Sex, Politics, and Putin: Political Legitimacy in Russia

375 Pages·2014·4.651 MB·English

by  Valerie Sperling

Sex, Politics, and Putin
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Sex, Politics, and Putin
POLITICAL LEGITIMACY
IN RUSSIA
VALERIE SPERLING
1
1
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Sperling, Valerie.
Sex, politics, and Putin : political legitimacy in Russia / Valerie Sperling.
p. cm. — (Oxford studies in culture and politics)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978–0–19–932434–7 (hardcover : alk. paper) — ISBN 978–0–19–932435–4 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Sexism in political culture—Russia (Federation) 2. Political participation—Russia (Federation)
3. Sex role—Political aspects—Russia (Federation) 4. Women—Political activity—Russia (Federation)
5. Russia (Federation)—Politics and government—1991– I. Title.
JN6699.A15S676 2015
322.40947—dc23
2014012792
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper
Contents
Acknowledgments vii
Permissions x
Notes on Transliteration xi
1. The Power of Sex: Culture, Gender, and Political Legitimacy 1
2. Putin the Sex Back in Politics: Gender Norms, Sexualization,
and Political Legitimation in Russia 29
3. Who’s Macho, Who’s Gay? Pro- and Anti-Kremlin Activists
Gendering Russia’s Political Leadership 80
4. Fight Club: Gendered Activism on Patriotism, Conscription,
and Pro-Natalism 125
5. Everywhere and Nowhere: Sexism and Homophobia in Russian
Politics 169
6. When Pussy Riots: Feminist Activism in Russia 222
Conclusion. “The First Time, Do It for Love”: Sexism, Power,
and Politics under Putin 294
Appendix: Methodology 311
Bibliography 315
Index 347
v

Acknowledgments
The “village” that it took to write this book spans two continents. Within its
borders lie several generous institutions and numerous individuals who helped
bring this project to fruition. First, the institutions. The Francis A. Harrington
Public Affairs Fund at Clark University paid my way to Russia in June 2011 to
interview pro- and anti-Putin political activists. My second research trip (June
2012) enabled me to connect with Russian feminist activists; it was supported
by a fellowship from the International Research & Exchanges Board with
funds provided by the US Department of State through the Title VIII Pro-
gram, neither of which is responsible for the views expressed herein. The Davis
Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Harvard University provided me
with a Faculty Associateship while I was writing the book.
And now, the people. Nataliya Kun helped me dust off my Russian and
translate my interview questions before my research trips. I translated the
opaque parts of the interviews with her help as well as that of Sasha Zolotukh-
ina White and Mariia Zolotukhina. Responsibility for any errors lies with me.
Russian gender sociologist Irina Kosterina led me to information on the new
wave of feminist groups organizing in Moscow. I am also grateful to Elena
Zdravomyslova and Anna Temkina at the European University of St. Peters-
burg, who helped me connect with feminist activists in that city.
Critical to the writing of this book was a productive group of people who
made sure that my inbox was constantly bulging with relevant citations to in-
stances of gender norms in the Russian news: Mischa Gabowitsch, Julia Ioffe,
Valentina Konstantinova, Nataliya Kun, Jussi Lassila, Peter Rutland, Tivur
Shaginurov, Brian Taylor, and Elizabeth Wood. I am grateful to everyone who
took the time to be interviewed for this project and to the Zolotukhina/White
family, who housed, fed, and welcomed me as one of their own for two sum-
mers in a row. Credit for the book’s title goes to Loren Graham, who, bent on
simplicity, suggested “Sex, Politics, and Putin,” after hearing several of my tor-
tuous attempts at a title.
vii
viii acknowledgments
I thank the Oxford Studies in Culture and Politics Series co-editors, Clif-
ford Bob, for listening to me talk about my project over a lunch of sushi pulled
off a conveyor belt in Seattle and then encouraging me to submit a proposal to
the series, and Jim Jasper, for his uplifting endorsement upon reading that pro-
posal: “This is actually an extremely interesting topic. In fact more interesting
than the author makes it out to be.” James Cook, sociology editor at OUP, and
his assistant, Peter Worger, carefully shepherded the manuscript from point A
to point P (for “published”). Copy editor Alina Larson politely jettisoned a
megabyte of superfluous commas and repaired other infelicities. The book’s
anonymous reviewers sharpened my thinking. Conor O’Dwyer and Doug
Blum also offered clear formulations of some of my blurry ideas. I am particu-
larly grateful to Helena Goscilo for sharing with me a wealth of smart com-
ments and her passion for the subject.
I am beyond grateful to Sam Diener. Sam, my partner in life, love, and learn-
ing, has now borne the burden of helping me create three books. Sam also did
the parenting for both of us when I was off researching in Russia (and when I
was back at home, writing). Our now ten-year-old, Sasha, has probably come
to think of me as a disembodied voice behind a closed home-office door—
albeit a disembodied voice who loves him very much.
For two consecutive summers, as a seven- and then eight-year-old, Sasha
tolerated several weeks of temporary momlessness during my trips to Russia.
In an attempt to get him interested in the process of data collection, I asked
each of my interviewees three questions of Sasha’s choosing. He has not yet
analyzed the resulting data (being too busy playing soccer and memorizing
the horsepower of a wide variety of sports cars), but I offer here a smattering of
that data for curious readers. Sasha’s questions were: What’s your favorite
color? What’s your favorite sport? What do you like to do? My own cursory
analysis suggests no correlation between color preferences and ideology—or
even gender. Answers to the second and third questions implied that, with few
exceptions, activists of all stripes enjoyed sports and that they rarely had much
time in which to do things for fun. But some managed to read, ride trolley-
buses in the rain, play soccer, rollerblade, dance hip-hop, and even raise giant
African snails.
These snails, conveniently, have no permanent biological sex (each one pos-
sesses both male and female reproductive equipment), making it impossible to
gender their appearance, behavior, and social obligations (if snails have these)
as masculine or feminine. In this, they differ enormously from most people.
The absence of gender that can be read onto them and hence the absence of
gender-based discrimination is nothing short of enviable. Gender norms—our
stereotypical assumptions about the meanings of masculinity and femininity—
govern so much of the way that we understand the world around us, often
acknowledgments ix
unconsciously. This book, I hope, by making explicit the ways in which gender
norms are employed to convince people that politicians and political perspec-
tives are legitimate or illegitimate will help raise our consciousness about this
particular form of political manipulation and the reinforcement of sexism and
heterosexism on which it relies.