Russian Homophobia from Stalin to Sochi

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Examining nine case histories that reveal the origins and evolution of homophobic attitudes in modern Russia, Dan Healey asserts that the nations contemporary homophobia can be traced back to the particular experience of revolution, political terror and war its people endured after 1917. The book explores the roots of homophobia in the Gulag, the rise of a visible queer presence in Soviet cities after Stalin, and the political battles since 1991 over whether queer Russians can be valued citizens. Healey also reflects on the problems of memorylessness for Russias LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) movement more broadly and the obstacles it faces in trying to write its own history. The book makes use of little-known source material - much of it untranslated archival documentation - to explore how Russians have viewed same-sex love and gender transgression since the mid-20th century. Russian Homophobia from Stalin to Sochi provides a compelling background to the culture wars over the status of LGBT citizens in Russia today, whilst serving as a key text for all students of modern Russia.

Reviews

Russian Homophobia from Stalin to Sochi is a stunning accomplishment Healey shows why he is the leading historian of Soviet sexuality writing today Historians of the Soviet century broadly construed, historians of sexuality in other geographical fields, and general-interest readers looking for a well-researched history of the current discrimination in Russia should all find Healeys book a must-read. * Kritika: Explorations in Russian and Eurasian History *
[The] book is highly recommended to both researchers within academia and people interested in understanding contemporary Russian society. * H-Socialisms *
This marvellous book should be recommended for all readers interested in Russian history and politics and should be required reading for those who research and teach in those subjects. * Canadian Slavonic Papers *
Healey is a careful and imaginative historian. Each chapter deals with a different subject in gay Russian history, jumping across decades Russian Homophobia is rich in the kind of tantalizing, upsetting detail that makes the history of sexuality so fascinating. * Los Angeles Review of Books *
Healeys valuable book offers a timely contribution to Slavic studies and will be of interest to specialists and general readers alike. * The Russian Review *
Healey presents a nuanced and sophisticated analysis of how this homophobia has been shaped and maintained. * Times Literary Supplement *
A thorough, impeccably researched portrait of persecution. * Attitude *
Poses some intriguing questions ... Healey manages to draw on a range of other original and surprising sources for this well-written history of modern Russia and human sexuality. * History Today *
A must-read for any historian of Russian sexuality ... Highly recommended both for scholars of Russian history and queer activists who want to know more about Russias past and present. * European Review of History *
A valuable tool for any modern historian ... The books universal value is in its sophisticated methodology ... [Healey] dissects and analyses archival material with the theoretical and empirical knowledge at his disposal. * Slavonic and East European Review *
This ambitious, well-sourced, eminently readable volume functions as a corrective to Western LGBTQ scholarship, which treats the sexual subjects of the Soviet Union and the Russian Federation as outliers, and as an overview of available archival material regarding the Soviet and Russian queer experience since the mid-century. Healey (Russian history, Oxford) aims to trace the origins and consequences of "modern" Russian homophobia, which he firmly roots in the Stalinist project, in a way that distinguishes it from the critiques of the postcolonial West. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above; professionals. * CHOICE *
In this meticulously researched and highly readable book, Healey draws on a lifetime of ground-breaking research on homosexuality in Soviet and post-Soviet Russia to trace the roots of Russias antipathy towards sexual deviance from the anti-homosexual politics of Stalin to the politicisation of homophobia and gay propaganda under Vladimir Putin. A fascinating insight into sexual politics in Russia. * Richard Mole, Senior Lecturer in Political Sociology, University College London, UK *
Dan Healeys expert analysis of homophobias history in Russia uses riveting case studies of lesbian and gay life and the law to paint a vivid picture of queerness and its persecution from the 1930s through to the Putin era. This book is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the uphill battle for LGBTQ rights and recognition in contemporary Russia. * Valerie Sperling, Professor and Chair of the Department of Political Science, Clark University, USA *
A powerful and poignant argument for writing history as a political act. Through his case studies, Healey shows us the value of history and the danger of its suppression, both in Russia and elsewhere. * Journal of Contemporary History *

Author Bio

Dan Healey is Professor of Modern Russian History at the University of Oxford, UK. He is the author of Homosexual Desire in Revolutionary Russia: The Regulation of Sexual and Gender Dissent (2001) and Bolshevik Sexual Forensics: Diagnosing Sexual Disorder in Clinic and Courtroom, 1917-1939 (2009). He is also the editor of Soviet Medicine: Culture, Practice, Science (2010), with F. Bernstein and C. Burton, and Russian Masculinities in History and Culture (2002), with B. Clements and R. Friedman.