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In 2013, Russia adopted a federal law criminalizing the distribution to children of any material that depicts any non-traditional sexual relationships as normal and positive. Despite the language, this was targeting how queer folks and queer relationships are portrayed in Russia. Since then, anti-gay violence and anti-gay hate crimes have grown exponentially. And, as I speak, an update to that law – referred to as the gay propaganda law – is working its way through the Duma (or the Russian Parliament) extending that criminalization to any positive depiction of queer folks or queer relationships to anyone in Russia. Essentially, it will become illegal to promote or praise homosexuality or non-traditional sexual relationships in any form. 

Today, I’m talking to Dr. Alexander Kondakov – a sociologist and assistant professor in the School of Sociology at University College Dublin in Ireland. His work has focused on law and sexuality studies – specifically queer sexualities. His work appears in numerous journals and recently he published the book Violent Affections: Queer Sexuality, Techniques of Power, and Law in Russia. This book takes a sociological approach to violence committed against the queer community and queer folks, or folks perceived to be queer, to help us understand how the crafting, implementation, and enforcement of law and policy can prime potential perpetrators of violence, and how feelings of anger and insecurity can manifest in violence against the queer community. This book takes a microscope to incidents of violence against queer people in Russia, discussing them in extremely vivid detail. But there’s a reason for that, which we discuss. 

We also talk about how easy it is to transform feelings of disenfranchisement, powerlessness, and loss into hate – how politicians have leveraged it, how incidents of violence, especially hate-motivated violence, can be linked to violent rhetoric on the part of politicians and other elites, and how violence is almost exclusively a male problem. 

Mentioned:
The Banshees of Inisherin

Recommended:
Violent Affections: Queer Sexuality, Techniques of Power, and Law in Russia - Alexander Kondakov

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