Whose Feminism? Feminist Movements in Russia and “Western” Cultural Hegemony

It is common knowledge that feminism is a “Western” invention and if Russia has any feminism to speak of, then it is nothing but a copy of the “Western” one. Those ideas appear at every turn in dominant discourses and sometimes even within Russian feminist communities. Are Russian feminisms really forever doomed to try “catching up” with “Western” ones? This essay discusses “Western” cultural hegemony with regards to feminism and the various ways to critically interact with it. It deals with the question why the feminist “manual” relies so much on “Western” theories and what alternative foundations it can have. (The full text is available in Russian).

Keywords: feminism in Russia, “Western” cultural hegemony, lag discourse, local feminist activism.

This text is part of the proceedings of QueerFemSEE (Queer and Feminist Studies in Eastern Europe) International Conference that took place at the University of Bucharest, Romania, on 17 – 19 November 2017.