Femininity has a bad rap in North America nowadays. High heels, dresses, skirts and make-up are a sign that you are a miserable Evangelical victim in search of a husband to validate your existence by marrying you.
I’m not North American, though. I come from a different culture. And I believe that my feminism is as valid as anybody else’s. I don’t think that I have to modify who I am because of other people’s struggles, issues, and complexities. I totally get it that, for North American women, not enacting their femininity is a feminist achievement. For me, however, it’s the opposite.
As we often joke in my culture, in the year when American women gained their right to become miners and fire-fighters, we gained our right not to. In the Soviet Union, women gained the right to vote and the right (actually, the obligation) to work in 1917. Since then, everybody worked. You will be hard-pressed to find a Russian-speaking woman my age whose great-grandmother, grand-mother, mother and aunts did not work. Not working for any reason was punished with a jail sentence in the Soviet Union.
Outside of the short-lived Stalin-era ban on abortion, abortion on demand was the only available form of contraception. I know women who had over 40 abortions in their lifetime for the simple reason that absolutely no other means of contraception were available. (Except for the ultra-rich, of course.) So the right to an abortion was not the issue Russian-speaking feminists were concerned with either. (Things are changing now, and the corrupt Russian Orthodox Church is spearheading a campaign to destroy women’s reproductive rights in Russia, though.)
On top of that, the absence of any hygienic aides for menstruation and forced gynecological exams made women hate everything that reminded them of their gender.
Our feminist issues were different. The Soviet Union lost a huge segment of its male population to the genocide and the wars. After World War II, we had 1 male per 3 females in the population. The result of this demographic imbalance was that men became a precious commodity to be cherished and coveted.
(To be continued. . . soon. . .)
Clarissa's Blog 
Without commenting on the moral status of abortion, I’m curious why the author feels it necessary to maintain that the Russian Orthodox Church is corrupt when discussing its opposition to abortion. It doesn’t seem germane, just mean-spirited and presumptive. Questions:
1) Assuming the ROC is corrupt, if it were not, would it then not oppose abortion?
2) Does opposing abortion somehow make the ROC corrupt – or maybe more corrupt?
3) What comprises the ROC’s alleged corruption, and is it directly relevant to women’s rights?
4) Does opposition to abortion make other Christian or religious denominations corrupt, as well (i.e., Catholics or Muslims)?
Just wanted to clear that up.
LikeLike
ROC’s corruptness has nothing to do with abortion. It has to do with the fact all of its priests were KGB informants. Now, the ROC makes its money selling alcohol and tobacco. The point that I was making is that, aside from being corrupt, this organization is now persecuting women.
People who want to curtail the reproductive choices of OTHERS – irrespective of their religion – are vile, sex-deprived, woman-hating losers. They are not necessarily corrupt, though.
LikeLike
“After World War II, we had 1 male per 3 females in the population. The result of this demographic imbalance was that men became a precious commodity to be cherished and coveted.”
I am wondering if the situation in China with the imbalance between men and women will make women more valued, any thoughts?
LikeLike
There are currently two possibilities that demographers are discussing in terms of this demographic imbalance in China and India:
A) women will have greater value and will be able to gain more rights.
B) violence against women, rape, sexual assault will flare up.
China has a huge border with Russia and immigration of Chinese men into the country has been massive, so this is one way of correcting the demographic imbalance. Within Russia, of course, the anti-Chinese hysteria has been huge as a result.
LikeLike