Sex in the USSR

I have to open this post with a certain degree of erudition: it was Ekaterina Furtseva, known in Russia at the time as Catherine the Great who became the first woman to hold political office in the phallocentric, patriarchal USSR. As Minister of Culture, she believed unquestioningly in the slogan: "There is no sex in the U.S.S.R.!" and fought mercilessly for morality in art. Yet the entire ruling elite was well aware of her torrid affairs: scarred veins on her wrists bore witness to her ill-starred passion.

This sort of sets a tone.

In Russia's past where collectivism was exalted to the place usually reserved for Religion, and where the individual was banished as a dangerous entity, sex, the ultimate of individual activities (even in groups), was seen as a dangerous release to be feared and controlled.

In a land where every woman looked the same in terms of hairstyles available and clothes to wear (unless you happened to be the wife or mistress of one of the ruling elite) sexual competition became an art in coquetry and studied eroticism.

Women learnt what turns men on. They took femininity to a height which perhaps is encountered only in prostitutes exactly because they operate under similar conditions: competing with others for a scarce resource. In the case of prostitutes this is customers. In the case of Russian women it is eligible men.

The number of women to men in today's Russia is about 2:1. This causes problems.

Living here I have seen men who would make Ron Jeremy look good shrug their shoulders and walk away from imploring girls who would not have looked out of place in a Playboy gala. Things here are upside down.

Every Russian woman from the age of 50 downwards seems to have her sexuality wattage on full blast. Married women want to look good because their husbands will look elsewhere. Unmarried ones compete for husbands (and by the age of 26 they are considered over the hill for marriage) and every girl from the age of 13 upwards seems intent on swinging her hips and casting her eyes about.

Incredibly short shirts, pencil thin eyebrows and stiletto heels which never drop below the three inch mark are considered daily wear.

I have yet to spot a woman who is not wearing a thong. It looks like the country went from its drab, flat-heeled, 'woman the labourer hero' standardised look to the incredibly sexy, perennial sex-kitten look, high-heeled, short-skirted, thong-wearing 'porn starlet on the make' look.

Even when the country was in the grip of Soviet ideology sex was something easy to have. You can't repress something like that without it suddenly appearing, briefly, explosively and uncontrollably, everywhere.

It has created a strange culture. Women here, more than men, tend to be educated, level-headed, cool thinking. They also look like prostitutes.

I was shown round a gym yesterday by the manager. She came out wearing short lycra leggings, in black, black three inch stilletos and a black knitted poncho which allowed full view of a black lace scalloped balconette bra and what was in it.

The look was completed with shoulder length honey blonde hair and pencil-lined pink lip-glossed lips. Pencil thin eyebrows, full make-up.

It was a gym!! She was the manager!! And it was all far from unusual.

There are many aspects of life here which make no sense at all. It's like Alice in Wonderland world, except here they have sovietised even this and it is called Annie in Wonderland. Sex is everywhere, easy to have and pointless to pursue.

Western men are like prey. Watched by women's eyes wherever they go because they do not drink, take showers, dress in clothes that are not black.

This is the kind of post the deserves a deeper analysis and deeper meaning here - ideology has really fucked the country up. I will have to revisit this subject. There are too many strands to chase up in my head to really do it justice.