As the U.S. Reels from Sexual Harassment Scandals, Russia Asks: What's the Big Deal?

Russian morality still stuck in Communism's 'Godless' age

CBC

Many Russians are having a good chuckle these days at the state of Western society as the long list of sexual violence and harassment claims against prominent American men grows by the day.

The notion that there's something shamefully wrong, misogynistic or potentially criminal about a man exerting his wealth or power over women has struck many Russians as a big "so what."

And in many cases, those gaffawing the loudest are Russian women.

Take actress Lyubov Tolkalina, a 39-year-old veteran of stage and screen who spoke to the online news site Medusa.

"If you get the role, what does it matter what you had to do to get it?" she's quoted as saying.

"How can you actually blame a man for sexual harassment?" she continued.

"Isn't that why he was created in the first place? If he has power that he uses this way, that's fine."

Object of mockery

Another Russian actress, 32-year-old Agniya Kuznetsova, chimed in with a blame-the-victim sentiment.

In reference to the scores of Hollywood actresses who've come forward with allegations against film directors and producers, she's quoted as telling Medusa "they got what they wanted."

"And actresses here [in Russia]," she continued, "are happy to agree to all sorts of propositions."

On late-night Russian TV,  the topic of sexual harassment has become  a popular object of mockery.

One comedy show that focuses on current affairs on Channel One, a widely viewed network, recently featured four men sitting around a coffee table yucking it up over the day's newspaper headlines.

"It's become trendy to hide it for a long time," said one comedian of the women who've come forward with allegations of unwanted sexual attention.

"It's trendier to admit it," replied his friend to chortles of laughter from the others.

"I admit it. I sexually harassed myself. I invited myself to my room. Now I'm asking for an apology," he said to more howls of laughter.

Social superiority

From actresses to comedians to Kremlin propagandists, Russians have seized on the continuing stream of sexual harassment revelations as an example of what they consider their social and cultural superiority.

Dmitry Kiselyov, the Kremlin-friendly host of a highly watched Sunday night talk show, recently suggested the parade of women coming forward with allegations against famous men represents "an explosive mix of political correctness" and "hypocrisy."

At the same time, he asserted that Russia demonstrates the most "harmonious relations between the sexes."

Note: it was a man who said this!

One of Russia's best-known film directors put the issue of sexual harassment another way.

"I actually think the whole world has been built on it," said Andrei Konchalovsky, director of Hollywood hits such as Runaway Train and Tango and Cash.

"Men must make passes and women must resist.

"Thank God," he concluded, "we live in a country where political correctness has not reached the point of absurdity."

Advocate disgusted

If there's any absurdity, Alena Popova would argue it's that Russia lags decades behind Europe and North America with neanderthal-like views on sexual harassment.

She's a women's rights advocate — a rare breed in Russia, where there are few champions for the cause.

"The reaction was awful," she told CBC News in an interview. "In our country, many think harassment is normal."

Popova, a former journalist who's written extensively on the issue of violence against women and operates a non-profit advocacy group in Moscow, has been using her blog to try to underscore that unwanted sexualized behaviour is not normal or acceptable.

"In domestic violence and harassment," she wrote recently, "one of the main problems is shame and fear of what happened."

Millions of Russian women,  she continued, silently tolerate being mistreated and it can completely destroy their lives.

Weak legislation

In January, when Russia passed a new law reducing the penalties men face for assaulting their wives or partners, Popova waged a one-woman crusade outside the Duma, or parliament, camping out in the freezing cold to try to stop the legislation.

She was unsuccessful. Now in Russia, a man found guilty of domestic violence usually gets off with a warning. It takes a second conviction to face any sort of jail time.

"Statements to police and public censure of the aggressors are signs of a healthy society dealing with the problem," Popova said of what's been happening in the United States, the U.K. and Canada.

While I admire the fact that in Russian society men are men and women are women, 21st century men need to evolve beyond violence against women and children and become protectors of them rather than violators of them. Unfortunately, that is not likely to happen until women stand up and say, 'no more!' 

Russian Parliament Acts to Weaken Domestic Violence Law

By Ed Adamczyk

Russia's lower house of parliament, the State Duma, overwhelmingly passed a bill softening the country's domestic violence law. Photo courtesy of the Kremlin

Jan. 27 (UPI) -- The Russian legislature moved to decriminalize domestic violence, reducing penalties for those convicted of assaults in the home.

The proposed amendment to the Russian criminal code, passed in the State Duma, or lower house, is expected to be signed into law by Russian President Vladimir Putin. It includes reduced sentences for those convicted of domestic assaults which do not cause serious injury. Referred to as "the slapping bill," it calls for a maximum of 15 days in police custody and a fine, instead of up to two years in prison, for first-time offenders whose assaults do not result in physical harm.

It passed Wednesday in the Duma by a vote of 380-3.

If the bill becomes law, it will take injuries such as concussions or broken bones, or repeated examples of domestic abuse, to lead to criminal charges.

Decriminalized battery

Proponents of the bill point to a July change in the criminal code which decriminalized battery against strangers but maintained battery within the family as a criminal offense. They argued parents should not face harsher penalties for striking their children than their neighbors would, the BBC noted.

"In the traditional Russian family culture, relations between 'fathers and sons' are built upon the authority of parents' power, mutual love and personal indispensability as the basis for children's upbringing," said Yelena B. Mizulina, an initiator of the legislation.

Opponents called it a license for violent behavior within families by authority figures. Russian gender studies specialist Svetlana Aivazova said, "It is clear that lawmakers recognized violence as a norm of family life. This shows that Duma deputies are not simply conservative or traditional, it shows that they are archaic," the New York Times reported.

Citing statistics from the Russian Interior ministry, Aivazova added that more than 9,000 women died in criminal assaults in Russia in 2013 and that "over 25 percent of all murderers were committed in families." Statistics of similar assaults in the United States from 2001 to 2012 show that, on average, about 1,000 women per year die at the hands of a husband or boyfriend. The United States has about twice the population of Russia.

That would imply that Russian families are 2 to 4 times more violent than American families. That's a little disturbing!

Nevertheless, the penalties for murder or significant harm have not been reduced. In fact, it might work to women's advantage for there to be a significant line between slapping and violence causing bodily harm.

The legislation has the active support of the Russian Orthodox Church, which said in a 2016 statement that physical punishment is a Russian tradition to be protected as "an essential right given to parents by God."

Are we talking about wife-beating or child spanking, or perhaps both?