Queer in Russia
A Story of Sex, Self, and the Other
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- $34.99
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- $34.99
Publisher Description
In Queer in Russia Laurie Essig examines the formation of gay identity and community in the former Soviet Union. As a sociological fieldworker, she began her research during the late 1980s, before any kind of a public queer identity existed in that country. After a decade of conducting interviews, as well as observing and analyzing plays, books, pop music, and graffiti, Essig presents the first sustained study of how and why there was no Soviet gay community or even gay identity before perestroika and the degree to which this situation has—or has not—changed.
While male homosexual acts were criminalized in Russia before 1993, women attracted to women were policed by the medical community, who saw them less as criminals than as diseased persons potentially cured by drug therapy or transsexual surgery. After describing accounts of pre-perestroika persecution, Essig examines the more recent state of sexual identities in Russia. Although the fall of communism brought new freedom to Russian queers, there are still no signs of a mass movement forming around the issue, and few identify themselves as lesbians or gay men, even when they are involved in same-sex relations. Essig does reveal, however, vibrant manifestations of gay life found at the local level—in restaurants, discos, clubs, and cruising strips, in newspapers, journals, literature, and the theater. Concluding with a powerful exploration of the surprising affinities between some of Russia’s most prominent nationalists and its queers, Queer in Russia fills a gap in both Russian and cultural studies.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Drawing on the conventions of postmodern critical theory and cultural studies, sociologist and journalist Essig investigates issues of sexual identity and community in the former Soviet Union. Her brief overview of Russian attitudes toward same-sex activity reveals that laws criminalizing homosexual behavior were passed in 1716, repealed by the Bolsheviks, reinstated by Stalin and abolished again in 1993, and that jail or psychiatric institutionalization were not uncommon penalties. Essig's broader project is to reveal how the very concepts of "law," "cure" and "sexual identity" are constructed generally and in Russia. Using the theoretical work of Foucault, Judith Butler, J rgen Habermas and Pierre Bourdieu, as well as personal interviews and reportage on the activities of gay social and political groups, Essig paints an engaging and perceptive portrait of a community emerging from the underground and struggling to define itself. She is adroit at discussing how the globalization of Western gay identity is received in post-Soviet Russian culture, particularly how the concept of "coming out" is difficult in a society in which any "public self-confession" has been politically dangerous. While Essig has the unflinching eyes and ears of a seasoned reporter, the book's deep grounding in theory may diminish its appeal for some readers. Illustrations not seen by PW.
