Masculinity+in+Russia

//by Courtney Meyer//

Introduction
Before the Communist Party, men in Russia held dominance in their families, such as being the breadwinner and respected as the man of the house. Once the Communist Party took over Russia, the state of what it meant to be a man in Russia changed forever. Through the increase in unemployment and inequality, men began to cope with their demasculinization through adapting unhealthy behaviors (e.g. alcoholism). = = = = toc

History
In order to understand masculinity in Russia, the history of Russia is essential. In 1918, Tsar Nicholas’s family was murdered and then the Communist Party took over. The Communist Party helped Russia go from capitalism to socialism and finally to communism (Communist Party, 2016). The Communist Party dominated the political, cultural, social, and economic life of Russia from 1918 into the early 1980’s (The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2016). Thankfully, in 1990, Mikhail Gorbachev came in and restructured the economy and brought democracy to Russia which eroded the unity and power of the Communist Party (The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2016).

Gender Differences
Since WWII, the population in Russia has been largely female because of all the men dying in wars. The current gender ratio in Russia is 86.8 men per 100 women. The population in Russia is older than the rest of the world. This skews the gender ratio with women being older and men being younger. Russian women born between 2010-2015 are expected to live until they’re about 75 years old, while men born between 2010-2015 are expected to live until they’re about 64 years old (Gao, 2015).



Russian Masculinity
The following quote is from Chapter 3 of the book //Gender, State, and Society in Soviet and Post-Soviet Russia// edited by Sarah Ashwin and explains the state of masculinity in Russia perfectly.

//“The individual men who stood at the head of the family acted as a barrier, limiting the influence of the state on other family members. In order to achieve control of society, therefore, the state had to challenge the power of the patriarchs. It did this through legislation, state violence and direct repression of individual men, aimed at transforming the state into a universal and exclusive father (Kukhterin, 2000, p.71).”//

This quote demonstrates how men in Russia were completely stripped of their masculine rights as men. The Russian society that was the Communist Party demasculinized every Russian man for years. In Russia, the Communist Party completely dictated everything and everyone. The Communist Party became the all encompassing man- the husband to every wife and the father of every child. As stated previously, the Soviets took control over the family. They gave women and children equal rights. Their claim of doing this was that they were helping women get out from underneath patriarchal oppression. Women started having “women meetings” where they could freely speak their mind without men around. This helped in taking men out of places they were not wanted and empowering women to challenged gender power dynamics. The state very much used women to remove domestic power from men by having women rely on the state as a reliable husband and father. In 1918 the church was separated from the state. Any marriage prior to 1918 was no longer recognized. All marriages instead had to be registered through the ZAGS (Soviet registry offices). The legal father of a child conceived out of wedlock was considered any man the mother had had sexual relations with during the time of conception. But, eventually the role of the father was placed on the state which allowed men to avoid responsibility associated with their children. This is how the state slowly weeded men out of the family picture by completing changing the traditional family—the passing down of land, surnames, etc. The expectation in Russia was that men were to work, that was the center of their life since the state took their property and patriarchal power away from them (Kukhterin, 2000).

O’Neil’s Study
Even though U.S. men had very different experiences with masculinity than Russian men during the era of the Communist Party; it seems that post-communism that the gender role expectations of U.S. and Russian men were similar. In O’Neil’s (2000) study, Russian men reported that they experience similar gender role conflicts as men in the U.S. such as restrictive emotionality, control and power problems, and health care problems.

Vodka & Masculinity
Unhealthy behavior that contributed to the traditional Russian image of a “real man” were heavy drinking, smoking, not sleeping enough, not going to the doctor, not eating right, over-working, and not taking enough vacations (Roshina, 19997). Alcoholism has been an ongoing problem amongst Russian men (Gao, 2015). Specifically, Zaridze et al. (2014) found that vodka is the top killer in Russia. Disproportionately among young men, which alongside dying in battle, vodka is probably another reason for why there are more women than men in Russia. Unemployment, decrease in wages, and increase in inequality are all valid reasons for Post-Soviet Russian men not taking care of their health (Ashwin & Lytkina, 2004). In Russia, the men were driven to unhealthy behaviors and being absent fathers by the Communist Party because the Communist Party had changed their thinking on what it meant to be a man in Russia. The Communist Party transformed what it meant to be a man in Russia. Men in Russia went from being the heads of their households, provider and caregivers of their children to being absent fathers, alcoholics, and workaholics.