Ukrainian Women Organize Sex Strike Against Russian Men

Ukrainian women organized a sex strike against Russian men after Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine. The organizers even set up a Facebook page for their “Don’t Give It to a Russian” campaign.

The Facebook page is in Russian, which led a few to question if it was authentic. However, The Atlantic points out one of the women who set it up is Katerina Venzhik, who edits Delo.UA and lives in Kiev. Most eastern Ukrainians use Russian as their primary language, but it is common for all Ukrainians to know and use both languages.

The organizers remind the women that sex strikes are nothing new. In one post, the campaign brings up the famous Greek comedy Lysistrata by Aristophanes. In it, a Greek woman tells her friends “to withhold sex from their husbands until they agree to end the Peloponnesian War.” They also cited recent events in which women boycotted sex:

In 2006, Colombia wives and mistresses bandits declared “strike of crossed legs” to stop the bloody clashes between gangs. In 2010, the number of murders in the Colombian city of Pereira fell by a record 26.5%. In 2009, women’s organizations in Kenya urged women not to have sex with men, until a reconciliation between the president and prime minister. They were even willing to pay prostitutes to those also joined the “strike.”

There are t-shirts for sale with their slogan and logo. Women overseas can even purchase the merchandise.