феминизм by Jamie Schofield

ФЕМИНИЗМ Jamie Schofield

2 2

@80illustrations

Business trainer Nadezhda discusses life in Russia p.14

PHD candidate and University lecturer Maksim talks about his experiences as a male p. 23 Interview with footballer Maria Isaeva p.10 FemFest founder Irinaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 2nd year p. 26

Iva Tsoy has high hopes for the future of Russia p. 46

Life as a queer and post-genderist in Nizhny Novgorod p. 34 Film director Yulia discusses her experiences in the field p. 48

Anastasia opens up about the future of feminism and equality p. 32

Boyfriend and girlfriend share their views on feminism p. 36

I am enjoying my life in Russia and I think it is becoming a safer place for women then it was even 10 years ago. But there are problems regarding women, such as domestic violence, harassment and discrimination at work that need to be tackled. I think it is important in sense of informing people about the importance of equality and of respecting other people’s freedom of choices. Festivals are important because they try to educate people about various topics (such as transgender, sexism, ) and provide a platform for dialogue, so people can understand each other better, and learn things. I think Russia was unique in offering gender equality compared to the rest of the world. Women got the right to vote in early 20th century and they could take any jobs except in politics which was and so far is the realm of men in Russia. At the same time in the Soviet Union women bore a ‘second burden’ working as much as men and at the same time were responsible for keeping the household and children. In this sense not much has changed but women became more independent at least in big cities like Moscow. It also occurred because of the society change globally and in Russia in particularly where for women it is no longer considered ‘good’ and ‘proper’ to be married, and they can go on their own without feeling pressure. At least this pressure became less since the USSR times, I think. I keep everything concerning the house – I buy food, I cook, I pay the bills. My husband doesn’t do anything of this but he earns much more than me and can support me when I need it. I don’t find this completely fair, but I got used to it, and also my husband is a brilliant mathematician travelling around the world a lot and I admire him so I think we found a balance that works for us. Since recently I started using cleaning services, so it became easier for me in terms of keeping the house. I work as a rights manager for two publishing houses and translate books from English into Russian as a freelancer. I want to develop further in the publishing field. Also I have been studying Japanese for several years and would like to deepen my knowledge in the sphere of Japanese culture. When I was a child I wanted to be a ballet dancer, now I do contemporary dance as a hobby. I want to be treated from the professional point of view, I want more equality I want to decide myself what to do with myself what to do with

my body and my life and not to feel pressure for that. Feminism and women around the world who defend their rights give me confidence and moral support. Although many men view feminism as anti-men movement – and sometimes they have the reason to think so because of very aggressive kinds of feminist movement in Russia – some, I believe, understand the importance of gender equality. The better a woman feels herself in a society the better it is for men, I think! I am not sure about how equality is progressing in Russia, although we have an LGBT pair officially registered as a married couple just two days ago! I like Pussy Riot, I do not think they were treated justly. I really admire them for their strength for what they have to go through in the prison camp and I really respect what they have been trying to do for the penetration system in Russia.

I was quite politically active in the past, I worked in a human rights organisation in Moscow, and it was not a problem to be

active and live a normal life. For me feminism is about being free and being respected for what you have chosen to be and the life you have chosen to live. It Is also about destroying stereotypes and in particular gender stereotypes on the way to achieve equality.

ELENA BONDAL 34 9

MARIA ISAEVA

5 10

Being a woman here depends on your environment. Most of my friends believe that all people have equal rights regardless of sex, nationality or anything else. So, I feel pretty comfortable in myself. At the same time I know that the majority of the population have opposite views. I’m a footballer. Not professionally, more like a hobby, but I spend much time practicing and training. Two years ago, when I just started, I faced misunderstanding almost everywhere, including my family. I used to come to the ground where my team trains and every man I met was surprised to see me there, some of them couldn’t help but comment on my presence (or any other girl from my team). “Stop doing this, get married…” etc. Now, two years later the situation has changed, and it’s not a surprise, that girls are coming to play as well. I think that 50% of the population doesn’t even know the meaning of feminism, but we have a big country. And if to speak about big cities it became rather popular in recent years, people talk about it in terms of equality, because it has a major impact on society developing.

understand and realise the importance of the matter. And also see that there are a lot of people who think about it and want to make a change. I’m absolutely sure things have improved since Soviet times. I talk to my grandparents, or parents and feel an enormous gap between us. There are lots of things they don’t understand and perhaps never would, though they are normal for all the people of my age. How am I not married at 32, for instance, bad luck perhaps. Me and my partner both work, both do something around the house. One day we just sat, listed all the tasks and decided who’s in charge of what. Now if anyone feels uncomfortable we just discuss it again and make some changes. I work as an account-manager in a news agency. I am quite satisfied with that. When I was a child I dreamt about opening my own kindergarden, now I don’t think that was such a good idea. I think feminism is trying to make the world more balanced. It is trying to break the borders of the past. Feminism is good for all of us.

I attended Fem Fest once. That was a very interesting experience, which helped me

MARIA ISAEVA 31 11

I do not believe there is a woman in this country, who has never faced sexism. I accept that some might not possess the vocabulary to talk about it, to name things, as I do, for example, some might call it a tradition or an established order of things. Unfortunately, the way you call something does not change its essence. Two of my friends and I have a special ‘sexism chat’, so that we can release the anger, and I can’t think of a day it would stay silent. I think it is crucial to identify what is not ok and to get support of your opinion to avoid undesired doubts. Feminism didn’t expand my expectations of the world, as from kindergarten years they already were at the maximum level, I terrorised boys at the playground, kicking them off the gymnastic ladder after they refused to play football with me, demanding respect and apologies. I have always been ambitious and expected the world to give me every single thing I ask for and usually I get what I want, but my therapist says it happens because I work hard and definitely not because that’s how things work. Just like in that situation with those kindergarten boys. I expected respect and it was me who made them respect me. Feminism made me conscious about that ‘work’ I apply to get what I want, why I need to do it, and why it is okay to expect these things for granted. To be mentioned, I do not approve my kindergarten methods.

RINA EFANOVA, 20 13

NADIA TSVILEVA 22

E q u a l i t y depends on the area. Personally I live in Moscow. Here women feel more freedom, and can build a career like men can. Anyway, the role of a housewife is belonged to a woman in the majority of families. I feel free in any situation. Only in jokes about men and women do I feel sexism. Maybe I’m lucky or don’t pay much attention to it.

News about women’s rights or violation of the rights is appeared in the Internet and promotes Russians to think about feminism. Also people in facebook and vkontakte (Russian social network) share their news and experience, that’s why any news about violation of the rights can be spread quite quickly. Two years ago in a Russian-speaking social networks the flash mob #ЯНебоюсьСказать started. The name of it is translated

Feminism has the same importance as in other countries. The only one important point is that Russia is the biggest country. So spreading of the idea of feminism in Russia means the dissemination of feminism on 1/8 of the land. Currently I work as a businesstrainer. Mostly men are expected to have hard work or working as heads. Whilst women are expected to have less paid job.

as “I am not afraid to say”. Throughout the flash mob hundreds of people wrote about sexual harassment in their lifes. Feminism was not the key point of this protest but this draw the attention to attitudes towards womens, for sure. It depends on the social circle. I can be the activist but anyway in some social groups I face misunderstanding of my actions entrenched attitudes.

The equality of rights makes life more balanced and fair. It’s about not only gender equality but also different ages, nations, social classes and equality. We should remember that everyone is unique. Every one of us has certain values, interests, and physiological features. This is normal. We should respect the differences and stop harassment of another gender. During the last years there are more and more activists, social events and news.

As for me feminism, it is about the equality between men and women. But in Russia this word is frequently considered as a negative word because some citizens think that feminism is about women’s superiority and that womenfeminists are not good-looking, don’t have successful relationships and so on. I think that this attitude appeared cause of lack of gender education. Not often. My close friends are open-minded and for the equality of rights.

MASHA DUGINA 36

Well I really can’t compare lifestyles, as I haven’t lived anywhere else as a grown-up long enough apart from Ukraine, and that’s pretty much the same. But given that I’m used to it, I still feel a lot of pressure from society on what and how I should be, look like, behave – as a woman and as a mother. In no way I’m treated like respected equal, so I’ve heard on multiple occasions that I’m a rebel, should be ‘more feminine’, that I’m ‘too smart’ etc. Russian women are expected to always look great and ‘feminine’ – that includes expensive (important!) elegant outfit, heels, long hair, make-up. On the other hand, we expect men to behave ‘manly’: protect us, pay for us in restaurants, plan and lead – and I can’t say I’m fully out of this perspective, that is I can feel how Russian I am when I go abroad and for example bump shoulders with a guy in a doorway, as I automatically expect him to let me go first and he obviously follows different type of social norms. Sexism is pretty much a norm dissolved in the reality here – I mean people don’t even notice it: starting from everyday jokes on female drivers, to social awkwardness when mentioning periods and everything else that is considered a ‘female’ issue. But again, I’m used to it, so I kind of numb away when I hear offensive sexist stuff. Sometimes I don’t – and then I have a choice: either to let it slip and not get involved in the conflict, or talk about it – which I sometimes do. Most of my friends are open-minded and well-travelled people, so I would say 6 out of 10 in terms of experiencing sexism, because they balance the overall social situation for me. I believe it is very important to help women appreciate themselves and get rid of this paradigm of trying to find a man to support you. In reality, most women are able to provide for themselves, and even do so – but are still afraid to lose men or become unattractive because of their success. I think these are oldfears that are subconscious but very strong.

I intended to go to FemFest, but I never did, as I was busy with something, but some of my friends went and they seamed to enjoy it. Feminism changes a lot for everyone. Most importantly, the pressure of ‘normality’ (how everyone should be) is weakening: LGBT is still illegal, but being a single mom, or just single or dating multiple men, or having a great career is not as much criticized as before, women are becoming more and more independent both financially and psychologically. I currently don’t have a partner, but I never experienced any problem with my exes in this respect. I don’t cook, which is weird for a Russian woman, but all of them did, I guess I cleaned more to balance that out, but all in all it was never a problem. I’m a coach and a playback theatre actress, I love my job. It took mw quite some time to figure out what is it that I wanted to do and now Im doing it. For now my goal is to grow in both areas. As a child a wanted to be many things: ballerina, cosmonaut, doctor, teacher, actress, singer, actress J I can only say form personal experience – I’ve learned a lot about feminism from Instagram To me feminism is about firstly acknowledging any person as a human being. It’s a self-educational approach to rewire our habitual belief system, which makes men and women behave in certain way. Feminism to me is about finding who I am as a woman, what it means to me and how can I become more free and not limited. Its also about being more compassionate and attentive to all genders, to getting out of these limitation together, as friends and not rivals.

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me.

EKATERINA ZEMLIAKOVA 22

Let’s first note that life in Russia in general and life in such cities as Moscow, Saint-Petersburg, Ekaterinburg and Novosibirsk is very different. People in the above-mentioned cities are more socially developed, educated and progressive (not all of course). The situation in the regional part of Russia is quite different. I’m lucky, I live in Moscow. Personally, I have not felt secure lately, I see limitations in the self-management of my body and sexuality, and sometimes there is a feeling of helplessness.In my opinion little can be changed in the minds of Russian people towards women. Periodically, I am confronted with a misunderstanding and not accepting my life position, which does not correspond to the prevailing norms of the once patriarchal society But there are also good sides, lots of my friends share the ideas of feminism and also try to influence others. I also see the possibility of career growth in my city and still can get a decent level of salary and life quality in general. I can live peacefully here alone without a “strong man’s shoulder.” 22

I believe that feminism in Russia does not necessary only mean equal rights and rising women’s wage. Russia needs femenism first of all to save women from violence, domestic and on the streets. That should save women’s lives. For example, now in Russia the first domestic beatings have been decriminalized. Police accept only 1 out of 5 rape statements, statistics say. Women in Russia are becoming less and less protected, we are not protected by either the law or the moral attitudes of society. More and more often in our country, crime victims suffer from victimization. Women are exposed to sexual harassment and other forms of pressure and violence.

I can’t say that in Russia the equality of women and men is not so noticable, this country is not very different from other progressive countries in this matter. But the problems, of course, exist, for example, a woman can hold a high position at work and earn well, but women in politics are not treated seriously in society. Women at the legislative levels have all the rights, the main problem is the social attitude that greatly affects the status of women. Russian men are characterised by masculinity and a consumer attitude towards women, against the background of this the most terrible things happen - women begin to treat themselves and others in the same way. Harassment and viсtim blaming are generally the usual things for society. Always the victims are considered to be guilty, but to justify the aggressor. People with this opinion are almost impossible to reconvene and all their arguments boil down to the old patriarchal laws that have taken root in their minds.

I have learnt a lot from my feminist friends. But for their insightful guidance I wouldn’t have known that much about the world around me and even about myself, my own beliefs and (mis)conceptions. During early student years a friend of mine introduced me to feminism which gradually changed my perception of the existing social order and allowed me to reassess my perspective on politics, academia and personal life alike.

I am a PhD candidate and an assistant lecturer at a university. As for specific jobs men or women are expected to have – I can’t draw any examples of normalising statements from my personal experience, although I know that it is generally believed that women shouldn’t have dangerous jobs, but they do have them because they have to. This question is actually rather tricky, because there are at least two ostensive levels of expectations regarding working women as such: one which is expressed vocally and the other that is expressed via real social actions. Vocally, our traditionalist and reactionary society, of course, propagates the image of a strong man-breadwinner and his

fragile, caring housewife who doesn’t need anything in her life but having her man fed and her children happy. In fact, since Russia is a poor country, a family usually cannot survive unless both spouses work and on the level of real actions almost no ordinary family lives as ‘it should live’. Moreover, USSR also was a poor country and so was Imperial Russia. That is, neither modern-day women, nor their mothers, nor their grandmothers actually could be housewives like they were expected to be. Failing to adhere to these mutually exclusive standards often leads to the constant feel of guilt.

MAKSIM PODVALNYI 24

It was tough to be a child due to the excessive enforcement of traditional masculinity (at school, in family, etc.), but ever since I’ve learned to wave it off, being a man can be simply described as a privilege. Atomised instances of encountering negative stereotyping against men in everyday conversations cannot outweigh the lasting, continuous experience of being perceived as a subject in all spheres of life: relationships, work, studying and etc.

The majority of the population doesn’t understand what feminism actually means and associates it only with women who hate men and smell badly. In this context feminism is percieved rather negatively and isn’t important. But many women are “hidden feminists”, who you notice and are not happy about sexism in their daily lives. They might not be aware about all feminist problems and consider only parts of it (some of them are more exposed to violence, others might notice a christal ceiling, etc) I am a PR manager occasionally traveling around the world. In childhood I dreamt about growing up and doing multiple professions. An office job was one of my dreams inspired by soap operas. I kind of fulfilled it (smile). Diverse feminist ideologies depends. There are feminist groups which tend to marginalise themselves, to spend ages in social media trying to prove that they are right to those who don’t listen and to bully everyone who don’t agree with them. They fight with each other inside their communities and construct their identities around their ‘loud’ feminism. Their presence is useful because they are loud and they spot cases of sexism and atrocities. But they play a bad game, for feminism starts to be associated only with them and gets a negative connotation in the eyes of average women, who don’t like this lifestyle. That’s how stereotypes about feminism get born. Activists having a normal life depends on the definitions of activism and normal life. If by activism you mean implementation of gender project in addition

to the main job, then yes. The truth is that when I studied gender at University in Spain/ Poland, I lived those pains and emotions (pain of all women on Earth, collective pain, pain of victims). I couldn’t even build a good love life with a partner because of it. I started to question: how can I live with this knowledge again? But now I realise that knowledge and emotional involvement does not necessarily intertwine. And I may choose not to deal with certain painful topics (violence) in my everyday life, choosing an educational activism instead. This is like in professional life. You choose to be a therapist or consultant instead of a surgeon. It doesn’t mean you don’t know how important the work of a surgeon is. For me feminism is an umbrella term with a core idea of gender equality. The term covers a diversity of ideologies, principles and attitudes with some of which I don’t agree. That is why i prefer not to talk about feminism in general, but to deconstruct the phenomenon and to discuss different parts of it. When someone asks me “are you a feminist?” I always reply “It depends on what you mean by feminism”. If someone calls herself or himself “a feminist”, it doesn’t automatically turn her/him into a good person. Among feminists there are egoic, stupid, traumatised, cowards and evil people. Also, there are kind, wise, understanding, intellectual and brave feminists. And when you meet a feminist, please, be wise enough not to attribute her or his personal traits to the idea.

IRINA IZOTOVA, 32 26

I feel a lot of opportunities now, but still quite strenuously. As though constantly I need to be ready for the pressure. In unexpected places there may be unpleasant attacks and statements even from women. I have endless experiences of sexism. I am constantly learning to defend women’s rights. Gender inequality and stereotypes are bounded so firmly in the Russian society that they are often accepted as basic and unquestionable rules of life. Educating about feminism seems incredibly important to me. FemFest, the festival was conceived as an educational, and it coped very well with this function. There are definitely many changes in regards to the Soviet Union, but sometimes I feel we’re still there. I can’t stay in a relationship where there’s no understanding and no equality. My partner and I share everything and have an open dialogue which can give happiness to partnership and gives so much fun. I am flowing between all interests — art, design, education, curating and video directing. As a child, I thought very abstractly about my future profession: “something around fashion”; but now I am surprised how many interesting things I managed to do far beyond its borders.

Feminism is expanding.People are gradually becoming relaxed, less neurotic demanding to each other, more respectful in principle to the freedom of another person without concentrating of age, gender, success and others, it isvery subtle but Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m not so deeply submerged in they activity. I watch different public actions on the subject of feminism and understand all the responsibility that is assumed by such actors. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m more localy concerned - whats going on in the community around me As a minimum, social media is a space where people can voice the problem, personally or in group actions. Silence and hiding has ceased to be the norm. Living a normal life as an activist depends upon the degree of activism. Feminism to me is theexistence of the basis of mutual trust and love between any kind of people, and a return to balance after a destructive path.

PANIKA DEREVYA 40 31

ANASTASIA NIA ARKHANGELSKAYA, 30

Its challenging as we are living in times of change - women start to show their initiative after a long time being a house wife, opening more and more businesses, taking leading roles etc. So many women feel confused - as they are not yet leaders, and not wives, so this confusion is in the air. I look at sexism with a smile - I can not take it seriously, I have noone to compete and nothing to prove, I just live my life and sexism its not my story. In my life I am happy to ask for help from men in all different ways, and happy to help them too, and all limitations I ever met (in salary or position at work) were coming only from my personal attitude and energy, not because of sexism. I think women empowerment is important, not feminism. This terminology is our own vocabulary, especially with the history of it being quite aggressive. I prefer a world without war or competition, especially

between men and women, I just think it’s stupid). I think women need to learn how to take care of themselves, do things, take responsibility and don’t wait when someone will do something for you. I did attend festivals, I liked that there were men in public, but still around this festival is too much fighting - I would prefer just a women empowerment festival. Feminism is developing. People’s eyes have opened a lot, and they got a little more free. But still there is a way to go Me and my partner both care and carry as much, I appreciate when he wants to help me more, support me - I value it, as the same time - I like to support him as much. I am vocal teacher, owner of vocal studio, songwriter. I love it with all my heart, there is a way to go! I wanted to be a teacher, so I am pretty much want I dreamt in the childhood.

Maybe I started to expect less or even dropped my expectations, but it happen not because of feminism, but because of understanding that no-one owes me anything. I think women should grow and take more responsiblities, stop being just pretty little girls. I think facebook and all recent fleshmobs affected it in a good way, finally women understand they are not alone in their feelings. Too many activists are trying to be heroes and to fight with the system, that’s quite senseless from my point of view, changes should come from another way - when you understand, realise something, and you want to change in that direction. Making festivals is good activism. I am leading vocal classes (for everybody, but mostly women come), that are strongly connected with phycology - and I encourage them.

As for feminism in the late Soviet Union there was at least 1 feminist dissident group in the 70s and early 80s. It published magazines “Maria” and “A woman and Russia”. It’s funny but those feminists liked orthodox Christianity and Mother of God was their symbol. These women were repressed by the state and asked to leave the country. Apart from them most of the Soviet people thought that the problem of women oppression is already solved and were quite conservative and ignorant in the gender question. Yes, women had to work as hard as men and did a “men’s job” but at home only women were supposed to do a “women’s job”. So gender roles hasn’t drastically changed because women are still in charge of house chores, comforting and emotional labor and are mostly focused on beauty, love and family but new economics and politics made visible changes. I would highlight 2 post-soviet eras: the 90s and the age of Putin. In the 90s there was a severe economic crisis, level of life was very low and unstable, crime was on the rise and all that was extremely hard on women. Salaries were low and sometimes they were not payed at all, shops were half empty. So prostitution developed quickly and became a huge problem as well as high level of violence. But at the same time it was a time of opportunities and some freedom. The west offered ex-soviet people free internship and education.

It’s hard to imagine such crazy artistic freedom in modern Putin Russia because his reign was sequentially killing it as well as other human rights by conservative, ignorant and paranoid laws. I think now it’s worse than in the 90; we still have crisis, crimes and inequality but in addition to it we are enjoying propaganda, crisis of science, culture and social sphere and more and more wars. I’m a precaririous freelancer. I make money by translating movies and texts but usually I don’t have any work or income. Most of the time I’m engaged in activism (experimental libertarian education) and make documentary cinema and photo. In childhood I wanted to be an art critic dog (in Russian it’s “собачкойискусствоведом”). Now I’m engaged in arts but it’s a pity I haven’t become a dog. Now feminism is more visible and accessible through new social media (Такие дела, Медуза, Colta, Теории и практики, Wonderzine, The Village, Батенька да вы трансформер) but if you dig deeper you’ll find that there is still sexism and ignorance of some aspects of feminism or queer theory. Feminists try to reveal and discuss such cases. The problem is not only in poor level of education of journalists and the readers on these topics but in the way media work: tendencies to popular, buyable and easy messages make it difficult to speak on such profound and controversial topics as sexuality, identity, social problems and so on.

SONIA PIGALOVA, 28

My mother was one of the many people who went on MBA to America. She became a lawer and started her own business with male partners. She says she was not taken seriously and clients preferred to make deals with her male partners just because of her gender. Anyway her partners left the business and now she is running it alone. What’s important is the rise of culture, creativity, modern art and development of science. Centers of gender studies and feminist groups were created in the 90s in different cities and are still developing now. I’m so happy to befriend a philosopher; Alla Mitrofanova from Saint Petersburg. She created a cyber-feminist group in the 90s where they were making daring and creative stuff.

In the nature of the things sometimes I accidentally see pieces of popular media (TV, newspapers, advertisement or something else) that strike me with horror of “traditional” gender roles and life scenarios, but I try to avoid it. Feminism is the only thing that will save us all. Unfortunately, in Russia we are lacking widespread public discussion about “what exactly IS feminism” or any information about it for girls and young women. It’s a pity, because USSR was very progressive in the case of women’s rights, and now it seems that we’ve lost all of this progress.

I’m an architect. This is what I decided to be in my school years and what I was trained for in my University. My family

always supported me for this decision. However, I’m at the challenging point at the moment: on the one hand I want to work somewhere outside the country to gain professional experience (and this would take time), and on the other hand it feels like “tick-tock goes the clock”, so I have to hurry up to have my own family. I see feminism as regular human rights that I grew up with so I can hardly tell the difference. However I can recall a thing that became a breakthrough for me once: double burden. And my complete unwillingness to bear it all by myself. People now have a platform for discussion, to gain ideas, to have clarification if they don’t understand terms or reasons. Discussion is important for knowledge to be deeply learned and to become a part of one’s personality. It seems that the more radical activists are the ones who would be bullied moreand cyber bullying would be the easiest case. For me it is basically human rights: to be, to live, to express yourself the way you want, to have equal opportunities without social pressure and to use these opportunities without any obstacles. I have a couple of friends with who usually discuss these topics but we don’t meet often. I rarely participate in discussions online, but from time to time I read articles covering different points of view, such as body-positive attitude or double burden.

MIKHAIL BURMISTROV, 26

VARVARA NAZAROVA, 27

My story as a woman in Russia is different from the average situation in the whole country, since I’ve grown up in a pretty safe environment (upper-middle class family in a regional city), and at the moment I live at the center of the capital city and work in a creative class team, which is quite isolated from “the real world”. Because of such environment I don’t feel practically any oppression or difference to men except one: a duty to have a family and children. For me it is the most painful question, and my personal feminist agenda: it seems that at some point I have to choose between career and children and I don’t want to do this

This spring I’m starting my teaching career and some people are surprised with it. I suppose their reaction is caused by my gender, as teacher in Russia isn’t as highly paid as my current developer position at Yandex. I experience and see sexism often, but I’m not sure whether sexism or nationalism is a more severe problem in Russia. Feminism is important, but it should have more influence on our society. Outside of large cities feminism has much less supporters compared to Moscow or St. Petersburg. I’m a developer at Yandex. Recent years have shown shifts in gender ratios but still there are much more men.

At the same time ratio among managers or analysts seems to be better. In Russia women have opportunities to have any job and position, and sexism might not be the most severe obstacle. It definitely should change a lot. And it already did. But it’s not enough. Through friend’s posts on Facebook one could see that sexism is all around us and the exact ways of spoiling our life. That’s what helps feminism to spread. I consider traditional meaning of feminism to be very radical in its forms (not in its goals). I’m not that radical and I disagree with some forms (not goals) of feminists actions.

ANNA TRETYAKOVA, 25

@80ILLUSTRATIONS

Life in Russia is fine for me mostly. I’ve lived in the UK for a couple of years and I wouldn’t say it’s way different, maybe smaller subtle things. It depends on your environment, I guess. Nothing major comes to mind. It’s more in terms of “girls are supposed to…” as a preconception rather than any seriousnegative inequality things. I’d rate everyday sexism 3 out of 10 maybe, because of dumb advertisements and certain preconceptions. Feminism is not as big as in the West, but I still can see changes and I try to facilitate those changes whenever I can. The Soviet Union had its own equality, I think, I’d have to do more research, but based on superficial knowledge and media from that time some things might have been better than they are now. I mean, the first woman astronaut, profound female characters in films and books, women seemed to have a few government and other top positions and so on. I live alone, but I’d say there is still gender expectations in Russia for the man to win the bread and the woman to maintain a home. Depends on a family, but with older generations that’s the idea for sure. With younger people it depends. There was a big movement of women (I don’t know about men) who shared their stories of sexual abuse last year. So that raised awareness. Also, there is more media on the subject. Like Wonderzine a web magazine with feminist views. I am an artist and I am currently trying to figure out a transition from marketing to art, but as a kid I wanted to be a fashion designer.

ANASTASIIA POPOVA, 20

I do not think that this is typical only for Russia. Recently I heard the thought that all women at least once were afraid for their lives, they suspected a nearby male potential rapist ... I suppose that you cannot live a normal live being a public person no matter whether you are feminist activist or not. I follow some Russian activists in Instagram. I see that they are receiving many unpleasant comments about their position and appearance. On the other hand, I understand that it should

be so. People need to be shocked in order to question the established values in society. I respect the girls for taking it upon themselves, offering an alternative look at what many people think is normal. To be honest, I cannot call myself a feminist. I think that being feminist means to take some active action. I feel that the word «feminist» carries some stamps that need to be resisted. This is a great responsibility that I do not want to take on myself. Not because I’m afraid. When people reproduce the stereotypes that feminists do

not shave underarms and hate men, I’m disappointed in people. Even in my loved ones. Therefore, I openly discuss the topic of feminism with a few people. I like the idea of feminism. I like what activists do all over the world. I think that this gives me confidence, the opportunity to critically review some life situations. Every time we meet with friends in a women’s company, we discuss it. Sometimes even in group chats in social networks. Reasons for discussion can be both news and cases from everyday life.

ZHUCHKOVA, 27

MASHA

I have a feeling of pressure from our government and society in terms of making decisions as a woman. It affects practically all spheres of life, but mostly the decisions which are connected with personal love life and family issues. It is extremely important in my country. To my mind, feminism here is not only about women rights in particular but about “rights” of all citizens of Russia, both men and women. At the moment I am working in Administration of the International School. Our school provides education in accordance with the British standards. I love my job and atmosphere at my workplace.

But I consider to get additional psychological education soon. I have some goals, but to be honest I don’t want to share them with other people much. When I was a child, I was thinking of being landscape designer or painter. My dream is to live in a country where no one tells you with whom you should date, when you have to get married, how many kids and when you have to have etc. I want to live in a place where society and government are at least tolerant to your personal decisions, I am not even expecting their support, just tolerance. What is normal life? This is a very

fuzzy concept. I think you can live a normal life, it depends on what is normal for you . I attended FemFest, Mostly because I was just interested in this topic, I do not fully consider myself as “feminist”. It was also a bit funny to know that we have some radical feminists in Russia who boycotted this festival. Some of them came to FemFest and tried to disrupt the festival. I do not support their actions. Too much aggression. Instead of being happy that people are finally ready at least to talk about feminism in Russia and want to investigate more about it, they are acting unreasonable aggressive.

Today life in Russia for young people is diverse and full of information about events inside our country and in the world. So, we have many different political movements and human rights organisations. Many of the problems they affect are new to our country and society, no one barely spoke aboutfeminism. For many years, issues of feminism and women rights in human minds have been considered elements of Western propaganda. We haven’t even known their names, including the problems of sexism and gender oppression. But now we can feel them for ourselves: for men it is habitually too afraid to serve the Russian army, they are forced to demonstrate strength and rudeness. It starts from the childhood and persecutes men to the end of the life. Women from childhood do not see an alternative in life other than the role of a wife who is not required

to work, but must watch the house, children and family. It is a different situation in big cities: more possibilities, the standards of living are much higher. This is the main injustice and main reason of sexism. The reason of this situation is low economic level in Russian regions, inequality and religion traditions. People have to survive in communities and profession groups forgetting about individuality and natural rights to be different and independent. The feminist ideals are very important for Russia – they move society and economics forward, make men and women to make independent decisions, act much bolder. I engaged in journalism, in Moscow I see many men and woman in my profession. My boss is a woman. In regions everything is different. But I have to say – there are not special laws forbiwdding you to do something depending on your sex.

There are not many feminist organizations in Russia yet, no one knows their names except internet activists. Society doesn’t take them seriously and considers them as commercial projects of political opposition to Vladimir Putin. But I think I am a pro-feminist. In my ordinary life I try to avoid jokes and any other kinds of discrimination of women. As a journalist I often raise the topic of gender-based harassment and violence. In the same time I try not to be rude if women are near me, try to help them if it is hard to carry something. But also it is important not to manipulate them by the money and social status. Aggressive feminism is extremely negatively perceived in Russia – the demonstration of naked women’s bodies and other bold images is not associated with ideals of freedom but looks like teenage hooliganism.

To be a woman in Russia is to perform, to prove, to fight for your rights and position. But also - to be weak, to be beautiful. To have less salary than men. To be ashamed not be married and not having children after 25 (haha). Sexism is in the blood. We even do not have the clear definition of sexism. Is it sexism to have less salary doing the same job as a man? it is. In the last few years we finally have more information about feminism. We are more aware about our rights. I love it. We are less afraid to talk about it. We can

say - yes, I am a feminist. But we are still under pressure. We are still second after men. It is mostly still kind of patriarchy in most families, women serve men, especially in provincial families. In Moscow it is way easier to be yourself and to stay for your rights. I am a digital marketing specialist, and a freelancer for the last 6 months. I always was a feminist. I just couldn’t say it openly when I lived in a little town till 17 y.o. Can equality improve in Russia? It can… if it will be progressively developed… and it can improve

Russia in a few centuries I guess… Soviet mentality is still in the heads and hearts. A few generations should pass to see real changes. Feminism to me is freedom, equality and rights to say what I think, rights to startup my business, earn equal salary for the same job, and being treated seriously and equal. Living a normal life and being an activist is not possible. Choose 1 option,you live or you are activist. I can discuss feminism with my friends in Holland, not in Russia unfortunately.

SERGEY GORELOV, 30 ALYOMA ABRAMOVA, 29

On the other hand, the conditions we live in are very sexist. In school girls and boys attend different shop classes. Boys learn how to work with tools like hammer and girls learn to cook and to sew. My friend, who grew up in the Caucasus told me that in her school boys learned archery and girls had to sew. When she wanted to do archery as well, her teacher and headmaster shouted at her and called her parents. She remembers that she was ashamed and at the same time she understood there is nothing to be ashamed of.

are told from their childhood that she must be pretty and find a rich fiance — and preferably from Europe or US. And we’re told that there is much more women than men in Russia, so if you didn’t find your prince charming until 27, you probably never will. At work I rarely encountered sexism, but often in a hidden way. I’m a journalist, and people think there are more women than men in journalism (I still don’t know if it’s true though). And it’s probably the reason why men get this job more easily, especially in TV and foreign affairs. Also I often see that women work better than men, but rarely get a promotion, and men can be silly, lazy, do nothing and they still get a promotion regularly and have much more credibility for their chiefs. I am faced with harassment at several jobs and I often face it when I just walk in a street. It’s a separate big problem. In russian society it’s normal. You’re expected to be grateful for that – it somehow proves that you’re beautiful and sexy, and that’s two main things that russian girl must have.

Since childhood we’re expected to be nice, pretty and obedient. My mom told me several times that I have to study well at school and my brother doesn’t, because “it’s harder to learn for boys”. And at the same time, we’re expected to get married and have kids when we are from 20 to 30 years old. Our parents still think that woman’s main goal is to give birth.

I don’t think something changed that much since the USSR. Only in Soviet Union there was a model of a strong woman who did it all by herself, and there were movies with such characters. I grew up in 2000s, and on TV there were only cheap films and shows where main female character found rich husband in the end. As kids and then teenagers we knew only this model of happiness.

When I travel to Europe I always notice that women dress rather comfortably than nicely. If you see smart-dressed, beautiful girl with bright makeup in some european country, she will probably be russian. And it’s sad because our girls

On the other hand, now the situation is getting better. As we grew up, we watched mostly foreign movies and listened to foreign music. So we were raised up by an american culture. So fashion magazines nowadays try to meet our

expectations and place more articles about feminism. Also #metoo movement affected us as well. Three journalists recently accused one influential MP of harassment, now activists demand to start investigation on him. It probably never happened (not in this country), but people slowly understand that such situations are not normal, it’s necessary to talk about that. Our parents who grew up in the Soviet Union are very surprised – they faced it too, but never understood that they can complain about it. Feminism isn’t the key issue of problems in Russia. We have authoritarian government which doesn’t respect much, neither men nor women. So that part of our society which can call itself ‘liberal’ is now focused on the different kind of inequality. And who can blame them? Any information now can disseminate with great speed, so I think it’s positive for feminism. Plus we can organise to defend our rights. But at the same time we can live now in so-called ‘information bubble’ and think that if all our friends are feminist so is the rest of the world. Or we can sign some petition and think we did enough, not to do something real and useful. I never really lived without social media, so it’s hard for me to tell what my world would be without them. I don’t know what it is to live a normal life. But I think you can definitely live a normal life as an activist. Probably the right question would be ‘can you live a normal life and NOT to be an activist?’. All my friends who are active in politics are the most interesting people who live a vivid life. They are not just activists – they have plenty of hobbies and friends as well. And they are very ambitious. On the contrary, those of my friends who are indifferent to politics and social movements often suffer from existential crisis.

IVA TSOY, 25

Living as a woman in Russia is very tricky. On the one hand, our government and society tell us we live in nondiscriminatory conditions: we can choose any job we want, can get married or change partners etc. (I mean european part of Russia, in the Caucasus rules are much more strict). Some people even think it’s harder for men to live in Russia because they have to serve in the army for one year, they are expected to be “polite” (for example, to give your seat in a subway to a woman or carry some heavy boxes for her).

I work as a TV and movie director, and sometimes I meet people who think that it is not a woman’s job. But I think because of my character I can give a push back. In my everyday life, sexism doesn’t affect me. I have my own movie production and my business partner is a woman too. There are jobs men and women are expected to have, for example, movie making - I see that in Russia it is a stereotype about a cameraman andfilm director it’s not a woman’s job. I happy to break this stereotype. Feminism is very important for all. Now, when church propaganda becomes stronger, when most tv shows tell us that woman are unequal to men, we need feminism! 48

YULIA ANDREEVA, 25

AI PERI, 21 50

In Russia, a woman is still regarded as a cross between a pet and as an adaptation for the production of children. Its main task is to marry successfully. It surprises me that there are a lot of opponents of feminism, not only among patriarchal men, but also among quite modern, well-educated women. The view that the main thing for a woman to find a good partner and give birth to a child, and everything else is just the way to achieve, is quite common. On the one hand, this is a consequence of dominant traditionalist attitudes, and on the other - the unwillingness of women themselves to change something. Absence, passivity is in many respects a sign of our time. The Russian feminist community is not very different from the general Russian reality in terms of xenophobic attitudes. Being under pressure, with a shortage of resources, it is very difficult to imagine that you can support someone else in a more vulnerable positionâ&#x20AC;Ś

You judge how funny it will sound. I work as a florist in a flower studio and I see sexist stereotype situations almost every time. Recently I managed to survive March 8th. What this day has turned into, I think, is a good illustration of what else you need to fight and fight. The feminist agenda is not about equal rights for women. It is about a socialist, anti-family political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism, and become lesbians. Pat Robertson (Ń ) It is not necessary to engage in activism. You can simply share the values of feminism and understand its problems in order to be a feminist or feminist, well, to try on business not to contradict oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s convictions. Try - because it is very very difficult, to break the norms that have been adopted since childhood. Just trying to resist sexist socialisation and live according to their ideas is already activism.

LADA LITVINOVA, 20

Personally I do not notice anything special in being a woman in Russia. Maybe it is because I’m not very adult? Of course I am faced with various strange stereotypes like “you should be very neat because you are a girl”, “you should be a good housekeeper” or “you should not swear because you are a girl” (girls listening to that always think “why can boys do it?”. Along with this, it is expected that girls should concern not only about housekeeping, but about their career success too.

I’m very lucky because my surroundings are mostly intellectual and hence not very prone to sexism. It is okay to joke about it. However I am often faced with sexism in discussion with my male friends and even with my boyfriend. They never offend me in real life, but when we just talk about such topics, almost all my male friends sound very sexist. I am also often faced with sexism in mass media: advertising, movies and news.

LANA UZARASHVILI, 22 I think that the biggest problem connected with womanhood in Russia is female poverty. Women do not always understand how important it is to be financially independent. They are not selfconfident because society always tells them that: 1) she cannot make a career because women are not intelligent enough or 2) motherhood is more important for women than the career or education. So the main purpose always is the profitable marriage/relationship. But during the time they are being married women lose their basic working skills and if something happens with their husbands or if they get divorced, it is literally impossible for them to get a well-paid job. Benefits in Russia are very low. Other issues vary according to social groups, regions, religious communities etc. There are a lot of cases of domestic violence, sexual objectification of women in media, female circumcision, fat-

shaming and slut-shaming but I think that these are less rife problems than poverty. Last time with the fast growing role of Instagram and escalation of beauty industry the beauty standards become more repressive so for most women it’s like a race and I feel it everyday – everyone wants to look the same, to look sexy and men demand it from them too. At the same time, there are no boundaries for women to hold leadership positions, this is a huge victory of soviet past. Generally salaries are equal for men and women, there are some cases of such discrimination, but I can’t call it a tendency. I don’t want to speak for everyone but I feel that feminism in Russia is reduced to few branches of feminism so people don’t have a full view on feminism as a tradition. Two stereotypes are spread in here: 1) feminist = woman, 2) feminist is a

man-hating person. You can image now how is feminism presented in Russia. All feminist media from where people get an information about feminism are mostly concentrated on contemporary issues such as slut-shaming, fat-shaming, sexual objectification etc. Because of it feminism seems not as serious as it is for most people (what I think is insane because these are very hard problems of our times). We also don’t have a tradition of studying feminist literature and philosophy in schools and universities, maybe due to the fact that big amount of books on feminism are not translated. I know only a few famous Russian-speaking feminist theorists and journalists. Thus, feminism in Russia doesn’t have such a degree of importance as in Europe and USA. And some last occasions in public discussion have showed that Russian society is absolutely illiterate in discrimination and violence against women issues.