The feminist activist group FEMEN staged a topless protest at Paris's Musée d'Orsay on Saturday, September 12, 2020, after the museum barred a woman named Jeanne from entering the galleries unless she covered up her low-cut dress. About 20 activists gathered in the sculpture gallery, removed their shirts, and painted slogans such as "obscenity is in your eyes" and "this is not obscene" on their torsos, standing alongside classical nude statues. They chanted in protest and later moved outside the museum. The museum issued an apology to Jeanne but did not address accusations of sexism or discrimination.
This protest matters because it highlights ongoing tensions between institutional dress codes and feminist activism, particularly around the sexualization of women's bodies in art spaces. The Musée d'Orsay, which houses famous nude paintings like Gustave Courbet's *L'Origine du monde*, has previously been targeted by performance artist Deborah de Robertis for similar censorship issues. The incident also comes after a French supreme court ruling in February 2020 that women exposing their breasts in public can be charged with "sexual exhibitionism," raising questions about freedom of expression and protest rights.