ABSTRACT
The representation of women’s sexuality in public academic discourse in Russia differs from its representation in the West. Only a few research projects have been devoted to the analysis of women’s sexuality (e.g. Golod, 1999, 2000; Temkina, 1999). Feminist discourse in the field is still poorly developed. The existing academic discourse mainly reproduces traditional gender stereotypes; with only a few exceptions, sexuality in general is considered to be a marginal sphere of research. It is very difficult for the Russian researcher to locate her-or himself within contemporary Western discussion on women’s sexuality (feminist and postmodern), owing to the poor development of corresponding discourses in Russia. Moreover, since a number of different forms of sexuality, hierarchy and sexual domination fall outside the frame of such discourse, they do not attract academic attention. This vacuum in the discourse forces the researcher to ‘open’ phenomena which were effectively closed up until the 1990s and which are still not considered sophisticated topics for academic research. One of the fields in which this operates is the conceptualisation of forced narratives (interviews) about women’s sexuality in real everyday life.
