Queer in Russia: A Story of Sex, Self, and the Other

Laurie Essig

Published by Duke University Press 1999

Queer in Russia

A Story of Sex, Self, and the Other

Laurie Essig

https://doi.org/10.1515/9780822379522

Overview
Contents

About this book

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.

Author / Editor information

Laurie Essig has taught sociology at Columbia University and Trinity College in Connecticut. She is a columnist for New York Blade and Chicago’s Outline.

Reviews

“An entirely original investigation of the gay and lesbian scene in Russia and a book of enormous value, Queer in Russia will serve as a beachhead in the field of Russian queer studies. In one volume one finds a concise history of sexual transgression in the Russian context as well as the rise of queer Russian identity.”—Luc Beaudoin, University of Denver

“Laurie Essig’s book is significant both for Russianists and for queer theorists. Essig demonstrates that ‘queerness’ in Russia is not defined as a matter of identity politics, and, in so doing, she raises important theoretical questions about the nature(s) of queerness as it crosses cultural borders.”—Jehanne M Gheith, Duke University

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Preface Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	xix
Part I: The Other
Chapter 1 The Expert Gaze 1: The Law Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	3
Chapter 2 The Expert Gaze 2: The Cure Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	25
Part II: Self
Chapter 3 Identity Politics and the Politics of Identity Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	55
Chapter 4 Queer Subjects and Subjectivities Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	83
Part III: Intersections
Chapter S Clothes Make the Man: Gender Transgression and Public Queerness Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	105
Chapter 6 Patriots and Perverts: The Intersection of National and Sexual Identities Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	123
Part IV: Sex
Conclusion Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	161
Postscript Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	173
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	175
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	229
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	239

Language: English
Publisher: Duke University Press
Pages
- Main content: 272
Illustrations
- Other: 9 b&w photographs

eBook

Published: July 15, 1999
ISBN: 9780822379522