Suchergebnisse

The power of sex: culture, gender, and political legitimacy -- Putin the sex back in politics: gender norms, sexualization, and political legitimation in Russia -- Who's macho, who's gay?: pro- and anti-Kremlin activists gendering Russia's political leadership -- Fight club: gendered activism on patriotism, conscription, and pro-natalism -- Everywhere and nowhere: sexism and homophobia in Russian politics -- When pussy riots: feminist activism in Russia -- Conclusion. "The first time, do it for love": sexism, power, and politics under Putin

Is Vladimir Putin macho, or is he a 'fag'? Sperling investigates how gender stereotypes and sexualization have been used as tools of political legitimation in Putin's Russia. Despite their political polarization, regime allies and detractors alike have wielded traditional concepts of masculinity, femininity, and homophobia as a means of symbolic endorsement or disparagement of political leaders and policies. By repeatedly using machismo as a means of legitimation, Putin's regime opened the door to the concerted use of gendered rhetoric and imagery as a means to challenge regime authority.

Introduction : the domestic and international obstacles to State-building in Russia / Valerie Sperling. -- The "use and abuse" of Russia's energy resources : implications for state-society relations / Pauline Jones Luong. -- Do the people rule? the use of referenda in Russia / Mark Clarence Walker. -- The divided Russian elite : how Russia's transition produced a counter-elite / Virginia Coulloudon. -- Is the Russian State coping with organized crime and corruption? / Louise Shelley. -- State dysfunctionality, institutional decay, and the Russian military / Eva Busza. -- Is the center too weak or too strong in the Russian Federation? / Steven L. Solnick. -- Liberal transformation : labor and the Russian State / Stephen Crowley. -- The executive deception : superpresidentialism and the degradation of Russian politics / M. Steven Fish. -- Russian courts : enforcing the rule of law? Pamela Jordan. -- Stability from without? International donors and "good governance" strategies in Russia / Corbin B. Lyday.

This book offers the first comprehensive analysis of the contemporary Russian women's movement and of the social, political, economic, historical, and international contexts that surround it. Valerie Sperling paints a vivid portrait of the women's movement's formation and development, paying particular attention to the key challenges facing a social movement in post-communist society, including the virtual absence of civil society, constant flux in political institutions, wrenching economic changes, and the movement's own status in a changing transnational environment. The author also addresses the specific challenges facing women's organizations by discussing societal attitudes towards feminism in Russia. Based on participant observation, primary source materials, and dozens of interviews conducted in Moscow (as well as two smaller Russian cities), the narrative brings alive the activists' struggle to build a social movement under difficult conditions, and sheds new light on the troubled and complex process of Russia's democratization

Masculinity has long been Russian President Vladimir Putin's calling card. At the center of Putin's macho aura is his image as a tough leader who will not allow Western countries to weaken Russia or dictate what Russia's domestic and foreign policies should look like. This article draws attention to the role of masculinity in the Putin regime's legitimation strategy, and how it became more obvious during the escalation of the conflict in Ukraine in 2014 and the Russian annexation of Crimea. To the extent that there is a "personality cult" in contemporary Russia, the personality at the center of it is defined in highly gendered terms, shaping the tenor of both domestic and foreign policy.

The Russian president carefully cultivates an image of muscular masculinity to pump up nationalist fervor against a West portrayed as culturally and sexually decadent.

While Pussy Riot's "Punk Prayer" and its aftermath constituted something of a turning point for Russia politically - as well as personally for the women imprisoned afterwards - it was neither the first nor last of Pussy Riot's endeavors. Among other things, their series of songs, published as video clips on the web, endorsed mass protest against the Putin regime, criticized state-sponsored homophobia, and praised feminism as a possible curative for Russia's many ills. In setting forth their ideas, however, Pussy Riot's lyricists made use of traditional masculine and feminine gender norms as well as homophobia, wielding these against their opponents in the regime and thereby reinforcing them in ways that other self-identified Russian feminists found problematic at best.In this article, I review Pussy Riot's collection of songs in chronological order, highlighting the areas where gender norms and apparent misogyny, sexism, and homophobia appear. I weave my explications of the content of Pussy Riot's productions in with the responses of Russian feminist activists to Pussy Riot's lyrics and actions. Taking into account the views of some non-feminist Russian commentators in addition to self-identified feminist activists, I discuss a range of evaluations of the content of Pussy Riot's compositions, as well as differing appraisals of the means that Pussy Riot employed to achieve what they viewed as feminist ends: undermining or even unseating the Putin regime.