Sex, Politics, and Putin

Is Vladimir Putin a macho man, or is he a “fag”? In her lecture, Valerie Sperling will explore how gender stereotypes and sexualization have been used as tools of political legitimation in Putin’s Russia. Despite their ideological differences, politicians and political activist groups that support Putin—and those that oppose him—have used traditional concepts of masculinity, femininity, and homophobia as a way to symbolically endorse and criticize political leaders, as well as policies at home and abroad.