Kelaku Orang Eropah

Exposing the darker side of Euro 2012

This Friday all eyes of the footballing world will be on Euro 2012, the flagship showpiece for European nations. A football spectacle that on quality of competition rivals even that of the FIFA World Cup, this tournament has not been without its controversy leading up to kickoff. As we all know the sex industry is a big deal in eastern Europe, and with this tournament taking place in the Ukraine and Poland, paid for sexy times are set to boom for beered up football fans from across Europe. Par for the course you may say, well yes and no. See protest group FEMEN have been taking a stand against this, and though a little extreme in places, have a pretty good point.

Loosely translated - Fuck Euro.

They are tired of eastern Europe countries such as the Ukraine being seen as the brothels of Europe, and see events such as the Euro 2012 further forcing local women into prostitution as travelers come over expecting to make the beast with two backs for a few Euros. Job opportunities are low there for women, with male alcoholism being rather high which means domestic violence is common place and the move to prostitution a natural one for survival.

Now I’m not going to attempt to discuss this slippery slope, but this does expose a rather darker side of football that I’m sure could be helped by governing bodies. When tournaments go to countries like this, the big wigs love the supposed goodwill idea of going to 3rd world environments. But every 3rd world environment has 3rd world problems, and what FEMEN are exposing here is certainly one to be mindful of.

Fuck Euro - got to give them credit on catch phrase simplicity.

Sex tourism has sky rocketed of late in Ukraine with 7 new lap dance bars opening in Kiev alone for the start of the tournament. The FEMEN girls feel that exposing their upper torso area will alert people to the downward spiral this is creating for the women of the Ukraine, and their protests have pretty much always led to police detainment.

Women are people too - even in Ukraine.

I know this may be a little distracting to you, but getting back to my point about football governing bodies really making an effort to uplift communities – this is a prime opportunity.

Fighting the good fight.

Okay I’m getting distracted by these pics too now. So, my point is that this is a very real issue for UEFA and indeed FIFA. I think they couldn’t give a shit, but it would be nice if they proved me wrong and came to the cause of these women. We know that strip clubs and brothels are a reality the world over and the sex industry does boom around large football events in all countries hosting them. But in poor countries like Ukraine, the effect is far more adverse than anywhere else, and something should really be done to support these brave topless women.