Sex Education and the AIDS Epidemic in the Former Soviet Union

Russian attitudes towards sex and sexuality by a case study of the sex education and the resulting campaign to combat AIDS:

• The initial response was one of indifference, describing promiscuity as a decadent Western disease much in line with the moral decay prevailing the United States and Europe.
  
• However concern about the declining birth rate, the number of abortions and significant increases in the frequency of STDs, led to the launching of a health education campaign from the 1950s to the end of tbe 1970s.
  
• Although this was not a complete success it was quickly followed, in 1980, by the first phase of a sex education programme under Brezbnev. However, it was poorly developed and under-resourced and eventually petered out.
• After AIDS hit the USSR in the mid-1980s, attitudes began to change and the second phase of the sex education campaign was launcbed by Gorbacbev as part of his policies of glasnost and perestroika. While public opinion welcomed this change of attitude, the best efforts of the former Soviet health service to combat abortion, STDs and now AIDS were hampered by a relatively small budget, on the one hand, and by years of neglect which meant that it lacked the necessary resources (staff, establishments, medical supplies, finance), etc.

• The main victims, such as gay males and prostitutes, have been blamed for their own infection.

• Nevertheless the severe shortages of condoms and disposable syringes, and the traditional view of homosexuals and prostitutes as deviants, remain.
• The cbances of introducing an effective sex education programme and also of stemming AIDS in the FSU in the short-term look bleak given the general ignorance regarding sex, and the difficulties currently being experienced in trying to alter traditional pattems of sexual behaviour.
  

(sources: 1, 2)

The Philosophy of Sex and Gender in Russia

"Little has changed in the post-Soviet period. Feminism and the gender approach are practically not included in the mainstream of philosophic studies. Only very few women-philosophers relay Western feminist theories (mainly of the post-modernist type) and propagate the gender approach. Not only "Philistines" (common people) but Russian intellectuals as well consider feminism a curse word, and gender studies - a usual muddle of the civilization-satiated Western mind."

This essay, written by Olga Voronina, is an interesting account on how sex and gender are viewed in Russia, and especially how different these angles are than their Western counterparts.

Russian philosophy had quite a peculiar approach toward perceiving and assessing the masculine versus feminine.

• in the Russian philosophy and theology of sex differentiation between the masculine and feminine beginnings is viewed from the standpoint of the metaphysical or spiritual and religious principles, while for Western philosophy such differentiaiton is more of the ontological or gnosiological character.

• the Russian philosophy often puts different cultural and symbolic emphases: what in the European philosophy has traditionally been associated with the masculine beginning (divine, spiritual, true) is associated in Russia and Russian culture - via the category of love - with the feminine beginning. So it may seem as if we could draw a conclusion that in Russia the feminine beginning was praised higher than the masculine one.

• it should be noted that the apprehension of the feminine in the irrationalistic Russian philosophy is very abstract in its nature. It is an allegory rather than a category, a moral instruction rather than a concept.

(sources: 1, 2)

Sexuality in Recent Russian Literature

Although the law granting freedom of the press was passed in August 1990, the old law forbidding the sale and distribution of pornography was not, and still is not, formally abolished. Therefore some publishers exercise extra caution, cutting out risque passages, whereas others publish questionable texts in their entirety.

A Soviet dictionary of literary terms proudly declared in the entry on pornography: "French art especially is rich in pornography, whereas Russian art, on the contrary, is rather marked by the spirit of chastity and purity."

To repeat, the tradition of prudery is still very much alive in Russian literature. Although sex of the domestic variety has been pouring onto the movie screens and theater stages in greater and greater quantities, pages of books and literary journals have been filled mostly with erotic productions from the West or from the past.
(source)

Modern Russian Erotic Paintings

"Dream on Meadow" by Studinikin Yuri
Canvas, oil
2006












"Gold Key" by Klapoukh Yuri
Canvas, oil
2004

In this gallery of Russian erotic paintings, these two pieces stood out a lot to me. A lot of artwork included nature and made frequent use of soft, warm colors. It almost seems like the artists tend to incorporate the female body into nature instead of simply putting it in nature, as seen in these two pieces. Additionally, the female body, in the pieces in this gallery, tend to be painted as larger and rotund.
(source)

A Right to be Gay - Russia

Until recently it was a crime to be gay in Russia. Today, gays can revel until dawn in nightclubs teeming with lipstick drag queens and male dancers clad in silver pants. As the bass reverberates around the room, two doctors arrive from St Petersburg's most respected clinic. Igor reveals, "I feel free here, I can talk to other people, and at work I can't do that." Despite Yeltsin's reform, homosexuals live in fear of persecution. The communist concept of a superior Socialist man still engenders a deep seated revulsion against men who deviate from the norm. A homosexual human rights group breaks into its own clubhouse after it was illegally closed down by marauding police. Boys who were beaten up during the raid are too scared to complain in case their families are made to suffer. A group of friends sitting in the sunshine by the river discuss homosexuality. 21 year old Sergei proudly admits to gay bashing. They all agree that gays should not "show off in public". It is only in selective clubs that gays can flaunt their sexuality in safety. The fear is that even this limited, freedom might be taken away.

Aug 1996
Produced by ABC Australia
Distributed by Journeyman Pictures

Very interesting, short (16 minute) documentary conveying first hand accounts and stories of Russian homosexual men, the criticism and dangers they face as well as how Russians view, see, and react to homosexuality. Although not entirely recent (1996), it was a very interesting watch.