Gender Violence in Russia The Politics of Feminist Intervention [Paperback]

Just a few years ago, most Russian citizens did not recognize the notion of domestic violence or acknowledge that such a problem existed. Today, after years of local and international pressure to combat violence against women, things have changed dramatically. Gender Violence in Russia examines why and how this shift occurredand why there has been no similar reform on other gender violence issues such as rape, sexual assault, or human trafficking. Drawing on more than a decade of research, Janet Elise Johnson analyzes media coverage and survey data to explain why some interventions succeed while others fail. She describes the local-global dynamics between a range of international actors, from feminist activists to national governments, and an equally diverse set of Russian organizations and institutions.

Gender Violence in Russia provides an excellent account of the trials and tribulations of global feminism in Russia during this last, difficult decade. Vol. 6, No. 4, 2010In periods of rapid social change, the poets of one ideological system or another rush to find the cogent metaphor or, more recently, the winning soundbite, that will interpret the change to suit their own ends, to control meaning. To find and sell the right descriptive phrase is to raise the flag of possession over a historical event. For example, the collapse of the Soviet Unionor, even more stridently, the U.S. victory in the Cold Warspins the end of the 1980s, the end of history, as some proclaimed it, as a triumph of righteousness, rendered even more morally spectacular by the supposed 'coldness' of the conflict, and the ushering in of a new world order. Thats why a book like Janet Johnsons 'Gender Violence in Russia' is so badly needed.The conclusion Johnsons study reaches is . . . that what really works, in terms of feminist intervention, are 'alliances between global feminists and large donors.' Money talks, apparently; or rather its use in creating organizations for womens advlC,