Sexual Revolution in Russia

by Igor Semyonovich Kon

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Russian

Genres: History

Hardcover

Published April 1, 1995

About the author

Советский и российский социолог, антрополог, философ, сексолог. Один из основателей современной российской социологической школы, популяризатор науки и просветитель.

Кандидат исторических и философских наук (1950), доктор философских наук (1960), профессор (1963), академик Российской академии образования (1989), почётный профессор Корнелльского университета (1989) и Университета Суррея (1992). Награждён Золотой медалью Всемирной сексологической ассоциации за выдающийся вклад в сексологию и сексуальное здоровье, а также медалью ордена «За заслуги перед Отечеством» второй степени.

Ответственный редактор ряда коллективных трудов и серийных изданий («Словарь по этике», «Этнография детства» и др.), автор статей в БСЭ, БМЭ и БРЭ. Член ряда международных научных сообществ, среди которых Международная социологическая ассоциация, Международная академия сексологических исследований, Европейская ассоциация экспериментальной социальной психологии, Германское общество сексологических исследований и другие, а также редакционных советов ряда научных изданий — в том числе журналов «Человек», «Гендерные исследования», «Андрология и генитальная хирургия», Archives of Sexual Behavior, Zeitschrift fur Sexualforschung, Journal of Homosexuality, Journal of the History of Sexuality, Childhood, Current Sociology, Sexualities, Men and Masculinities и других.

Reviews

[Angelina · Rating 2 out of 5]

Incredibly informative...though of course painfully outdated...it made me curious about how the situation stands now. A bit dry, and often really harrowing, which is why it took me so long.

[J.R.A. Ortiens Stratzmann · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book gives an amazing image of all the problems that rise in the sexual culture of the Russian world, but also critically puts a mirror in front of American and European sexual thought, which both have the tendency to divide sexual culture in the bad (all patriarchal systems, such as the Russian and Arab) and all the good (all pluralist systems, such as the American and European). But where does traditional conservatism stop, and where does post-modern sexlessness (which has scarily much in common with communist anti-sexualism) start? Kon shows an interesting history from Ancient Rus' society to Yeltsin's Federation. Kon shows the different directions Russia can go to, but also the irrevocable process of the modern nation. It is, as written in other reviews, very unfortunate that little has been written after this outdated publication (1995), and even more unfortunate that the author died in 2011, making today's Putin-era a period open for too many fearful, non-academic interpretations. But "The Sexual Revolution in Russia" is not only meant for the Putinist and the Russofile. It would be a good suggestion for some Western radicals too, such as some American feminists. One could learn from Soviet experience that "not everything in human relationships will submit to radical change. Human nature and historical traditions, should be taken seriously." As many of us, Kon was "drawn to the diverting pluralism of post-modern philosophy, where everything seems flexible and possible." The book ends not only as a warning for Russia (which is an unbelievably precise prediction of Putin's Russia - a prediction made in 1995), it also fears the possible outcomes of Western post-modern ideology, which is either the very Soviet idea of sexlessness or the very post-Soviet idea of “different but equal” ghettos of gender, race, and ethnicity.