Hmmmm... Why am I having #DejaVu?

From 2022: "Vladimir #Putin has mentioned 'gender freedoms' more than once to justify #Russia’s war against #Ukraine and simultaneously crack down on its own citizens.

"Most directly, he alleged that Russian citizens who seek '#GenderFreedoms' (alongside foie gras and oysters) are part of the anti-Russian 'fifth column.'

"Gender and sexuality freedoms — or rights, as they are more typically called — are about #BodilyAutonomy, #diversity and #inclusivity. #Feminist and #LGBTQ+ activists assert that every human being deserves respect, recognition and equal rights regardless of their gender or sexuality.

"What’s the connection between Putin’s animosity toward Ukraine and toward #gender and #sexuality rights in Russia and around the world?

Gender and Putin’s regime

"Putin’s regime has increasingly relied on very conventional gender and sexual norms.

"When he first ascended to the presidency, image-makers used Putin’s #KGB background and penchant for physical fitness to frame him as a #macho #strongman who could reverse Russia’s waning power and 'remasculinize' the country after a decade of supposed geopolitical flaccidity in the wake of the #Soviet collapse.

"In other words, an inflexible and clearly #patriarchal notion of masculinity has been central to the Putin regime’s legitimacy.

"Russia’s foreign policy has relied on rigid gender norms as well. When Ukraine underwent its first pro-democracy revolution in 2004, Russian media questioned its leaders’ masculinity.

"Putin likewise used homophobic terms to dismiss #Georgia’s #RoseRevolution in 2003, responding to a reporter’s question by saying: 'A rose revolution — next they’ll come up with a light blue one.' In Russian, 'light blue' or goluboi is slang for “gay male.”

Gender and appealing to constituencies

"Putin has often been represented as the unquestioned leader of the pack ruling Russia — a masculinity-driven image.

"However, even as the leader of a personalist #dictatorship — a regime in which there are few institutional limits on the leader’s power — Putin must balance competing interests among significant elites and maintain at least the appearance of public support in order to be considered a legitimate ruler.

"Until 2020, Putin was using gendered language in his speeches to signal his alignment with a variety of elites and public constituencies that supported him. He was sending mixed signals to both relatively progressive Russians who value women’s roles in the workplace and to #conservatives wishing for a return to '#TraditionalFamilyValues,' in order to keep everyone in his camp.

"But after July 2021, when he published an essay contending Ukrainians and Russians are a single people, Putin no longer shied away from making sexist and LGBTQ+-phobic comments in prominent settings.

"At an October 2021 meeting of the Valdai Discussion Club — a Moscow-based think tank and discussion forum that Putin is closely associated with — he said teaching children about #GenderFluidity was 'truly monstrous' and 'verging on a crime against humanity.'"

Read more:
https://theconversation.com/vladimir-putin-the-czar-of-macho-politics-is-threatened-by-gender-and-sexuality-rights-180473
#USPol #TrumpIsPutinsPuppet #GBLTQRights #HumanRights #WomensRights #ToxicMasculinity #GenderFascists