• Chapter 1. The Power of Sex: Culture, Gender, and Political Legitimacy


• Chapter 2. Putin the Sex back in Politics: Gender Norms, Sexualization, and Political Legitimation in Russia


• Chapter 3. Who's Macho, Who's Gay?: Pro- and Anti-Kremlin Activists Gendering Russia's Political Leadership


• Chapter 4. Fight Club: Gendered Activism on Patriotism, Conscription, and Pro-Natalism


• Chapter 5. Everywhere and Nowhere: Sexism and Homophobia in Russian Politics


• Chapter 6. When Pussy Riots: Feminist Activism in Russia


• Conclusion. "The First Time, Do it for Love": Sexism, Power, and Politics under Putin


• Appendix: Methodology


• Bibliography


• Index

Valerie Sperling is Professor of Political Science at Clark University. She is the author of Altered States: The Globalization of Accountability and Organizing Women in Contemporary Russia: Engendering Transition.

Sex, Politics, and Putin investigates how gender stereotypes and sexualization have been used as tools of political legitimation in contemporary Russia. Despite their enmity, regime allies and detractors alike have wielded traditional concepts of masculinity, femininity, and homophobia as a means of symbolic endorsement or disparagement of political leaders and policies.