Regulating Homosexuality in Soviet Russia, 1956-91 - by Rustam Alexander (Hardcover)

About the Book

This book examines the way homosexuality snaked through expert discourse in Soviet courts, prisons, science and education, helping us understand the history of sexuality in Russia and the USSR.

Book Synopsis

This ground-breaking book challenges the widespread view that sex and homosexuality were unmentionable in the USSR. The Khrushchev and Brezhnev eras (1956-82) have remained obscure and unexplored from this perspective. Drawing on previously undiscovered sources, Alexander fills in this critical gap. The book reveals that from 1956 to 1991, doctors, educators, jurists and police officers discussed homosexuality. At the heart of discussions were questions which directly affected the lives of homosexual people in the USSR. Was homosexuality a crime, disease or a normal variant of human sexuality? Should lesbianism be criminalised? Could sex education prevent homosexuality? What role did the GULAG and prisons play in homosexuality across the USSR? These discussions often had practical implications - doctors designed and offered medical treatments for homosexuality in hospitals, and procedures and medications were also used in prisons.

From the Back Cover

This ground-breaking book challenges the widespread view that sex and homosexuality were unmentionable in the USSR.

Little has previously been revealed about how the Soviet leadership regulated and understood homosexuality. The Khrushchev and Brezhnev eras (1956-82) have remained unexplored from this perspective. Using previously undiscovered sources, the book reveals that from 1956 to 1991, doctors, educators, jurists and police officers discussed homosexuality. At the heart of discussions were questions which directly affected the lives of homosexual people in the USSR. Was homosexuality a crime, a disease or a normal variant of human sexuality? Should lesbianism be criminalised? Could sex education prevent homosexuality? What role did the GULAG and prisons play in homosexuality across the USSR? These discussions often had practical implications - doctors designed and offered medical treatments for homosexuality in hospitals, and procedures and medications were also used in prisons.

Uncovering the fascinating truth of Soviet homosexuality in the twentieth century, this book will appeal to those with an interest in the history of Soviet Russia, LGBT history and the events preceding the oppression of LGBT communities and individuals in Russia today.

About the Author

Rustam Alexander is an independent scholar who holds a PhD from the University of Melbourne