Pussy Provocations: Feminist Protest and Anti-Feminist Resurgence in Russia

Jessica Mason

doi:10.20897/femenc.201805

Abstract

The Russian feminist punk-art group Pussy Riot sparked a remarkable series of responses with their provocative “punk prayer” in a Moscow cathedral in 2012. This article analyzes the social, political, and cultural dynamics of provocation (provokatsiya) by examining everyday conversations, speeches, articles and other linguistic acts through which Russian Orthodox, feminist, and left-leaning and liberal participants in the anti-Putin opposition made sense of Pussy Riot. A provocation violates norms in ways that compel observers to name and defend those norms. This process simultaneously invigorates norms and helps people shore up their own senses of self amid uncertainty. Yet what observers identify as the provocation — what norms are perceived to be violated — shapes what values they reinforce. Responding to Pussy Riot, Russian Orthodox activists asserted themselves as defenders of tradition against the forces of Western cultural imperialism, including feminism and LGBT rights. Yet most responses from the anti-Putin opposition focused on norms related to speech and protest rights, while Russian feminists were often reluctant even to claim Pussy Riot as feminist at all. Due to this asymmetry, Pussy Riot’s feminist protest revitalized anti-feminism in Russia without a concomitant strengthening of feminist values among supporters.

Highlights

We consider the “punk prayer” an extremist crime, degrading millions of women of faith, and demand an appropriate legal assessment be given by society and those in power to this action
Scholars have examined what the Pussy Riot case reveals about new forms of feminist protest in Russia (Johnson, 2014) and globally (Baer, 2016) and how local feminist organising is transformed through transnational solidarity efforts and the circulation of prominent cases like that of Pussy Riot (Channell, 2014; Groeneveld, 2014; Wiedlack and Neufeld, 2014)
These studies have underscored the remarkable ability of the Pussy Riot case to clarify key values in Russian and Western societies that are contested in contemporary politics

Summary

INTRODUCTION

We consider the “punk prayer” an extremist crime, degrading millions of women of faith, and demand an appropriate legal assessment be given by society and those in power to this action. Scholars have examined what the Pussy Riot case reveals about new forms of feminist protest in Russia (Johnson, 2014) and globally (Baer, 2016) and how local feminist organising is transformed through transnational solidarity efforts and the circulation of prominent cases like that of Pussy Riot (Channell, 2014; Groeneveld, 2014; Wiedlack and Neufeld, 2014) These studies have underscored the remarkable ability of the Pussy Riot case to clarify key values in Russian and Western societies that are contested in contemporary politics. Most responses from anti-Putin opposition activists focused on defending norms related to speech and protest rights vis-a-vis the state, often positioning the Pussy Riot defendants as vulnerable as women — a set of responses that did little to defend the values of gender equality and LGBT rights the group explicitly emphasised in their performance. Provocation can induce a hardening of those same norms, producing continuity in how power is structured

THE PUNK PRAYER MOVES FROM CATHEDRAL TO STREET

MEETING THE PROVOCATEUR

FEMINIST PROVATION AND REACTIONARY RETRENCHMENT