False consciousness perhaps

HBO has recently aired a documentary on Pussy Riot filmed by Mike Lerner and Maxim Pozdorovkin. Jon Stewart invited its creators for a chat (or on YouTube here). Among other things, Jon remarked:

Russian women are traditionally a strong group – they are not wallflowers.

His guests had no argument with that, nor do I. But why, then, are Russian women for the most part indifferent or hostile to feminism – which provides time-tested tools, theoretical and practical, for advancing women’s causes? Why is it Russian women seem to the most consistent advocates of the sociopolitical status quo? Why are they channeling their strength elsewhere – mostly into what they see as upbringing but I suspect is psychological torture of their children? They seem to be ignorant of how much American and European women have gained from the feminist movement, all the while stigmatizing feminists as irrational man-haters.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *