Gender and Queer Narratives in 18th-Century Russia

Session Submission Type: Panel

Affiliate Organization: Q*ASEEES: Society for the Promotion of LGBTQ Slavic, East European, & Eurasian Studies

Brief Description

The panel examines how gender, sexuality, and power intersected in 18th-Century Russia. The papers challenge traditional narratives by exploring how legal and social frameworks regulated sexual behavior, how queer identities existed within historical contexts, and how rulers’ personal lives influenced state ideologies. By engaging with gender and sexuality in this era, these works contribute to a broader understanding of 18thc Russia and its complex moral and political transformations.

Sub Unit

• Gender/LGBTQ Studies

Chair

• Brian L. Davies, U of Texas at San Antonio

Papers

• Sexual Assault and Honor in Petrine Russia - Carol Kira Belkin Stevens, Colgate U

• Queering Peter the Great: Ways to Conceptualize Tsar’s Transgressive Sexuality - Hanna Filipova, U of Gothenburg (Sweden)

• 'About Two Women Married to Each Other': Female Husbands, Domestic Violence, and Exploration of Trans*History in Russia - Marianna Georgievna Muravyeva, U of Helsinki (Finland)

Discussant

• Michelle DenBeste, Eastern Washington U