Sex in the USSR until Lenin's Death

[Capitalist Octopus]

So I'm going to post this here, if it needs to be move,d my bad.

For my "History and Sexuality" class, I need to write a research paper. Here's a brief recap of the guidelines:

"You can choose any topic about the history of sexuality in Europe or North America over the past three centuries. Whether it be romantic friendships, contraception, pornography, masturbation, homosexuality, bestiality, miscegenation, eugenics, prostitution, the sexual revolution, gay marriage etc etc, you have plenty to choose from. It's usually best to pick one topic or theme in one time period in one country. The best papers are often those that explore in more depth something only mentioned briefly in lectures or the readings."


So as you can tell, I want to do something on the first few years after the revolution. I have a bit of background on how the Bolsheviks were largely progressive in terms of sexuality, but I'm going to have to focus on something specific. Any ideas/sources?

[NewLeft]

Focus on contraception and a women's choice.

Try this book on Google books. (http://books.google.ca/books/about/Sexual_Revolution_in_Bolshevik_Russia.html?id=NZ1z vbGjXAYC&redir_esc=y)
http://www.marxists.org/archive/kollonta/index.htm

[daft punk]

Off the top of my head...

Russia wasnt too bad relatively for gays under the Tsar, at least for the upper classes, but I think it was illegal.

The Bolsheviks scrapped all laws and started from scratch, so they had no laws on gays, women, divorce etc. However although progressive for their time you cant expect them to stand up to political correctness in 2012, where even someone as progressive as me occasionally gets attacked for not being pc enough.

If you wanna do an essay on that, fair enough.

However there are 2 periods in history that are more fascinating to my mind.

First was around 1200 when the Catholic Church turned against gays and banned them. This was an effort to stop the Church losing money as feudal laws were implemented. They banned marriage and then gays just in case all the priests became gay.

second was in Victorian times when the capitalist class launched a second onslaught against gays, and introduced the nuclear family to the working class.

[TheGodlessUtopian]

Check out the carious left-wing bookstores which are online... Russia, in particular, has been progressive on social issues.See the "Litiarure and Films " forum for info on where to find leftist bookstores.

[TheGodlessUtopian]

Russia wasnt too bad relatively for gays under the Tsar, at least for the upper classes, but I think it was illegal.

It was illegal, period.


second was in Victorian times when the capitalist class launched a second onslaught against gays, and introduced the nuclear family to the working class.This period sounds far more rich for a paper. If handled correctly it could be a great subject; I would look into this era.

[Rusty Shackleford]

Cuba in the last 30-40 years has done some pretty progressive things in the realm of sex and sexuality.

[TheGodlessUtopian]

Cuba in the last 30-40 years has done some pretty progressive things in the realm of sex and sexuality.

Assuming one leaves out the part where Queers were nearly rounded up and put into concentration camps, yes, recently some great things have been happening in Cuba. Fidel's daughter (I believe was the relation) has been a great asset to the progressive cause.

[Capitalist Octopus]

It was illegal, period.

This period sounds far more rich for a paper. If handled correctly it could be a great subject; I would look into this era.


A large portion of our class was dedicated to that precisely though, I want to do something unique.

[TheGodlessUtopian]

A large portion of our class was dedicated to that precisely though, I want to do something unique.

What ideas are you mulling around? If you want effective help it is best to tell some details about what was talked about and what wasn't. What do you think would be unique to your teacher?

Also, is this a high school class or a college level class?

[Brosip Tito]

Homosexuality in Russia was never explicitly legalized after the revolution. However, the abolition of the Tsarist constitution, which made homosexuality illegal, obviously got rid of that law. This made it legal.

With the rise of Stalin, we saw the rise of homophobia on a systematic scale. Many were sent to gulags, beaten to death and murdered during the Great Purges.

[Capitalist Octopus]

I've attatched rough lecture notes the prof gave on his lectur eon Sex and Communism.

So he's mentioned aot of things, I would just go in to more detail on any one of the things specifically, and perhaps a specific time.

I'm thinking perhaps it would be interesting to measure how sexuality changed from Lenin's death to S talin, and why?