Other Russias: Homosexuality and the Crisis of Post-Soviet Identity

This unprecedented book examines the explosion of homosexual discourse in post-Soviet Russia from the turbulent years of the immediate post-communist era through the more troubling recent developments of Vladimir Putin’s regime. Focusing on concepts of sexuality, gender, and national identity within competing portrayals of same-sex desire, Brian James Baer explores a variety of popular media, including fiction, film, television, music, and print to detail how homosexuality in today’s Russia has come to signify a surprising and often contradictory array of uniquely post-Soviet concerns.

Brian James Baer is Professor of Russian Language, Literature and Translation Studies at Kent State University. He has published widely on issues of gender, sexuality, and cross-cultural communication, and is founding editor of the journal Translation and Interpreting Studies (TIS).