ABSTRACT
This chapter explores mediated discourses of intersectional feminism in Russia through the case of Manizha, who is a singer as well as a women’s and minority rights advocate of Tajik origin. Whilst Manizha’s participation in the 2021 Eurovision Song Contest with the song ‘Russian Woman’ amplified her international popularity, in Russia it triggered a racist and misogynist backlash (Wiedlack and Zabolotnyi 2023; Zhaivoronok 2021). Manizha’s music performance and her multi-platform media presence, including her reaction to this backlash, shed light on both the feminist meso-celebrity’s positionality and dilemmas of intersectional sensibility in the contemporary Russian media environment. This makes Manizha’s case emblematic of the broader trends within Russian popular feminism and celebrity culture. At the same time, it highlights the complexity of the ideas of intersectionality and intersectional feminism in the post-Soviet context.
