“After all, there is no such thing as bad news in gloss!”: Politics, gender, society, and sexuality in contemporary Russian and Czech women’s magazines

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“After all, there is no such thing as bad news in gloss!”

Politics, gender, society, and sexuality in contemporary Russian and Czech

women’s magazines

MA Thesis in European Studies Graduate School for Humanities

Universiteit van Amsterdam

Laetitia van Dijk 11749296

Main supervisor: Dr. Sudha Rajagopalan Second supervisor: Dr. Carlos Reijnen

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In this MA thesis, I focus on the status of gender and sexuality in Russia and the Czech Republic, and on their representation in contemporary Russian and Czech women’s magazines specifically. In the first part, I explain several terms and concepts connected to the theme, and I give an overview of developments regarding gender equality, feminism, sexual freedom, and political and public discourse concerning those matters in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic/Russia and the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic/the Czech Republic. I also shortly discuss representations and notions of gender, specifically ‘femininity’, in popular culture, women’s magazines, and postfeminism, zooming in on the Russian and Czech case. I then proceed to my case study, which concerns an analysis of a selection of articles from four contemporary Czech and Russian women’s magazines. In the analysis, I specifically focus on finding reflections of and on societal and political phenomena and discourse in the magazine articles. I, thus, try to determine if the ‘real world’ does seep into the women’s magazines, or if they form a separate, detached ‘fantasy’ world.

Keywords: gender; sexuality; feminism; postfeminism; discourse; Russia; Czech Republic; popular culture; women’s magazines; representation.

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Acknowledgments

First of all, I would like to thank my supervisor Dr. Sudha Rajagopalan for her enthusiastic, trusting, and highly inspiring guidance throughout the process, as well as for her coping with my chaotic and irregular style of communication.

I would also like to thank my parents, sister, and friends, who have supported me in many ways, who have listened to my worries and frustrations, and who have given their advice and reassurances. I am very grateful to the friends I have bombarded with a wide range of questions and doubts pertaining to translations, transliteration, referencing, etc., the translation of the citation in the title of the thesis being one of the fruitful results of these question sessions. I am grateful for the conversations with family and friends in the Czech Republic, inspiring me and complementing my research with firsthand stories, experiences, and opinions. I am also very thankful to my superiors at work, who have made it possible to combine my studies and the thesis process with my job.

I would specifically like to thank Femke Bouma, Tessel Middag, Ravi de Riedmatten, Jacqueline Schaepman, Daniel Spiers, Zois Theodorou, and Danu Thung for taking time out of their busy schedules to proofread a large part of the chapters, and for giving me their tremendously useful corrections and advice on the language and structure of the text.

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Note on transliteration

I have used the BGN-PCGN system for the transliteration of Russian names and words I use and mention throughout the thesis, as well as for all magazine titles, articles, and authors. I have, however, not altered the transliteration of the names of scholars I refer to. Instead, I have taken over the transliterated spelling of their names as displayed in the concerned articles or books.

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1

Introduction

Popular culture and mass media have always played an important role in the world I grew up in. I was born in the early 1990s, a time in which TV, movies, and pop music were ubiquitous, trends and hypes could emerge and disappear virtually overnight, and consumption was inextricably linked to everyday life for most people. Just like almost all children and youngsters, I went to the cinema to watch movies, I listened to the radio while I was doing my homework, and I read magazines; first the ones for children, followed by magazines especially for girls, to eventually arrive at women’s magazines. The magazines showed me what celebrities were doing and wearing (and if one should approve of those actions and outfits), they told me how to apply my make-up, or which bathing suits would be the most suitable for my figure. They described which products I could use to shave my legs or style my hair, and they revealed details about the initially somewhat mysterious world of the phenomenon called sex.

As a girl/young woman, I also read magazines when I spent my vacations in the Czech Republic. The Czech magazines resembled the ones I read at home, as did the advertisements I saw on the streets of the Czech cities, or the commercials I saw on Czech TV. Mass media, popular culture, and consumerism were omnipresent. I knew, however, that until recently the situation had looked very different, and the remnants of that situation were still visible or perceptible, especially in my childhood years. The transition from one political, societal, and economic system to the opposite one took time, and the traces and effects of the old system were still present in society.

It is the mixture of popular culture, gender, sexuality, and society that will form the focus of my thesis. Gender, sexuality, and all topics connected to it are fervently discussed in many contemporary societies on a daily basis. During the past few years, feminism has undergone some kind of revival, which expresses itself in various new movements and organizations, real-life and online pleas and discussions, demonstrations, women’s marches, etc. The concept of ‘gender’ is regularly under attack, the heteronormative character of society is challenged, and issues such as inequality, discrimination, and sexual harassment are the order of the day. Gender and sexuality are, as many would formulate it, a ‘hot topic’, and the issues and discussions connected to these subjects quite often take place in a context of popular culture or consumption. One could think of, for example, current discussions regarding the underrepresentation of strong female or non-heterosexual characters in Hollywood movies, of

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2 recent criticism of gendered toys and clothes for children, or of the division of tasks in commercials for household appliances or cleaning products. A certain shift in the area of gender and sexuality can be perceived: the number of movies with an all- or mainly female cast or realistic depictions of non-heterosexual relationships is growing, some commercials deviate from traditional gender roles, here and there we see little boys wearing dresses or painting their nails, and some dating shows on TV have dropped their heteronormative nature. Gender and sexuality have become fluid, and this has started to seep into public discourse and popular culture. Counter-reactions, however, are strong and very present as well. Anti- or postfeminist voices, whether or not supported by, it seems, increasingly popular conservative political parties, oppose the changes in culture and society.

To make a long story short: gender and sexuality still are and probably will for long be topical and relevant subjects. The view of these subjects can vary greatly depending on the historical and contemporary political and social context of a country. Countries such as the Czech Republic or Russia have passed through very different processes concerning women’s and human rights than, for example, Western European countries. This, in turn, has influenced the position and views of gender and sexuality within those countries. Russia, for instance, is known for its current (hyper)masculine political discourse, and its discrimination of sexual minorities. The Czech Republic has known a quite strong tradition of female emancipation, but its public and social gender-related discourse can nowadays still be more conservative than that of other countries in the region. Politics and society, and the norms they represent and propagate, have an undeniable influence on the personal lives of citizens, as well as on the popular culture they are exposed to. At the same time, the ways in which a society deals with issues connected to gender and sexuality does, in my perception, reveal a great deal about the ideals and norms that are leading and prominent within that society; it shows us what the desired ideal image of that society could be. And this is exactly what interests me: the interaction between society/politics, citizens, gender/sexuality, and popular culture.

I have chosen to examine these topics through the medium of contemporary women’s magazines since they do very directly focus on subjects such as gender and sexuality. One might tend to feel that women’s magazines form a medium within popular culture and mass media that maintains a rather traditional image of gender and gender roles. They are magazines especially for women, after all, thus upholding a dichotomous image of the world as divided into ‘the male/masculine’ and ‘the female/feminine’. But the situation might be more complex

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3 in reality; contemporary women’s magazines regularly feature articles that represent a progressive angle, or feminist discourse, or discussions regarding sexual freedom, fluidity, and equality.

I chose to focus on Czech and Russian women’s magazines from 2015 and 2018. Both countries have passed through a period in which women’s emancipation made great leaps forward, be it, however, in an ambivalent manner and with ambiguous effects. Both countries experienced a relatively recent transition from socialism to capitalism, and they are now both choosing their own course, politically as well as socially and culturally. Russia seems to move in a quite restrictive and normative direction when it comes to gender and sexuality, and the Czech Republic, literally finding itself between East and West, is trying to find a balance between conservatism and progressivity. It would have been interesting to compare Russian or Czech magazines with magazines from, for example, a country in Western Europe, but I was very curious to see if magazines from countries that are in some aspects quite similar – both Slavic, both post-socialist – are quite similar as well, or if possibly striking differences could be discerned. Popular culture has been researched extensively, but, in my perception, the focus is mainly on Western Europe or the United States. Outside ‘the West’, Russia has been researched substantially as well. I have found multiple papers and theses focusing on, specifically, Russian women’s magazines. However, I have not really encountered comparisons between Russian popular culture and that of another Slavic/Eastern European country. Czech magazines have been researched as well, but research has mainly focused on advertisements, or on socialist-era magazines. Thus, there seems to be a gap in the research into which this thesis might fit.

In addition, some of my reasons for choosing Russian and Czech women’s magazines are practical. Contemporary magazines are quite accessible; one does not need to retreat in remote archives to find the material one needs. I speak and understand Russian and Czech, and I know part of Czech and Russian culture, history, and society. I have traveled to the Czech Republic since before I was born, I have lived in Russia for a few months, and I have focused on questions connected to gender/sexuality in these countries in several papers as well as my Bachelor’s thesis. This does not mean that I do fully know or ‘see through’ these countries and their culture of course. This might not even be possible. I am, however, familiar with and greatly interested in both Russia and the Czech Republic, which has all steered me towards choosing to focus on these specific countries.

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4 images and norms in contemporary Russian and Czech women’s magazines, and, if so, in which ways they are reflected in the magazines. Do the magazine articles represent similar ideas, or do they produce a different image? Are social and political norms supported, or opposed, or, perhaps, simply ignored? I will try to answer this question by using a theoretical basis focusing on gender, female emancipation, and popular culture/women’s magazines derived from secondary literature, and by zooming in on the subject in a case study, in which I research two Russian and two Czech women’s magazines.

This main question will be complemented with other questions and focus points. Do we encounter expressions of feminism, deviations from heteronormativity, or criticism of social and political discourse regarding sexuality and gender (femininity in particular)? Could the content of the magazines be labeled as conservative, or as progressive? Do we discover (striking) differences between the Czech and the Russian magazines, and between the magazines themselves? All in all: do we see an interaction between Russian and Czech society and politics on the one hand, and Russian and Czech women’s magazines on the other?

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5

Part 1: Theoretical and societal background

Chapter 1 | General terms

I will use this chapter to introduce and shortly discuss several terms that are relevant with regard to the themes of my research and analysis, and which I will use throughout this thesis.

Sex and gender

When we discuss ‘men and women’, we are mostly either talking about sex or about gender. Sex, in general, refers to one’s actual physique; it is ‘tangible’, usually reduced to a male-female dichotomy. Gender represents a more abstract concept, namely, the ways in which our ‘male’ or ‘female’ (or hybrid) identity is construed and constructed. It is often labeled a ‘social construct’ or a ‘set of rules’ that has been established, and that has steered people towards a certain role and identity.

At the basis of the male-female dichotomy lies the notion that the male is ‘active’, whereas the female is ‘passive’.1 Other features that are classically associated with ‘the male’ are attributes such as being aggressive, practical, protective, leading, and agentic, while ‘the female’ is often described as gentle, emotional, caring, supporting, and communal.2_{The idea}

of gender traits or gender roles (defined by Tyson Kreiger and Larry Dumka as “men’s and women’s expression of attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors considered “appropriate” for their sex”3_{) has, however, increasingly become questioned.}

Beauty is one of the most common ‘traits’ connected to femininity. It is linked to morality, kindness, and sociability,4 which are, in turn, features that are classically associated with femininity as well. The larger part of women seems to strive to adhere to some model of normative femininity, an ideal image that might not necessarily be ‘overly’ beautiful, but still somewhat unachievable.5 A feminine appearance thus (partly) seems to be something ‘external’, something women have to achieve by controlling their body, instead of something

1_{Kaye Mitchell, “Gender Theory”, in Michael Ryan, et al. (eds.), The Encyclopedia of Literary and Cultural} Theory (Malden: Wiley-Blackwell 2011).

2_{Melissa McKelvie and Steven Gold, “Hyperfemininity: Further definition of the construct”, Journal of Sex} Research vol. 31, no. 3 (1994): pp. 219-228, at p. 220. / Tyson Kreiger and Larry Dumka, “The Relationships

Between Hypergender, Gender, and Psychological Adjustment”, Sex Roles vol. 54, no. 11-12 (2006): pp. 777-785, at p. 778.

3_{Kreiger and Dumka, “The Relationships Between Hypergender”, p. 777.}

4_{Paul Black and Ursula Sharma, “Men Are Real, Women Are ‘Made up’: Beauty Therapy and the Construction}

of Femininity”, Sociological Review vol. 49, no. 1 (2001): pp. 100-116, at p. 104.

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6 that is ‘natural’; it appears to be something that “has to be constantly sought”.6_{Men are of}

course confronted with this phenomenon as well, but, in general, to a lesser extent.7

If we take these concepts further, we arrive at the idea of hypergender and hegemonic gender. ‘Hypermasculinity’ and ‘hyperfemininity’ could be described as adherence to “exaggerated expressions of traditional gender roles”.8_{Hyperfemininity is often associated with women}

(consciously) capitalizing on their sexuality, using it to influence and manipulate men to their advantage.9 Hyperfeminine women are also said to base their identity and measure their success on their relationships with men.10

It is often argued that femininity is subordinate to masculinity, but we can discern a certain gradation within either of both as well.11 One often encounters discourse elevating or criticizing a ‘type’ of masculinity or femininity. In general, men who display behavior that is deemed ‘too feminine’, or women that are behaving ‘too masculine’, tend to be criticized, ridiculed, etc.12_{Mimi Schippers suggests using the term ‘pariah femininities’ for behavior or}

characteristics that are deemed especially ‘contaminating’ to the relation between masculinity and femininity in notions of hegemonic gender.13

I have mentioned the word discourse already; I would describe this term as a certain use of language,14 spoken or written. Discourse is a certain way of expressing oneself using language, often whether or not consciously using specific patterns, structures, regulations, ‘rules’.15

Discourse does not seldom have an ideological or political nature, and it is something one can master, acquire, develop, and alternate between.

6_{Ibidem, p. 101.} 7_{Ibid., pp. 100-101.}

8_{Tyson Kreiger and Larry Dumka, “The Relationships Between Hypergender, Gender, and Psychological}

Adjustment”, Sex Roles vol. 54, no. 11-12 (2006): pp. 777-785, at p. 777.

9_{Melannie Matschiner and Sarah Murnen, “Hyperfemininity and Influence”, Psychology of Women Quarterly}

vol. 23, no. 3 (1999): pp. 631-642., at p. 631.

10_{Janet Nowatzki and Marian Morry, “Women’s Intentions Regarding, and Acceptance of, Self-Sexualizing}

Behavior”, Psychology of Women Quarterly vol. 33, no. 1 (2009): pp. 95-107, at p. 97. / Matschiner and Murnen, “Hyperfemininity and Influence”, p. 631.

11_{Mimi Schippers, “Recovering the Feminine Other: Masculinity, Femininity, and Gender Hegemony”, Theory} and Society vol. 36, no. 1 (2007): pp. 85-102, at p. 87.

12_{This can, however, be flipped around as well; people identifying with, for example, certain notions within}

feminism can, in their turn, be critical of hyperfeminine women.

13_{Schippers argues, however, that there is no such thing as ‘pariah masculinities’; ‘subordinate masculinity’ does}

exist, but the accompanying characteristics are, in general, ‘feminine’ characteristics – and femininity is already automatically subordinated to masculinity. See: Mimi Schippers, “Recovering the Feminine Other: Masculinity, Femininity, and Gender Hegemony”, Theory and Society vol. 36, no. 1 (2007): pp. 85-102, at pp. 95-96.

14_{Dave Elder-Vass, “Discourse”, in Dave Elder-Vass, The Reality of Social Construction (Cambridge and New}

York [etc.]: Cambridge University Press 2012): pp. 143-157, at p. 147.

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7 Performance and the subject

Another important concept that ties the terms discussed above together concerns the way people perform their gender (roles). Judith Butler has argued that people tend to feel like their gendered behavior is ‘natural’ because they have consolidated and mastered the (often societally or culturally determined) rules and characteristics of their gender performance very extensively and well. According to Butler, people can perform an identity by a ‘stylized repetition of acts’, (subconsciously) using, for example, discourse, tone of voice, or gestures.16 People can consciously choose to appropriate these acts to perform an(other) identity, mostly connected to gender, but possibly also to other types of identity, for example related to a political movement or a subculture. The sheer fact that we can regularly recognize that gender can be or is performed reveals, according to Butler, the ‘artificial’ nature of gender itself.17_{If a gender}

identity is performed ‘correctly’ (by using the ‘right’ and, thus, often ‘normative’ acts), it will mostly be accepted. If it is unclear, however, people can tend to feel fear, anger, or aggressivity, and ‘punish’ the subject concerned.18

The ‘subject’ is a rather complicated concept, but very simply put, it could be described as a person acting in a certain way, whether or not consciously placing themselves in their ‘environment’, being formed or influenced by it in varying degrees (and thus having varying degrees of autonomy).19 A subject is often formed and influenced by other subjects as well; subjects can ‘demarcate’ their identity by being recognized by, or recognizing, other subjects as subjects.20 Hence, subjectivity is connected to self-presentation; the imaging and creation of a certain image of a ‘particular type of person’,21_{often in the context of a social situation.}

Subjectivity would also comprise one’s sense of oneself, and the complicated dynamic of balancing between the self, one’s self-image, and the image one wants to maintain before other subjects – an image that can differ (strongly), depending on those other subjects and the situation.22

16_{Judith Butler, “Performative Acts and Gender Constitution: An Essay in Phenomenology and Feminist}

Theory”, Theatre Journal vol. 40, no. 4 (1988): pp. 519-531, at p. 519.

17_{Kaye Mitchell, “Gender Theory”, in Michael Ryan, et al. (eds.), The Encyclopedia of Literary and Cultural} Theory (Malden: Wiley-Blackwell 2011).

18_{Judith Butler, “Performative Acts and Gender Constitution: An Essay in Phenomenology and Feminist}

Theory”, Theatre Journal vol. 40, no. 4 (1988): pp. 519-531, at p. 522 and p. 527.

19_{Dave Elder-Vass, “Subjects”, in Dave Elder-Vass, The Reality of Social Construction (Cambridge and New}

York [etc.]: Cambridge University Press 2012): pp. 183-204, at p. 184.

20_{Elder-Vass, “Subjects”, p. 186.}

21_{Sandi Smith, et al., “Self‐Presentation”, in Wolfgang Donsbach (ed.), The International Encyclopedia of} Communication (Malden: Wiley-Blackwell 2008).

22_{Claire Kramsch, “Subjectivity”, in Carol Chapelle (ed.), The Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics (Chichester:}

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8 Agency, angles, and circumstances

And then there is the ability to act. Different subjects will, in general, have different levels of agency, depending on the specific environment and situation, or: the location they find themselves in. The term ‘location’ could be interpreted here as one’s literal location, but also in a more metaphorical sense; one’s location can be the situation (e.g. class, neighborhood, family composition) one is born in or has moved into, and it often influences one’s ideas and opinions, as well as one’s chances and opportunities in life. In general, agency is referred to or perceived as the capacity to act, to intentionally start an action, whether or not triggering other unintentional actions.23 In my perception, awareness of one’s agency forms an important component of agency as well; this is connected to a feeling of control, ownership (of the action),24 as well as thinking thoughts, making decisions, and performing actions from one’s own will. Agency is related to acting as an individual, independently. (We can, however, also discern ‘shared’ or ‘group’ agency.)25_{It is not all about resistance or standing out per se, nor}

without any boundaries; agency may perhaps even be defined by its boundaries.26

When discussing topics such as images, movies or popular culture, but also discourse, opinions, or different types of texts, the concept of the ‘gaze’ can be of great importance. I myself would describe the ‘gaze’ as the ‘lens’ through which one sees (certain elements of) the world around them, largely formed by and based on their location. Anna Murta defines the gaze as

(…) the look induced by the message producer and followed by the message receiver in the process of creating meaning.27

The concept of the ‘male gaze’ has been coined by Laura Mulvey.28_{Murta explains that}

according to Mulvey, Hollywood cinema “generates male pleasure through women’s objectification”.29_{Subsequently, the concept of the male gaze has been extended; it is now not}

discussed only in the context of cinema anymore, and the male gaze is now accompanied by a

23_{Markus Schlosser, “Agency”, in Edward Zalta (ed.), The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Stanford:}

2015).

24_{Schlosser, “Agency”.} 25_Ibidem.

26_{Someone living under an authoritarian regime and aware of the boundaries – and possibilities! – of one’s}

agency, for example, could maybe be seen as ‘less’ agentic than someone living in a free society and unaware of the range or existence of one’s agency in terms of the extent and possibilities, but as ‘more’ agentic in terms of the awareness of the extent and possibilities.

27_{Anna Murta, “The Gaze”, in Michael Ryan (ed.), The Encyclopedia of Literary and Cultural Theory}

(Wiley-Blackwell 2011): pp. 1079-1081, at p. 1079. Original emphasis.

28_{See: Laura Mulvey, “Visual pleasure and narrative cinema”, in Laura Mulvey, Visual and other Pleasures}

(Bloomington: Indiana University Press 1975): pp. 14-26.

29_{Anna Murta, “The Gaze”, in Michael Ryan (ed.), The Encyclopedia of Literary and Cultural Theory}

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9 plethora of other ‘types’ of gazes as well. It could refer to, for example, one’s physical or metaphorical location; one could look at things with a ‘Western gaze’, or an ‘orientalist30_gaze’

perhaps. These gazes, in turn, could all be allocated their ‘counterpart’ gaze. In the context of this thesis, the ‘Western’ versus ‘Eastern’ gaze is quite important, especially when discussing, for example, views of gender in Central and Eastern Europe, or Central and East-European representations of feminism (or anti-feminism).

The male gaze is an element of the sexualization of women; women are sexualized, when, as defined by Paul Wright et al., “their value is perceived as their physical attractiveness and they are assigned the function of providing others with sexual pleasure”.31 Popular culture knows a great amount of this phenomenon, and one can often point out certain representations of femininity that are formed through a heterosexual male gaze. Wright et al. argue that women are more likely to accept this male gaze when they are exposed to a larger amount and more explicit images of sexualized women;32_{this acceptance, then, could lead to a higher degree of}

self-objectification33_{and likeliness of believing rape myths, as well as to less support of, for}

example, feminism.34

During the twentieth century, a large part of the world has embraced popular culture. Popular culture could be defined as culture for and by ‘the people’; it is meant to be enjoyed by society across the board, and it can be connected to the dynamics and laws of consumption. Mass media such as TV or magazines usually are a way of spreading popular culture across the audience, crossing national and cultural borders. It aims to make culture available for mass consumption, instead of being something that belongs to the elite only.35

Representation regards the way people or concepts are displayed or portrayed, for example in the media. Representation can concern reality (for example, the imaging of a certain

30_{Orientalism could be defined as the way in which (Middle) Eastern culture and society were and are depicted}

in The West, for example in art and research. It is often associated with Eurocentric, normative, demeaning, and/or (very) black and white visual and discursive representations. Orientalism has been tackled by Edward Said in his book of the same name. The book has become an important pillar of postcolonial studies, incorporating concepts such as ‘the other’ into the argument. Shahidha Bari and Robert Eaglestone, “Orientalism”, in Michael Ryan (ed.), The Encyclopedia of Literary and Cultural Theory (Wiley-Blackwell 2011): pp. 756-757, at p. 756.

31_{Paul Wright, et al., “An Experimental Analysis of Young Women's Attitude Toward the Male Gaze Following}

Exposure to Centerfold Images of Varying Explicitness”, Communication Reports vol. 28, no. 1 (2015): pp. 1-11, at p. 1.

32_{Wright, et al., “An Experimental Analysis of Young Women's Attitude Toward the Male Gaze”, p. 8.} 33_{Ibidem, p. 8.}

34_{Ibid., p. 3.}

35_{“Popular culture”, in Marcel Danesi, Dictionary of Media and Communications (Armonk and London: M. E.}

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10 event in the news), fiction (for instance, the depiction of a character or a social structure in a movie),36 or a hybrid of the two (think of the representation of a certain celebrity or of gender roles in magazines, which often projects a fantasy or (clichéd) ideal image on a real-life person, concept, or situation). Representation of gender and sexuality in popular culture has been researched quite extensively, and it frequently is the subject of whether or not feminist discussion. The way something is represented in popular culture can have a great influence on its audience since the representation is generally presented as a truth. I will zoom in on representations of femininity in women’s magazines in chapter 5.

Feminism, its offshoots, and sexuality

Especially the past century has seen several recurring revivals in the fight for women’s rights, freedom, and equality: the ‘waves’ of feminism. The current Third (or Fourth) Wave, which started in the 1990s, is broadening the fight for emancipation further, centering around intersectionality (for example by including the privileges and social disadvantages connected to ethnicity or sexual orientation to those of sex),37_{sexual freedom, safety and consent, and}

equality in all aspects of society. Queer theory has pointed out the heteronormative38 make-up of most societies, in which heterosexuality holds the dominant position, whereas other behaviors, acts, and orientations are less or invisible, marginalized, and/or punished.39

The feminist movement has become more complex and fragmented throughout time;40 there is not just a high level of disagreement and criticism about feminists, but also among feminists. Some people believe that the feminist goals have been achieved by now,41 or that feminism is creating a system that is too restrictive itself, hindering women (and men) to perform their gender in a ‘traditional’ way,42_{and/or that we live in a time “in which feminist}

36_{“Representation”, in Marcel Danesi, Dictionary of Media and Communications (Armonk and London: M. E.}

Sharpe 2009): p. 253.

37_{Susan Whitlow, “Gender and Cultural Studies”, in Michael Ryan, et al. (eds.), The Encyclopedia of Literary} and Cultural Theory (Malden: Wiley-Blackwell 2011).

38_{Laura Coffey-Glover, “Ideologies of Masculinity in Women’s Magazines: a Critical Stylistic Approach”,} Gender and Language vol. 9, no. 3 (2015): pp. 337-364, at p. 356.

40_{Whitlow, “Gender and Cultural Studies”.}

41_{Kati Kauppinen, “‘Full Power Despite Stress’: A Discourse Analytical Examination of the Interconnectedness}

of Postfeminism and Neoliberalism in the Domain of Work in an International Women’s Magazine”, Discourse

& Communication vol. 7, no. 2 (2013): pp. 133-151, at p. 135.

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11 ideas and values have become part of our everyday lives”.43_{These notions can be seen as}

leading to the concept of postfeminism, which could, because of its focus on success, individuality, and choice, be connected to neoliberalism.44 In a nutshell, the feminist movement and the movements that are opposite or parallel to it consist of many layers and notions, which may cause confusion and ambivalence.

43_{Kati Kauppinen, “‘Full Power Despite Stress’: A Discourse Analytical Examination of the Interconnectedness}

of Postfeminism and Neoliberalism in the Domain of Work in an International Women’s Magazine”, Discourse

& Communication vol. 7, no. 2 (2013): pp. 133-151, at p. 134. 44_{Kauppinen, “‘Full Power Despite Stress’”, p. 134.}

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Chapter 2 | Historical preface

Even though this thesis focuses on contemporary norms and conditions regarding gender and sexuality in Russia and the Czech Republic, I think it is essential to first discuss the situation in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) and the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic (Československá Socialistická Republika – ČSSR). A certain dynamic in a society is, after all, always rooted in ‘the past’; social, political, and cultural tendencies, norms, and notions are often if not always a reaction – a protest or a continuation, or a combination of both – to the previous societal and political situation, which, in turn, has been formed by the situation before that, and so forth. The socialist structures of society in the USSR and ČSSR have left deep marks in present-day Russia and the Czech Republic. Kateřina Zábrodská points to the ‘restricted social imaging of gender’ that has persisted in Czech society,45_{whereas Rebecca}

Kay aptly argues that only by examining the (socialist) past can we

fully understand the ways in which post-Soviet attitudes and discourses have developed and the degree to which these affect Russian women’s daily lives, and their material and psychological well-being46

A large part of the current Russian and Czech population has consciously experienced socialist rule and must, therefore, have been influenced and formed by this system and the ideals it propagated to some extent – including norms and values connected to gender and sexuality.

The first word that might come to mind when examining the position of women in the USSR and the ČSSR is ‘ambivalence’. The discourse used by the state regarding gender (ideology) was “far from unified”,47_{which caused women in both the USSR and the ČSSR to find}

themselves in a very conflicting situation. The official ideological discourse would proclaim one thing, while the situation in reality would look completely different.48 The Bolshevik October Revolution as well as the 1948 February coup by the Czechoslovak Communist Party resulted in progressive developments regarding the position of women, while, at the same time,

45_{Kateřina Zábrodská, “Between femininity and feminism: Negotiating the identity of a ‘Czech socialist woman’}

in women’s accounts of state socialism”, in Hana Havelková and Libora Oates-Indruchová (eds.), The Politics of

Gender Culture under State Socialism: An expropriated voice (London and New York: Routledge 2014), pp.

109-132, at p. 113.

46_{Kay, Rebecca, “A Liberation from Emancipation? Changing Discourses on Women's Employment in Soviet}

and Post-Soviet Russia”, The Journal of Communist Studies and Transition Politics vol. 18, no. 1, (2002): 51-72, at p. 51.

109-132, at p. 110.

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13 certain continuities that complicated emancipation and gender equality were preserved or even strengthened.

The independent superwoman

The main defining aspect of socialist society in the USSR and the ČSSR when it comes to gender is that men and women were officially labeled as ‘equal’. The 1936 Soviet Constitution allotted the same rights to women as to men,49 while equality of men and women in ‘all aspects of social life’ was enshrined in the Czechoslovak Constitution in 1948.50_{This resulted in some}

substantial improvements concerning the rights, possibilities, and independence of women.

Every citizen had ‘the right to work’ in both the USSR and the ČSSR, which could, in practice, better be labeled as ‘the obligation to work’. The state was, in turn, obligated to provide jobs for its citizens.51_{This ‘right to work’ also applied to women, and as a result the employment of}

female citizens saw a sharp increase.52_{In 1965, about 45% of the Czechoslovak labor force}

consisted of women.53_{In comparison, this was only about 20% in the same year in the}

Netherlands.54 Women took up professions that could be labeled as ‘feminine’ (teacher, nurse, seamstress), but they also entered working environments that were traditionally ‘masculine’, performing heavy physical labor in factories, or riding trucks and tractors as workers in the agricultural sector. Moreover, women also obtained access to higher education, which made it possible for them to become engineers, doctors, or lawyers.55

49_{Alice Erh-Soon Tay, “The Status of Women in the Soviet Union”,}_{Philippine Law Journal vol. 52, no. 2} (1977): pp. 123-153, at p. 129.

50_{Monika Vajsochrová, Konstrukce femininity v časopise Vlasta v 60. letech 20. století (The construction of}

femininity in Vlasta magazine in the 1960s), BA thesis, Charles University in Prague (2011), at p. 14.

51_{Vajsochrová, Konstrukce femininity v časopise Vlasta (The construction of femininity in Vlasta magazine), p.}

21.

52_{Donna Hughes, “Supplying Women for the Sex Industry: Trafficking from the Russian Federation”, in}

Aleksandar Štulhofer and Theo Sandfort (eds.), Sexuality and Gender in Post-Communist Eastern Europe and

Russia (New York, London and Oxford: The Haworth Press 2005): pp. 209-230, at p. 213.

54_{According to data (at p. 32) in the 2010 document “Terugblikken: een eeuw in statistieken” (Looking back: a}

century in statistics) by Statistics Netherlands (Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek – CBS) via

https://www.cbs.nl/-/media/imported/documents/2010/48/2010-terugblikken.pdf (last accessed 7 November 2019).

55_{The proportion of girls in technical academies and universities remained relatively low, but this is not typical}

for that time or region per se; attracting girls to apply for education and careers connected to math and sciences (still) is a topical matter in many contemporary (‘Western’) societies as well. See: Julia Mead and Kristen Ghodsee, “Debating Gender in State Socialist Women’s Magazines: the Cases of Bulgaria and Czechoslovakia”,

History of Communism in Europe vol. 8 (2017): pp. 17-36, at p. 19. / Marianne Ferber and Phyllis Raabe,

“Women in the Czech Republic: Feminism, Czech Style”, International Journal of Politics, Culture, and Society vol. 16, no. 3 (2003): pp. 407-430, at p. 413.

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14 Access to all kinds of jobs and education broadened the horizons of Soviet and Czechoslovak women and granted them more independence. They had more agency with regard to the imaging and organization of their career and future, plus they had their own income, which made them less reliant on or entirely independent from ‘a man’ to provide for them.56

Meanwhile, both men and women were equally dependent on the state with regard to their economic well-being.57 Quite often, the man’s income would not be sufficient to provide for the family, which increased the need for women to work even further.58 Soviet discourse described this (economic) independence of women as their liberation from pre-revolutionary ‘bourgeois subjugation’,59_{thus incorporating female emancipation into discourse connected to}

socialist ideology. The state provided its citizens with a range of social services (such as free education and health care) that partly made day-to-day life easier.

Soviet and Czechoslovak women acquired more (legal) rights, some of which were rather progressive. Abortion, for example, was legalized in Soviet Russia in 1920,60_{and in}

Czechoslovakia in 1957.61_{It became easier to get a divorce in Soviet Russia soon after the}

October Revolution,62 and especially after the installation of the 1926 Family Code,63 while similar developments took place in Czechoslovakia in the years following the 1948 coup.64 To compare this with the Netherlands again: abortion became legalized in 198465 (after some prior relaxation in legislation), and liberal divorce legislation was installed in 1971.66 Taking into

56_{Mead and Ghodsee, “Debating Gender in State Socialist Women’s Magazines”, p. 24.} 57_{Ibidem, p. 18.}

58_{Jiřina Šiklová, “McDonald’s, Terminators, and Coca-Cola Ads – and Feminism?”, in Tanya Renne}

(ed.), Ana’s Land: Sisterhood in Eastern Europe (Boulder: Westview Press 1997): pp. 76-81, at p. 76.

59_{Jennifer Patico, “Femininity and the Work and Leisure of Consumption”, in Jennifer Patico, Consumption and} Social Change in a Post-Soviet Middle Class (Washington, D.C.: Woodrow Wilson Center Press; Stanford:

Stanford University Press 2008): pp. 140-168, at p. 143.

61_{Kateřina Lišková, “The Privatized Family: Atomized Hierarchy during Normalization”, in Kateřina Lišková,} Sexual Liberation, Socialist Style: Communist Czechoslovakia and the Science of Desire, 1945-1989 (Cambridge

[etc.]: Cambridge University Press 2018): pp. 157-227, at p. 160.

63_{Erh-Soon Tay, “The Status of Women in the Soviet Union, pp. 131-132.}

64_{Kateřina Lišková, “Introduction”, in Kateřina Lišková, Sexual Liberation, Socialist Style: Communist}

Czechoslovakia and the Science of Desire, 1945-1989 (Cambridge [etc.]: Cambridge University Press 2018): pp.

1-22, at p. 5.

65_{Official website of Fiom (Federatie van Instellingen voor Ongehuwde Moeders – Federation of institutions for}

unmarried mothers), via https://fiom.nl/kenniscollectie/abortus/wet-en-regelgeving (last accessed 7 November 2019).

66_{Mirjam Janssen, “Einde van de grote leugen” (End of the big lie), Historisch Nieuwsblad (Historical}

newspaper) no. 1 (2011), https://www.historischnieuwsblad.nl/nl/artikel/27171/einde-van-de-grote-leugen.html (last accessed 7 November 2019).

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15 account that the Netherlands is traditionally known as a progressive country, this comparison shows the ‘head start’ these socialist countries (initially) had with regard to female emancipation. The earlier periods of socialist rule in Soviet Russia and the ČSSR also saw progressive developments regarding sexuality; homosexuality became decriminalized or more visible, and more attention was paid to questions concerning female sexual pleasure67 and non-traditional relationships.68

A big side note that should be taken into consideration here, however, is that abortion and divorce legislation in the USSR and ČSSR was subject to the ideas and ideals of the leader at the time, as well as to the circumstances and problems that were relevant in specific time periods. Declining birth rates were (and still are) a red thread running through the developments concerning the curtailment of human and, specifically, women’s rights. Abortion and divorce legislation tended to become (heavily) restricted in, for example, the Stalinist period in the USSR, and the period of Normalization (which started after 1968) in the ČSSR.69_{Despite the}

initial sexual liberation, both Soviet and Czechoslovak society has been described as prudish or even ‘sexophobic’ during the later eras.70

Male homosexuality was included in the Criminal Code of the USSR in 1934,71 whereas lesbianism was pathologized.72 The situation in the ČSSR concerning this particular topic continued to be (much) more liberal throughout the (post-1950s) socialist period, but homosexuality remained mostly invisible; a taboo.73 The importance of the nuclear family, procreation, and collectivism heavily complicated the situation for LGBT+ people in both the

67_{See, for example, Kateřina Lišková’s scholarly work on progressive research into female sexuality (for}

example, the female orgasm), which took place in the ČSSR as early as the 1950s: Kateřina Lišková, Sexual

Liberation, Socialist Style: Communist Czechoslovakia and the Science of Desire, 1945-1989 (Cambridge [etc.]:

Cambridge University Press 2018).

1-22, at p. 6.

69_{Alice Erh-Soon Tay, “The Status of Women in the Soviet Union”,}_{Philippine Law Journal vol. 52, no. 2} (1977): pp. 123-153, at pp. 135-136. / Lišková, “Introduction”, pp. 7-8.

70_{Igor Kon, “Sexual Culture and Politics in Contemporary Russia”, in Aleksandar Štulhofer and Theo Sandfort}

(eds.), Sexuality and Gender in Post-Communist Eastern Europe and Russia (New York, London and Oxford: The Haworth Press 2005): pp. 111-124, at p. 118. / Brian Baer, "Sexual Minorities in Modern Russia", in James Wright (ed.), International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences (Oxford: Elsevier 2015): pp. 740-743, at p. 743.

1-22, at p. 12.

72_{Lynne Attwood, “Young people, sex and sexual identity”, in Hilary Pilkington (ed.), Gender, Generation and} Identity in Contemporary Russia (London and New York: Routledge 1996): 95-120, at p. 102.

73_{Kateřina Lišková, “Male Deviance: Now You See Them, Now You Don’t”, in Kateřina Lišková, Sexual} Liberation, Socialist Style: Communist Czechoslovakia and the Science of Desire, 1945-1989 (Cambridge [etc.]:

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16 USSR and the ČSSR. It was argued that same-sex relationships would undermine these norms and values, disrupting and complicating the growth and balance of socialist society.

The exhausted superwoman

Socialist discourse, thus, declared men and women to be equal, and one could argue that the fact that women worked and studied undeniably increased their emancipation.74 But although equality for women was indeed something the socialist societies – at least to some extent – were striving for, they did not fight patriarchal structures and conceptions per se; socialism fought capitalism, or maybe fascism, but it did not officially claim to fight patriarchy.75 Despite the progressive developments Soviet and Czechoslovak women experienced in some areas, the situation was often less equal in reality than presented in the official discourse. One explanation for this difference concerns the then widely supported notion that ‘equality’ does not mean ‘sameness’. It was often believed that men and women are equal, but that they are still ‘different’; that nature has granted men and women specific traits, and that ‘too much’ emancipation would undermine these ‘natural’ traits, and lead to some sort of unhealthy blurring of the borders between the two sexes.76 The empirical research and fieldwork described in the secondary literature that focuses on this topic shows that both men and women supported this theory, often vigorously defending it.77

One cannot discuss the progressive development of women entering the workforce in the USSR and the ČSSR, without also discussing the negative side of this progress.

First of all, women were confronted with occupational segregation, earning (substantially) less than men; especially in jobs that were typically considered to be ‘feminine’.78_{Women might have been (highly) educated, but this was not always mirrored in}

their occupation and wage. In the 1960s, about a quarter of Czechoslovak women was employed

74_{Julia Mead and Kristen Ghodsee, “Debating Gender in State Socialist Women’s Magazines: the Cases of}

Bulgaria and Czechoslovakia”, History of Communism in Europe vol. 8 (2017): pp. 17-36, at p. 21.

femininity in Vlasta magazine in the 1960s), BA thesis, Charles University in Prague (2011), at p 13. / Barbara Havelková, “The Legal Notion of Gender Equality in the Czech Republic”, Women’s Studies International

Forum vol. 33, no. 1 (2010): pp. 21-29, at p. 23.

76_{Lynne Attwood, “Young people, sex and sexual identity”, in Hilary Pilkington (ed.), Gender, Generation and} Identity in Contemporary Russia (London and New York: Routledge 1996): 95-120, at p. 99.

77_{Marianne Ferber and Phyllis Raabe, “Women in the Czech Republic: Feminism, Czech Style”, International} Journal of Politics, Culture, and Society vol. 16, no. 3 (2003): pp. 407-430, at p. 423.

78_{Donna Hughes, “Supplying Women for the Sex Industry: Trafficking from the Russian Federation”, in}

Aleksandar Štulhofer and Theo Sandfort (eds.), Sexuality and Gender in Post-Communist Eastern Europe and

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17 in jobs that did not match their intellectual capacities, while often earning about 70% of the salary men received.79

The most important downside to the fact that so many women could and had to work, however, might be the concept of the notorious ‘double burden’. Women had, as Barbara Einhorn has aptly articulated, to be both a ‘producer’ and a ‘reproducer’.80_{They were}

automatically expected to combine their jobs with the household and family life; they ideally had to be a worker and a mother, whereas men mostly just fulfilled the role of worker, and not also that of father.81 This dynamic put great pressure on the many women who had both a job and a family; every day when they finished work, a second shift was awaiting them at home. The fact that the state provided services like maternity leave and free day-care slightly lifted the double burden (or even triple burden, if we include the role of ‘politically conscious and actively involved citizen’ that women were also expected to fulfill),82_{but it was, generally}

speaking, not sufficient. Research in Czechoslovakia in 1959-1960 showed that women spent about five hours a day on their household duties,83_{with the unavailability or scarcity of modern}

household appliances and the like not helping the case.84_{The situation also stimulated women}

to take up jobs below their educational level, since these were often easier to combine with their household and family tasks.85 Contraception was scarce or unavailable, causing abortion to become the most widely used form of ‘family planning’.86 Women who combined a career with

femininity in Vlasta magazine in the 1960s), BA thesis, Charles University in Prague (2011), at pp. 20-22. / Barbara Havelková, “The Legal Notion of Gender Equality in the Czech Republic”, Women’s Studies

International Forum vol. 33, no. 1 (2010): pp. 21-29, at p. 23. A side note here might be that the so-called

gender pay gap is still a very topical issue in many societies, which emerges constantly in feminist and public discussions. This problem, therefore, cannot be attributed to the former socialist Central and Eastern European societies only. In my opinion, however, it should still be mentioned, since it forms a very visible element of gender inequality in societies that so strongly claimed to pursue equal rights for both sexes.

80_{Barbara Einhorn, “The ‘Woman Question’: The Legacy of State Socialism, in Barbara Einhorn, Cinderella} Goes to Market: Citizenship, Gender and Women’s Movements in East Central Europe (London and New York:

Verso 1993): pp. 17-38, at p. 23.

81_{Julia Mead and Kristen Ghodsee, “Debating Gender in State Socialist Women’s Magazines: the Cases of}

Bulgaria and Czechoslovakia”, History of Communism in Europe vol. 8 (2017): pp. 17-36, at p. 18.

109-132, at p. 109.

84_{Marianne Ferber and Phyllis Raabe, “Women in the Czech Republic: Feminism, Czech Style”, International} Journal of Politics, Culture, and Society vol. 16, no. 3 (2003): pp. 407-430, at p. 411.

86_{This was relevant for both the USSR and the ČSSR. See: Beth Holmgren, “Toward an Understanding of}

Gendered Agency in Contemporary Russia”, Signs vol. 38, no. 3 (2013): pp. 535-542, at p. 537. / Marianne Ferber and Phyllis Raabe, “Women in the Czech Republic: Feminism, Czech Style”, International Journal of

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18 taking care of a family tended to be exhausted, but women who chose to stay at home and focus solely on household and family life often fell victim to an uninspiring daily rut.

In the USSR and ČSSR,87 women were generally seen and described as being ‘naturally’ caring, charming, tender, gentle, and chaste,88 while men were considered the defenders and supporters of the family.89 Moreover, women were constantly portrayed as being morally superior to men.90 While this might sound positive, in practice it could put even more pressure on women, since this clichéd notion imputed responsibility for almost everything that went wrong in society to women. Men were just men, driven by their sexual urge and competitive, rough nature, while women were the ones who should correct them, using their innate moral compass. Women tended to be blamed for all kinds of problems, ranging from disorder, decadence, and the weakening of traditional norms, to low birth rates and even sexual violence directed against women. The general idea was that society would be disrupted if men and women would not perform their gender in correspondence with the ‘natural traits’ connected to femininity and masculinity; traditional family norms would become outbalanced, stimulating divorce and lowering the birth rate.91 ‘Too much equality’ between the sexes, in turn, would strip women of their femininity, and, as a result, society of its morality.92 Men, however, were not blamed for their ‘shortcomings’; it was presented as ‘just the way they are’.

The beautiful superwoman

One could argue that Soviet and Czechoslovak women had yet another burden to carry: one connected to the way they looked. While looking all too feminine or ‘divergent’ was largely rejected or frowned upon, women still felt like they should look beautiful. In general, Soviet and Czechoslovak socialist citizens were expected to look decent in a modest way.93 Women had to walk the fine line between looking well-groomed and feminine, while not creating a look that could be labeled as ‘bourgeois’ or ‘vulgar’.94_{Women cared for their looks, but tried not to}

87_{This concerns a traditional gender notion, and does, thus, not pertain to the USSR/ČSSR only.}

88_{Lynne Attwood, “Young people, sex and sexual identity”, in Hilary Pilkington (ed.), Gender, Generation and} Identity in Contemporary Russia (London and New York: Routledge 1996): 95-120, at pp. 100-101.

89_{Attwood, “Young people, sex and sexual identity, p. 98.} 90_{Ibidem, p. 100.}

91_{Ibid., p. 96.} 92_{Ibid., p. 100.}

93_{Yulia Gradskova, “«Cuando eramos jovenes»: Memorias de las mujeres en la URSS” (“When we were}

young”: Memories of women in the USSR), Historia, Antropología Y Fuentes Orales (History, Anthropology and Oral Sources) vol. no. 38 (2007): pp. 163-178, at p. 166.

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19 be ‘vain’;95_{they were criticized (often by other women) if they did not adhere to this balance}

(creating some sort of ‘hegemonic socialist femininity’-discourse).

This effort that women took to look beautiful, to distinguish oneself could, in a way, be perceived as an act of agency. Socialist society, after all, propagated a rather uniform look for its citizens; one often encounters the term ‘gray mass’ in literature, movies, and personal stories. Moreover, possibilities to look different and to ‘beautify’ oneself were limited. In this sense, Soviet and Czechoslovak women took matters into their own hands by finding or fabricating outfits, haircuts, and make-up looks that rose above that ‘gray mass’.96

But this agentic act had a downside as well. The focus on the appearance of women pushed them back into their gendered, superficial corner. Attention for (the ‘cultivation’ of) female beauty often tended to strengthen the clichéd need for women to just look pretty and be sweet, or to simply be an object to the male gaze.97_{Dilemmas like this one continue to be very}

relevant. The urge to look ‘feminine’ or to ‘reclaim one’s femininity’ has often persisted or increased after the collapse of state socialism, as I will discuss in the following chapter.

95_{Ibidem, p. 170.}

96_{Jennifer Patico, “Femininity and the Work and Leisure of Consumption”, in Jennifer Patico, Consumption and} Social Change in a Post-Soviet Middle Class (Washington, D.C.: Woodrow Wilson Center Press; Stanford:

Stanford University Press 2008): pp. 140-168, at p. 162.

97_{Susan Reid, “Cold War in the Kitchen: Gender and the De-Stalinization of Consumer Taste in the Soviet}

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20

Chapter 3 | Gender and sexuality in the Russian Federation and the Czech Republic

An important thing to bear in mind when discussing the collapse of the Eastern Bloc is that the transition in the late 1980s/early 1990s did not constitute “a clean break with the emancipatory ideology of the Soviet past”.98_{Although the post-socialist ‘women’s situation’ evolved}

differently in Russia than in the Czech Republic after the fall of the Iron Curtain, there were some similarities as well. In both cases, women acquired ‘new’ civil rights (such as freedom of speech and travel), while simultaneously losing other rights and freedoms.

Russia: an unequal start

The young Russian Federation quickly and fully dove into liberalism and market economy. An approach of ‘shock therapy’99_{was applied, launching the citizens of the young, independent}

Russian state into an entirely new, unknown situation after a few decades of relative continuity and stability. This had far-reaching and often quite dramatic effects on the Russian population. The nineties saw a strong weakening of the economy, and a sharp increase in unemployment and criminality. The state was weak and the mafia gangs were strong. The larger part of the population experienced dramatic impoverishment, while a small fraction – often members of the former political and social elite100 – became extremely rich. While these ‘New Russians’ indulged in Western luxury goods, traveling and beautiful houses, a large part of the population lived in poverty. The degree of disillusionment was great; a good part of the former Soviet citizens had believed to live in the ‘greatest country of the world’, now all of a sudden finding themselves in a corrupt mafia state.101 The economic situation reached a nadir during the 1998 financial crisis but began to improve in the course of the new millennium.

The ones who suffered first and most from the chaotic and harsh situation were women and children.102 Women were the first to fall victim to the high unemployment rates, starting

98_{Rebecca Kay, “A Liberation from Emancipation? Changing Discourses on Women's Employment in Soviet}

99_{Andrey Tsygankov, “Understanding Change and Continuity in Russia’s Foreign Policy”, in Andrey}

Tsygankov, Russia’s Foreign Policy: Change and Continuity in National Identity (Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers 2016): pp. 1-32, at p. 26.

100_{Andrey Tsygankov, “The Post-Cold War Euphoria and Russia’s Liberal Westernism”, in Andrey Tsygankov,} Russia’s Foreign Policy: Change and Continuity in National Identity (Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

2016): pp. 59-96, at p. 72.

101_{In 1998, Russia belonged to the top three of most corrupt countries in the world. See: Donna Hughes,}

“Supplying Women for the Sex Industry: Trafficking from the Russian Federation”, in Aleksandar Štulhofer and Theo Sandfort (eds.), Sexuality and Gender in Post-Communist Eastern Europe and Russia (New York, London and Oxford: The Haworth Press 2005): pp. 209-230, at pp. 212-213.

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21 with the loss of the workplace benefits that had hitherto helped them to combine their jobs with their household tasks.103 Moreover, men were given priority to get and hold on to their jobs, which came at the expense of even traditionally ‘female’ occupations.104_{As the then Minister}

of Labor summarized the prevailing sentiment: “Why should we employ women when men are unemployed?”105_{Kay has sharply summarized the situation, stating that “men and women were}

not given an equal start in this new society”.106

Neither the government nor society encouraged women to still try and hold down a job. Already in the late Soviet years, Gorbachev propagated for women to ‘return to the home’,107

and “the patriarchal state that lay just beneath the socialist veneer of the Soviet Union” – as Beth Holmgren aptly formulated it – became more and more visible in the subsequent years.108 A certain line of stagnation, turning into decline, regarding the emancipation of women that had started in the 1970s-1980s only became stronger in the post-Soviet years.109_{Women were}

pushed back into their household roles,110_{and there was a continuity, if not strengthening, of}

the stereotypical (political) discourse describing women as beautiful and morally superior beings that are naturally destined to take care of the home and the family.111

One could argue that a return to only one burden might have been welcomed by (part of) the Russian women who had experienced the ‘exhausting and exploiting’112_{Soviet form of}

emancipation, which was often described as ‘enforced’, ‘unnatural’, and ‘oppressive’.113_Many

103_{Ibidem, p. 214.} 104_{Ibid., p. 214.}

105_{Former Minister of Labor of the Russian Federation Genadiy Melik’yan, quoted in: Rebecca Kay, “A}

Liberation from Emancipation? Changing Discourses on Women's Employment in Soviet and Post-Soviet Russia”, The Journal of Communist Studies and Transition Politics vol. 18, no. 1, (2002): 51-72, at p. 57.

106_{Kay, “A Liberation from Emancipation?”, p. 58.} 107_{Ibidem, p. 55.}

108_{Beth Holmgren, “Toward an Understanding of Gendered Agency in Contemporary Russia”, Signs vol. 38, no.}

3 (2013): pp. 535-542, at p. 53.

and Post-Soviet Russia”, The Journal of Communist Studies and Transition Politics vol. 18, no. 1, (2002): 51-72, at pp. 56-57.

110_{Lynne Attwood, “Young people, sex and sexual identity”, in Hilary Pilkington (ed.), Gender, Generation and} Identity in Contemporary Russia (London and New York: Routledge 1996): pp. 95-120, at p. 113.

and Post-Soviet Russia”, The Journal of Communist Studies and Transition Politics vol. 18, no. 1, (2002): 51-72, at p. 57. These notions concerning ‘womanhood’ seem to still be very topical in contemporary Russian political and public discourse. Putin’s 2019 International Women’s Day speech, for example, was filled with rather traditional representations and ideas with regard to ‘a woman’s nature’ and her role within the family and society, focusing on ‘traits’ such as beauty and motherhood. See: Official website of the Kremlin (English version), “Greetings to Russian women on International Women’s Day”, spoken text by Vladimir Putin, 8 March 2019, via http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/60002 (last accessed 20 October 2019).

112_{Beth Holmgren, “Toward an Understanding of Gendered Agency in Contemporary Russia”, Signs vol. 38, no.}

3 (2013): pp. 535-542, at p. 537.

“After all, there is no such thing as bad news in gloss!”: Politics, gender, society, and sexuality in contemporary Russian and Czech women’s magazines