|
Showing 1 - 2 of
2 matches in All Departments
In 1934, Joseph Stalin enacted sodomy laws, unleashing a wave of
brutal detentions of homosexual men in large Soviet cities. Rustam
Alexander recounts the compelling stories of people whose lives
were directly affected by those laws, including a naive Scottish
journalist based in Moscow who dared to write to Stalin in an
attempt to save his lover from prosecution, and a homosexual
theatre student who came to Moscow in pursuit of a career amid
Stalin's harsh repressions and mass arrests. We also meet a
fearless doctor in Siberia who provided medical treatment for gay
men at his own peril, and a much-loved Soviet singer who hid his
homosexuality from the secret police. Each vignette helps paint the
hitherto unknown picture of how Soviet oppression of gay people
originated and was perpetuated from Stalin's rule until the demise
of the USSR. This book comes at a time when homophobia is again
rearing its ugly head under Putin's rule. -- .
This ground-breaking book challenges the widespread view that sex
and homosexuality were unmentionable in the USSR. The Khrushchev
and Brezhnev eras (1956-82) have remained obscure and unexplored
from this perspective. Drawing on previously undiscovered sources,
Alexander fills in this critical gap. The book reveals that from
1956 to 1991, doctors, educators, jurists and police officers
discussed homosexuality. At the heart of discussions were questions
which directly affected the lives of homosexual people in the USSR.
Was homosexuality a crime, disease or a normal variant of human
sexuality? Should lesbianism be criminalised? Could sex education
prevent homosexuality? What role did the GULAG and prisons play in
homosexuality across the USSR? These discussions often had
practical implications - doctors designed and offered medical
treatments for homosexuality in hospitals, and procedures and
medications were also used in prisons. This book is relevant to
United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 5, Gender equality. --
.
|
|
Email address subscribed successfully.
A activation email has been sent to you.
Please click the link in that email to activate your subscription.