Radical Femen leader plans U.S. feminist outpost

Shevchenko has announced plans to expand Femen’s footprint from nine countries mostly in Europe to the United States, most likely in New York or Washington, D.C. The group’s Ukraine headquarters has been shut down.

“We are this sort of detonator,” she said. “We go where the problem is.”

That includes houses of worship, which she says are responsible for patriarchal laws that subjugate women.

The plan to add a U.S. branch coincides with a wave of criticism of Femen and questions about why Socialist President Francois Hollande officially approved a stamp representing “Marianne,” the national symbol since the French Revolution, that resembles Shevchenko. One conservative lawmaker wants the stamp withdrawn. Another conservative wants the group declared a sect, which would make it illegal in France.