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"Sperling, Valerie"
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Putin's macho personality cult
Masculinity has long been Russian President Vladimir Putin's calling card. At the center of Putin's macho aura is his image as a tough leader who will not allow Western countries to weaken Russia or dictate what Russia's domestic and foreign policies should look like. This article draws attention to the role of masculinity in the Putin regime's legitimation strategy, and how it became more obvious during the escalation of the conflict in Ukraine in 2014 and the Russian annexation of Crimea. To the extent that there is a “personality cult” in contemporary Russia, the personality at the center of it is defined in highly gendered terms, shaping the tenor of both domestic and foreign policy.
Journal Article
Organizing women in contemporary Russia: engendering transition
This book offers the first comprehensive analysis of the contemporary Russian women's movement and of the social, political, economic, historical, and international contexts that surround it. Valerie Sperling paints a vivid portrait of the women's movement's formation and development, paying particular attention to the key challenges facing a social movement in post-communist society, including the virtual absence of civil society, constant flux in political institutions, wrenching economic changes, and the movement's own status in a changing transnational environment. The author also addresses the specific challenges facing women's organizations by discussing societal attitudes towards feminism in Russia. Based on participant observation, primary source materials, and dozens of interviews conducted in Moscow (as well as two smaller Russian cities), the narrative brings alive the activists' struggle to build a social movement under difficult conditions, and sheds new light on the troubled and complex process of Russia's democratization.
eBook
Russian feminist perspectives on Pussy Riot
While Pussy Riot's “Punk Prayer” and its aftermath constituted something of a turning point for Russia politically - as well as personally for the women imprisoned afterwards - it was neither the first nor last of Pussy Riot's endeavors. Among other things, their series of songs, published as video clips on the web, endorsed mass protest against the Putin regime, criticized state-sponsored homophobia, and praised feminism as a possible curative for Russia's many ills. In setting forth their ideas, however, Pussy Riot's lyricists made use of traditional masculine and feminine gender norms as well as homophobia, wielding these against their opponents in the regime and thereby reinforcing them in ways that other self-identified Russian feminists found problematic at best.In this article, I review Pussy Riot's collection of songs in chronological order, highlighting the areas where gender norms and apparent misogyny, sexism, and homophobia appear. I weave my explications of the content of Pussy Riot's productions in with the responses of Russian feminist activists to Pussy Riot's lyrics and actions. Taking into account the views of some non-feminist Russian commentators in addition to self-identified feminist activists, I discuss a range of evaluations of the content of Pussy Riot's compositions, as well as differing appraisals of the means that Pussy Riot employed to achieve what they viewed as feminist ends: undermining or even unseating the Putin regime.
Journal Article
The Way Home, or the Way to Prison? Gender Legacies and Anti-War Protest in Russia
This article analyzes the activist rhetoric of Put′ Domoi (The Way Home)—a prominent, Russia-based public protest movement consisting primarily of women whose family members were “mobilized” into fighting in Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine. Using a detailed framework that describes Russia’s gender-related ideologies under Putin, we analyze Put′ Domoi’s activist rhetoric focusing primarily on the first six months of their public activism (August 2023–March 2024). We examine how the activists struggled to frame their demands in a way that would afford them some protection from repression while also allowing them to challenge the regime’s open-ended military “mobilization.” We find that this movement employed a gender-compliant framework similar to that of many grassroots wives-and-mothers movements fighting authoritarian violence within and outside of Russia, but with particular Soviet roots. Over time, Put′ Domoi became increasingly frustrated with the regime’s response to their demands and increasingly critical of the war in general. This analysis helps explain why Put′ Domoi did not immediately face repression despite engaging in regular public protests critical of Russia’s war-related policies. Our case study of Put′ Domoi also sheds light on how these kinds of women’s movements navigate the complicated repressive terrain of authoritarian rule through gender-related framing tactics.
Journal Article
Organizing Women in Contemporary Russia
This book offers the first comprehensive analysis of the contemporary Russian women's movement and of the social, political, economic, historical, and international contexts that surround it. Valerie Sperling paints a vivid portrait of the women's movement's formation and development, paying particular attention to the key challenges facing a social movement in post-communist society, including the virtual absence of civil society, constant flux in political institutions, wrenching economic changes, and the movement's own status in a changing transnational environment. The author also addresses the specific challenges facing women's organizations by discussing societal attitudes towards feminism in Russia. Based on participant observation, primary source materials, and dozens of interviews conducted in Moscow (as well as two smaller Russian cities), the narrative brings alive the activists' struggle to build a social movement under difficult conditions, and sheds new light on the troubled and complex process of Russia's democratization.
eBook