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

摘要

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.