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    1 in 5 Russians want gays and lesbians ‘eliminated,’ survey finds

    in Politics and World Events

    Posted

    1 in 5 Russians want gays and lesbians ‘eliminated,’ survey finds

    Elizabeth Kuhr
     

    Nearly 1 in 5 Russians want to “eliminate” gay and lesbian people from society, according to a new survey, a finding that has incited fear and anger among LGBTQ activists in the country.

    “There is this feeling you are targeted, and that 18 percent believe I should be eliminated is just awful,” said Svetlana Zakharova, an out lesbian living in St. Petersburg. “It was very emotional.”

    The survey, published this week by the Levada Center, a nongovernmental research organization based in Moscow, also found that 32 percent of respondents wanted to “isolate” gay men and lesbians from society, compared to 9 percent who wanted to “assist” them.

    One of the researchers, Ekaterina Kochergina, said she and her team wanted to measure the “social distance” — which in this context is unrelated to the global pandemic — between the Russian population and groups considered by some to be “deviant.” In addition to sexual minorities, the survey looked at how ostracized feminists, pedophiles, terrorists and people living with HIV/AIDS are from Russian society.

    “The more unfavorable, the more social distance between us and them,” Kochergina explained.

    Kochergina acknowledged moral concerns about the phrasing of the questions and the selection of identities included in the survey. She said the use of the word “eliminate” in the survey means “to make something disappear from your reality,” not to physically destroy people, and that the questions were about identity groups as “phenomena.”

    “A lot of people in Russia would not want to see gay people existing,” said Kochergina. “Not necessarily to kill them but to have a society where this does not exist as a phenomenon.”

    The survey, which polled over 1,600 people from 50 Russian regions in face-to-face interviews, was part of the Levada Center’s ongoing research for its “Soviet Man” project. Started in 1989, Soviet Man aims to document the changing social perspectives of Russian people since the fall of the Soviet Union.

    “The idea is to try to understand what is the ‘Soviet person,’” Kochergina said. “It’s an archetype.” She said that while perspectives on social issues are evolving, some Russians still harbor negative opinions of people who are different. “Other means dangerous,” she explained.

    Zakharova, who serves as a board member and the communications manager for the Russian LGBT Network, the country’s largest LGBTQ organization, said the Levada Center’s survey was damaging and could trigger more hatred in a nation where “the level of hatred and violence … toward different groups” is already “very high.”

    “These questions published read ‘how to deal with those people,’ and there is the answer: ‘liquidate,’” said Zakharova, who thinks the language used should be illegal. “It’s not about phenomena for me; it’s totally about social groups.”

    Kochergina chalked the 18 percent up to Russians “who are very aggressive toward anyone who is marked as ‘the other.’” These people, she said, would vote to “eliminate” or “isolate” anyone different from themselves.

    Zakharova, however, fears that the wording of the survey questions, particularly the “eliminate” one — even if it was not intended to mean physical elimination through violence — will lead Russians to believe that this is in the realm of possibility.

    “It is very scary and very worrying,” she said, adding that there are anti-LGBTQ Russian “groups that are very active and very aggressive and very visible, and they feel supported by the government.”

    Russia passed a law in June 2013 that bans distributing information on LGBTQ relationships and issues to minors. Under the legislation, also known as the “gay propaganda law,” any act or event that authorities deem to promote homosexuality to children is punishable by a fine. After the law passed, the country saw an increase in anti-LGBTQ violence, according to a 2014 Human Rights Watch report.

    In a 2019 Russian LGBT Network poll, more than half of the LGBTQ people surveyed reported experiencing at least one type of violence or abuse due to their gender identity and/or sexual orientation: 56 percent reported experiencing psychological abuse, 12 percent reported physical violence and 4 percent reported sexual abuse. Over the past several years, there have also been a number of disturbing reports of state-sponsored detention, violence and torture against gay and bisexual men in Chechnya, a semiautonomous Russian region

    “The state gives the signal that LGBT people are not real people, that they are second- or even third-class citizens,” Zakharova said. “This is scary.”

    Despite reports of increased violence and the enactment of the “gay propaganda law,” Kochergina said the situation has improved over the past three decades, when the Soviet Man project first started.

    “Things from a political point of view have become worse, but still somehow Russian consciousness tries to be better,” she said, noting that in 1989, the survey’s first year, 35 percent of those polled wanted to “eliminate” gays and lesbians, compared to 18 percent in the latest findings. This year’s Soviet Man survey also found 79 percent of Russians want to “assist” people with HIV/AIDS, an increase from 53 percent in 1989.

    “It’s nice to see that actually the willingness to see homosexuals, to accept them, is actually rising,” Kochergina said.

    She pointed to a separate survey released by the Levada Center last year that found Russian attitudes toward LGBTQ people — while still predominantly negative — have improved, especially among young, educated women. Twenty percent of last year’s participants said they completely agree that gay men and lesbians should have equal rights in Russia, compared to just 7 percent in 2013 when the “gay propaganda law” was passed. The 2019 data also found that those with gay and lesbian acquaintances have more positive attitudes toward sexual minorities.

    While Zakharova said the situation for the country’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer community is indeed dire, the Russian people are “not as homophobic as authorities or federal mass media try to portray them.” While the government may be treating the community worse, she added, the situation on the whole “is slightly changing for the better.”

     

    https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/1-5-russians-want-gays-lesbians-eliminated-survey-finds-n1191851

    “God Control” thread

    in ARCHIVE - The MADAME X Forum

    Posted

    11 hours ago, jonski43 said:

    If staff have been furloughed or laid off, I expect record companies will be focusing on the key artists who will continue to generate revenue like Dua Lipa and The Weeknd.

    Some remixes for a year old album for an artist who doesn't chart probably aren't top of the list.

    Also, how can the dance chart function when clubs are closed?

    I suspect she'll release them when lockdown is over and people can fit the dancefloors.

    Or at this point, just give them away for free as a gift to fans in these times...or for purchase/stream on a remix EP. I know, sounds crazy, but even if we were in normal times, feels like the time frame for these remixes is already too late. Feels almost silly to even try to make them chart at this point. Put that focus on new work for the future, and let the fans have them as is.

     

    “God Control” thread

    in ARCHIVE - The MADAME X Forum

    Posted

    "and many others"....  :lmao:

    Why do folks always act like a bunch of others out there share their opinion? I haven't come across a single fan who thinks this song (or video) is "noise".  :lmao:

    If anything, this song and video are probably the most universally praised thing from the fanbase regarding this album.

    Coronavirus

    in Politics and World Events

    Posted

    On 3/16/2020 at 4:13 PM, Narendra Sen said:

    So I watched Contagion cause why not :lol:  and I can't say I was blown away/terrified by it like some people have claimed. Maybe the fact that we all are basically in this movie as of right now made me immune to the story? (yes, I chose those words :tongue: ). The film is very accurate and very, VERY similar to what we're going through (the situation is much more grim and tragic in it). It's a well made film, but I expected to be more thrilling, a twist or something. It went by very quickly. I really liked the score though :wow:  

    Anybody else gonna watch this while they're at home? :naughty:

    Fuck. No.

     

     

    :lmao:

    CoronaVirus: Social Distancing Check In

    in Politics and World Events

    Posted

    The shelter-at-home/social-distancing thing isn't the hard part for me...it's the anxiety that just doesn't go away. The fear of not just what's going on, but how it's being handled (and NOT handled, frankly), what's true vs what's not true, what's to come, etc...  Just trying to keep calm and sensible, while staying properly informed, is far harder than it seems. I'm forcing myself to take several days break from media consumption because it's just too much.

    Even making a grocery/supplies run feels scary. It shouldn't, but it does. Going only 1 day a week (if that), first thing in the morning. Worked pretty well the other day.

    Coronavirus

    in Politics and World Events

    Posted

    1 hour ago, funkydita said:

    I find it very telling of the fractured, selfish and myopic times we’re living in, led by total fuckwits, that there’s no co-ordinated and strategic interanational response that trickles down to agreed local tactical executions. 

    THIS.

     

    1 hour ago, funkydita said:

    I mean, all this talk of being on a war footing, at war with the virus blah de fucking blah, maybe treat it like one of those actual wars that they all so enjoy.

    Absolute cunting fuckery *sigh*.

    Because they can't profit off of it like they can with war...

    Coronavirus

    in Politics and World Events

    Coronavirus

    in Politics and World Events

    Posted

    11 hours ago, boy skeffington said:

    I agree. Of course to many people it's annoying and frustrating to stay home if they are healthy and feel fine. BUT they may not be showing symptoms. Staying home is not really so much about containment at this point but hopefully creating a buffer so all the cases don't crush and keep crushing the healthcare systems that can't keep up. 

    I'm blue in the face explaining to young, healthy or extraverted people to just stay home for the good of everyone. It's a selfless thing to do. I actually hope most countries go on mandated quarantine for a few weeks so people feel obligated to stay home rather than it being a choice. The government mandate means that people with jobs that can't be done remotely get to stay home too. 

    Stay well everyone. 

     

    4 hours ago, dcbyebyebaby said:

    Literally none of the people I know are taking this seriously. My cousin went to NYC for spring break. My friends on instagram from college are all drinking for St Patricks day in bars. Like are they not scared at all?

     

    THIS.

    SO many I know, especially those over 60 with underlying health issues, are all not taking this seriously...thinking they can just go about as normal. I just think to myself...are fucking kidding me!!!??? 

    And don't get me started on young people. The amount of these social media personalities on all their insta stories getting on airplanes and taking their fancy trips right now like nothing is different... :ohmy: WTF?????!!!!!!   It's really a wake up call to how entitled we are in the US.

    I don't understand why it's so hard for so many to accept some sacrifice now so we can all be better/safer/healthier in the long run for the greater good...? 

    Why is it so hard to stay your ass home?

     

     

    8 hours ago, LSD said:

     

    What a dumb fuck.

    Coronavirus

    in Politics and World Events

    Posted

    Trying not to panic, but I'm not the most optimistic person so it's certainly a struggle right now. Having a parent who is immunocompromised, I'm scared shitless. Also going through a little health issue of my own... so that doesn't make me feel any better right now either. 

    And yet, most people are still kind of going about as normal. People still out and about like nothing is all that different. Only store shelves that were empty were hand soap at Target, and 1 section at Costco. But plenty of other stores have stock on their shelves right now. Nothing quite like those Whole Food pics above thank god. Only thing you can't really find is masks and hand sanitizer. Playing it safe and got enough supplies of basics and necessities to last a good while though.

    As for shutting things down, probably should have been done weeks ago. But as an introvert anyway, staying my ass at home is fine by me.

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