Gender and Sexual Dissent in Putin's Russia: Before and During the War in Ukraine

LGBTQ+ activism and the feminist movement constituted an increasingly important part of Russian civil society in recent years. After a new stage of Russia's invasion of Ukraine started on February 24, feminists and LGBTQ+ activists became those who, at the same time, oppose this war and continue to develop civil society and an alternative vision of Russia’s future. They fight Putin’s militarism and chauvinism, combined with patriarchal hyper-masculine politics, and support the most vulnerable Russians forgotten or discriminated against by the society and Putin’s state. This Summer Seminar will discuss the development of feminist and LGBTQ+ activism in Russia in the last years and its perspectives. The event will bring together scholars from different countries and activists, bloggers, and civil rights defenders to create an interdisciplinary discussion between academics and activists, which was always crucial for gender and sexuality studies. All four webinars of the series are free. Registration required. 

June 15

14:50 - 15:00 (BST): Welcome & Introductory Remarks

15:00 - 16:30 (BST): Keynote Lecture “Early Warning Systems: How the Gender Systems of the Putin Regime should have Signaled to us the Danger of this Evolving Autocracy” by Prof Elizabeth A. Wood (MIT)

17:00 - 18:30 (BST): Panel Discussion “Queer Activism and Queer Media in Russia: Before and After the February 24”

June 16

12:30 - 14:00 (BST): Panel Discussion “Feminism and Feminist Thought in Post-Soviet Russia”

15:00 - 16:30 (BST) Panel Discussion “Russian Women, Feminism and the War in Ukraine”

All welcome. Please follow this FAQ link for more information. All our events are free but you can support the IAS here.