provides tools intended to assist you, you are responsible for determining the identity and suitability of others with whom you may match by means of this Site. The Company does not endorse any persons who use or register for the services which are provided by the Company. The Company does not investigate reputation of the members and/or viewers , conduct, morality, criminal background, or verify the information such of the members and/or viewers may submit to the Site. You shall communicate directly with potential hosts and guests through the tools available on the Site and to take the same precautions you would normally take when meeting a stranger in person for the first time.
4.3. You shall be solely responsible for your interactions with other members and/or viewers of this Site. The Company will not be responsible for any damage or harm resulting from your interactions with other members and/or viewers of this Site. The Company reserves the right, but has no obligation, to monitor interactions between you and other members and/or viewers of this Site and to take any other action in good faith to restrict access to or the availability of any material that the Company or another members and/or viewers of this Site may consider obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy, violent, harassing or otherwise objectionable.
4.4. Because this Site is merely a venue, in the event that you have a dispute with other members and/or viewers of this Site, you release the Company and officers, directors, members, employees, agents and affiliates of the Company from claims, demands and damages (actual and consequential) of every kind and nature, known and unknown, suspected and unsuspected, disclosed and undisclosed, arising out of or in any way connected with such disputes.
4.5. In-person meetings which are held by groups of interested members and/or viewers are not sponsored or organized by the Company. Members who organize meetings should make clear in their announcements, invitations and signage that their meetings have not been organized or approved, and are not run, by the Company. The Company cannot guarantee the quality, organization or safety of any in-person meeting (whether or not sponsored by us). Members attend meetings at their own risk."

Good luck with that...

Zahia Dehar sells her body for fashion

Zahia Dehar made world headlines when it was discovered she was working as a call-girl to several well-known French soccer players when she was only 17.

Now 19, she has found a way to sell her body legitimately (with help from a Hong Kong investor and Karl Lagerfeld) as the "face" of a new couture lingerie line.



As you can see from the video, however, her face is not the focus of the brand.

WWD described this scene at her launch:

"Puzzled guests opened the black boxes left on their seats to discover a miniature pink chocolate rendition of Dehar’s assets, nestled in black tissue paper. Life-sized versions, rendered in metallic pink, were dotted through a pitch-dark space where waiters served Champagne after the show."

Actual product design is apparently not integral to the brand, either:

"...the money poured into the show could not disguise her lack of experience. Models stood on revolving podiums in designs ranging from a black hourglass corset festooned with pink petals to a bodysuit consisting of little more than a giant pink satin bow and matching pasties. With its Manga esthetic, the collection navigated an uncomfortable line between infantile and erotic. A scantily clad Dehar emerged for the finale, flashing come-hither looks as pink petals showered down from above. "

So what exactly is she selling?

 

You tell me.

F'd Ad Fridays: Ballbarians at the gates (partial nudity)

FEMEN are ramping up the protest about Ukraine's co-hosting of the Euro 2012 soccer tournament.

Via Mizozo

Femenista Inna Shevchenko told media that UEFA, the international football organisation, is "trying to influence our government" to legalize prostitution in advance of the June, 2012, kickoff to accommodate the legions of randy fans pouring in from across Europe.

In their usual modest and retiring style, the protestors went to the venue and stripped off their tops, spread their legs, and put tiny soccer balls on their crotches with the slogan "UEFA Attacked Our Gates".

They were later dragged away by Kiev police.