Photo Gallery Get Your Kit Off for the Cause

Across the globe people are getting naked for political causes. Chinese supporters of Ai Weiwei are posting nude pictures on the Internet, while an Egyptian art student has created a storm with her naked photos. It's the perfect way to wrongfoot authorities, but the protesters may end up paying the price..
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All around the world, people are getting naked for political causes. The activists of the Ukrainian group Femen are famous for posing topless. Here they are protesting in Lviv against sex tourism, prostitution, and alcohol sales at sports stadiums during the Euro 2012 soccer championship that Ukraine will co-host with Poland (Oct. 29 photo).

Foto: GLEB GARANICH/ REUTERS
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Here, the Femen women are seen acting out against orders from the Kiev city administration prohibiting residents from going out onto their balconies naked or half-naked during the upcoming Euro 2012 soccer championship. The activists' placards read, "This is a rebellious balcony!"

Foto: SERGEI SUPINSKY/ AFP
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This Femen protester made an appearance in Vatican City earlier in November.

Foto: TONY GENTILE/ REUTERS
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And this one did the same in Zurich four days later.

Foto: ARND WIEGMANN/ REUTERS
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For Femen, publicity is guaranteed, the risks are manageable and the distribution channels are obvious. Few newspapers would fail to print a picture of attractive Ukrainian women who have stripped naked for a good cause....

Foto: SERGEI SUPINSKY/ AFP
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...especially when they're so up-front about it. Here, Femen activists stage a performance in front of the Ministry for Science and Education in Kiev protesting sexual harassment of female students by professors at colleges and universities.

Foto: GLEB GARANICH/ REUTERS
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Recently, art student Aliaa Magda Elmahdy caused a storm in Egypt with her naked photos of herself, which she posted on her blog.

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A group of Israeli women stripped naked to show solidarity with Elmadhy.

Foto: Anat Cohen/ dpa
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In China, supporters of Ai Weiwei are posting nude pictures on the Internet in protest against his treatment by the authorities. The Chinese government has accused Ai Weiwei of pornography because of a series of naked photos he made, such as the one shown here.

Foto: AFP/ Ai Weiwei
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Here, a woman in Beijing looks at a blog showing pictures of Ai Weiwei's supporters.

Foto: MARK RALSTON/ AFP
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In Spain, members of the "Indignant" movement have also been getting naked, as seen here in Madrid in July 2011.

Foto: PIERRE-PHILIPPE MARCOU/ AFP
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These protesters were representing a special interest group: nude artists' models. They were protesting outside the Paris cultural affairs office against a new rule that would deprive them of tips from the artists (Dec. 2008 photo).

Foto: VINCENT BOISOT/ AP
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Here, students in Medellin, Colombia protest against an education reform bill on Nov. 10, 2011.

Foto: RAUL ARBOLEDA/ AFP
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Naked protests certainly seem popular in Colombia. These women marched in Medellin on Sept. 7, 2011 in a protest against government intentions to alter teacher's health insurance plans.

Foto: DPA
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And here naked cyclists cruise through central Paris in June 2007. The worldwide naked cycling protests at the time were intended to highlight the vulnerability of cyclists on the road and protest against oil dependency.

Foto: JOEL SAGET/ AFP
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They took place in cities around the world, including Washington DC...

Foto: TIM SLOAN/ AFP
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... and Mexico City.

Foto: ALFREDO ESTRELLA/ AFP
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In Canada, scores of people dropped their trousers and rode through the streets of Vancouver to promote cycling as an environmentally friendly mode of transportation.

Foto: RICHARD LAM/ AP
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Even the group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) jumped on the au naturel bandwagon. This advertisement featuring international supermodel Joanna Krupa posing in front of the Hong Kong skyline was part of the group's anti-fur campaign.

Foto: Robert Sebree/ AFP
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Here, Dutch model Natasja Vermeer holds a sign reading, "Earn your wings - Lose the fur."

Foto: FILIPPO MONTEFORTE/ AFP
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Fur? Actress Eva Mendes would rather go naked.

Foto: Don Flood/ AP
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Australian "Penthouse Pet of the Year" Kobe Kaige also took off her clothes for PETA. Her sign reads, "Give fur the cold shoulder."

Foto: MICK TSIKAS/ REUTERS
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Athletes also got involved in the PETA campaign. US Olympic gold medalist Amanda Beard unveiled her ad just two days before the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

Foto: AFP
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Olympic figure skater Tai Babilonia skates in her underwear in 2009, holding a sign for PETA's "Rather Go Naked Than Wear Fur" campaign.

Foto: STAN HONDA/ AFP
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To mark World Vegan Day, PETA tasked actress Sarah-Jane Honeywell with lying on a huge plate to urge onlookers to "know their food."

Foto: Andy Rain/ dpa
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Hundreds of people pose on the Aletsch glacier in Switzerland during a nude photo shoot organized by American photographer Spencer Tunick. Greenpeace commissioned Tunick to take the pictures to raise awareness about global warming.

Foto: DPA
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Nude protests have huge advantages. The protester does nothing more than pose naked in a public place. The authorities, however, have to use force or bureaucratic power to stop them. Here, Ukrainian policemen arrest Femen activists in Kiev in August 2011.

Foto: Sergey Dolzhenko/ dpa
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A system that has to mobilize men in uniform to stop someone from posing in their birthday suit has a problem.

Foto: Efrem Lukatsky/ AP
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And sometimes the authorities look really ridiculous. Like here, when a worker from the Georgian Embassy in Kiev accosted Femen activists decorated as spies. The women were demanding that the case of three photojournalists accused of espionage be opened up to public scrutiny.

Foto: Sergey Dolzhenko/ dpa
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No, this man isn't looking for a hug. He's an Iranian security guard trying to drag a partially dressed Femen protester away from an Iranian cultural event in Kiev in November 2010.

Foto: GLEB GARANICH/ REUTERS
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People get naked to protest on a wide range of issues. An activist with "Cuba Democracy Now" demonstrates in front of the European Office in Madrid against human rights violations in Cuba and the permissiveness of Spain.

Foto: PEDRO ARMESTRE/ AFP
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An almost completely naked protester wearing only one sock gestures to police during a demonstration in Malmo, Sweden in 2008.

Foto: BOB STRONG/ REUTERS
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German activists with Oxfam re-enact in 2010 a historical photograph of Berlin's Kommune 1 to mark the 40th anniversary of a promise made by United Nations member states to pledge 0.7 percent of their gross domestic product to developmental aid.

Foto: TOBIAS SCHWARZ/ REUTERS
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Anti-bullfighting protesters in Spain play the part of the bull in Madrid in March 2010.

Foto: AP
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Old habits die hard in eastern Germany where stripping off was a subtle but popular form of rebellion against the former East German communist government. Here, a man carries a peace flag past police officers at a beach at the Baltic Sea resort of Heiligendamm on April 15, 2007, during the G8 summit.

Foto: ARND WIEGMANN/ REUTERS