Pussy Riot as a feminist project

Russia's gendered informal politics

Dados Bibliográficos

ID11048170
AutoresJanet Elise Johnson (0000-0001-9807-9877, Brooklyn College, autor correspondente)
Ano2014
Volume42
Fascículo4
Páginas583-590
Data de publicação2014-07-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoNationalities Papers (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0090-5992 • E-ISSN: 1465-3923
EditoraCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1080/00905992.2014.916667
OpenAlexW2077221732
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas18
Referências citadas16

This article considers Pussy Riot as a feminist project, placing their actions and the regime's reactions in the context of three post-9/11 developments in gender and sexuality politics in Russia. First, I assert that Pussy Riot's stunts are a logical reaction to the Kremlin's masculinity-based nation-rebuilding scheme, which was a cover for crude homophobic misogyny. Second, Pussy Riot is part of the informal feminism emerging in Russia, a response to nongovernmental organization (NGO) feminism and the regime's repression of NGO feminism, albeit likely to be outflanked by regime-supported thuggery. Third, the members of Pussy Riot were so harshly prosecuted because they - swearing, covered up and disloyal - violated the political cleaner role that the Kremlin has given women in the last few years. Feminist social scientists have long looked for politics outside of formal institutions and processes. The Pussy Riot affair makes clear how much gender is central to the informal politics that gender-blind observers of Russia have come to see as crucial to understanding Russia's regime

Context (archaeology · Feminism · Human sexuality · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Gender Politics and Representation · Gender Studies · Gender, Security, and Conflict · Historical Gender and Feminism Studies · History · Law