"Sex is ruining Russia." How the Kremlin turned the private life of citizens into a tool for political survival

In recent years, the Russian state has become increasingly interested in what is happening in the bedrooms of its citizens. From criminal cases against OnlyFans models to the recognition of the non-existent "LGBT movement" as extremist, the authorities are consistently building a system of control over the body and sexuality.

How "traditional values" became the Kremlin's main ideological weapon and why this actually has nothing to do with the history of Russia – Pavel Kanygin understands.

From Diana Shurygina to an article for pornography

A new stage in the struggle for "morality" was the persecution of erotic content creators. Diana Shurygina, who became a meme ten years ago after participating in the show "Let Them Talk" about the violence she experienced, is now a defendant in a criminal case for the distribution of pornography. She faces up to 6 years in prison for content that she, as an adult, voluntarily filmed and distributed among other adults.

This is not an isolated case: similar cases are initiated throughout the country - from the Sverdlovsk region to Dagestan. Although the article for pornography has existed in the Criminal Code since the 90s, it began to be used en masse in this way in the 2020s, when the repressive ambitions of the state coincided with the development of the webcam and OnlyFans industries.

Chain of prohibitions: LGBT, transmigration and abortion

Pressure on the sexual sphere develops in an increasing manner:

LGBT community: It all started in 2013 with a ban on "propaganda" among minors, and by 2023, the Supreme Court recognized the "international LGBT movement" as an extremist organization. Now any queer person can be pulled under the article.

Transgender people: In July 2023, transgender transition, including hormone therapy and gender reassignment in documents, was banned, effectively annulling the already existing marriages of such people.

Reproductive rights: Women are urged to abandon higher education in favor of childbearing, and in a number of regions (Mordovia, Tver Region, etc.), abortion is actually removed from the legal field through prohibitions on "inducement" to them and pressure on private clinics.

Has Russia always been homophobic?

The authorities appeal to "traditions", but history says the opposite. In Ancient Russia and in the Middle Ages, the state practically was not interested in same-sex relationships, leaving them at the mercy of church repentance. Peter I introduced punishments for sodomy only for soldiers for the purpose of discipline, and in civil law such norms appeared only under Nicholas I in 1832.

Moreover, at the end of the 19th century, same-sex romances were tolerated in elite educational institutions. The real stigmatization of homosexuality in the USSR came not from "traditions" but from the prison hierarchy, where sex was perceived not as intimacy, but as an act of domination and humiliation ("subject of power" versus "object of humiliation"). This "yard" and cop mentality eventually became the state ideology.

Why is the government so afraid of sex?

Researchers and analysts identify three main reasons for this behavior of the Kremlin:

1. Totalitarian control: People who are free in their sexuality are less obedient. The state needs unified citizens to build an "aggressive nation."
2. Conspiracy theories: Putin and his entourage (for example, the Kovalchuk brothers) believe in conspiracy theories like the Dulles Plan. In their picture of the world, the West allegedly deliberately implants LGBT and abortion in order to destroy Russia from within.
3. Psychology of aging: The current policy of "bonds" may be related to the biological aging of the elite. If 20 years ago propaganda exploited the image of a "macho man with a bare torso", now the decrepit leader imposes values in which sex is "not about us", and any deviations from the norm cause fear and aggression.

As the culturologist Umberto Eco notes, the state's invasion of the intimate sphere is one of the signs of fascism. However, despite any laws and statuses of "foreign agents", it is impossible to prohibit people from loving and having sex, which means that this struggle of the regime with life itself is doomed to failure.