We hold power to account - sparking criminal investigations and exposing abuses. Help us do more. If opponents and fans of pornography can agree on one thing, it would probably be this: lots of people like to watch porn. Russia, where reactionary conservatives appear on every TV channel, is no exception.
Pornhub, the biggest pornography site on the internet, provides helpful statistics to let you figure out just how big the porn phenomenon is. But the way Russian porn stars are treated is no cause for laughter. There is nothing weird or nationalistic about this. Most people prefer to watch the kind of sex that is, on one level or another, relatable to their immediate experience.
Porn starring Russians is in demand in Russia. But as people involved in the industry have told journalists, any Russian who wants to have a career in the industry must go abroad. Bizarrely, or, perhaps, not so bizarrely, Russian porn actors are now a resource for export. One can argue that few workers in general are empowered in Russia, but porn actors are particularly disempowered because they are so uniformly looked down upon. What politician will take up their cause? He or she will simply risk ridicule in a political atmosphere that already smacks distinctly of Iran, minus the drinking ban.
In its own bizarre, disheartening way, porn in Russia represents an intersection of societal ills. Illustration: oDR. But the people who make it must be punished with the same zeal as ruined girls in Victorian novels. Once again, they are not seen as human, but as a resource — cheaper than oil, but more fun. Vague legislation also means that porn fans themselves have become easy prey for law enforcement in Russia.
According to Mediazona, in , people were convicted in Russia for illegal distribution of porn. Most of these people had simply shared an adult video via a social media account. Mediazona, which specialises in covering how the law functions in Russia, believes that these convictions are used to bolster police statistics with little regard for the fact that the distribution law itself makes criminals out of ordinary people.
Get out of here. Go kill yourself. But sympathy is not forthcoming. As Kholina notes, the women are seen as having signed up for everything and anything. A recent scandal in the U.
While obviously awful, the mere fact that people are talking about these accusations in respected publications shows a distinct shift in society. Even critics of porn can probably agree that the people making it should be protected under the law. The porn community is far too ostracised for that to happen. Whatever happens when the camera is off is of little interest to greater society. It would be a mistake to say that Russians as a whole are completely disempowered.
You regularly see them fight bureaucracy and repressive legislation — and win. Decent palliative care, for example, is being established now in Russia due to a years-long fight with both the complacent medical establishment and societal aversion to talking about death. Better, more coherent legislation on drinking and driving was adopted due to social pressure.
Tighter regulation of mobile operators came about due to widespread outrage at dishonest pricing tactics. And few people approach the porn phenomenon systemically. A feminist outlook on porn — whether critical or positive — barely registers on the societal radar, in spite of feminism slowly but surely growing more visible in Russia. Depictions of sex and sexuality are common to almost all cultures.
They date back centuries, even millennia. When cavemen learned to draw, they started drawing genitalia. Germans have dug up a depiction that appears to feature doggy style that dates back to 7, years ago. Much has changed since then, but one thing remains the same: we are fascinated by the sexual act, and this fascination has both positive and negative connotations. The consumption of porn is a contentious issue, and there are strong arguments both for and against. Whatever your stance is, though, if you care about basic rights and principles of fairness, you can probably agree that those making the product deserve to be treated as human beings.
Against a backdrop of a domestic moral panic and foundering diplomatic relations, Russian women in particular continue to be sexualised in the west. And demand for Russian porn is not going to go away any time soon — not at home, and certainly not abroad either. If anything, greater conservatism at home and more negative views of Russia abroad make female Russian porn actors the perfect forbidden fruit. If you have any queries about republishing please contact us.
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