Back in the USSR - article on sex in the Soviet Union

Here is a link to an article on sex in the USSR.

https://www.rbth.com/society/2013/09/30/sex_in_the_soviet_union_myths_and_mores_30325.html

I just scanned the article - but have bookmarked it for further scrutiny - interesting! I did find the following rather humorous:

“Prostitutes waited on the platforms of large suburban train stations. They sat with their legs stretched out and their prices written on the soles of their shoes, so that any passerby could check it out. There were two price levels for prostitutes in Moscow: either three or five rubles.”

They sat with their legs stretched out and their prices written on the soles of their shoes, so that any passerby could check it out.

I had to laugh with this too. The working girls must have had to rewrite the prices very often if they did a lot of walking.

Thanks. It's an interesting article about a different (long gone?) era.

The site seems to be generally interesting if one is interested in Russian culture

This reminds of a Russian/Soviet artist, who back in the days of the USSR when he was young, drew an incredible amount of erotic art (or perhaps better described as porn) for himself. His drawings featured quite explicit sex scenes with Soviet connotations, Young Pioneers with their red scarves and little else and so on. His name is Evgenij Kozlov.

His early work was published in a book called ‘Das Leningrader Album’. Really worth the while for anyone interested in less than usual erotic imagery. Some of is early drawings resemble Outsider Art/Art Brut in a way, especially since at the time he was self-taught.

And a Google search for his images gave some good results with quite a few drawings from the Leningrader Album.

https://www.google.com/search?q=Evgenij%20Kozlov&tbm=isch&client=opera&hs=2v9&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CAEQv7IFahcKEwjwuvqa7ID7AhUAAAAAHQAAAAAQEQ&biw=1880&bih=970&dpr=1

Good article. The early communists were usually proponents of ‘free love’ as they called sex outside of marriage in those days. They believed marriage was part of the bourgeois establishment and needed to be abolished. The shift to a very repressed, almost Victorian view of sex is pretty dramatic. It more or less aligns with the USSR’s shift from being an internally revolutionary society to a status quo one under Lenin’s later years and was consolidated under Stalin.

Good article. The early communists were usually proponents of ‘free love’ as they called sex outside of marriage in those days. They believed marriage was part of the bourgeois establishment and needed to be abolished.

True about the early Bolsheviks, let's say early to mid 1920s. But at the same time, party cadres and true Bolsheviks were expected to behave exemplarily with the proper Bolshevik morality, meaning no excesses in drink, taking leisure time, indulging in excessive sex etc. Also donating part of their pay back to the party, working hard and setting a good example for the masses. They were expected to be very serious about their commitment to ideology.

Lots of good intentions in the early days, both in showing exemplary conduct and in allowing the general populace some hereto denied freedoms.

Lenin, the old chap indulged in some typical bourgeois pastimes himself though, in the tradition of keeping a mistress on the side, Inessa Armand. No divorce for him.

True about the early Bolsheviks, let's say early to mid 1920s. But at the same time, party cadres and true Bolsheviks were expected to behave exemplarily with the proper Bolshevik morality, meaning no excesses in drink, taking leisure time, indulging in excessive sex etc. Also donating part of their pay back to the party, working hard and setting a good example for the masses. They were expected to be very serious about their commitment to ideology.

Lots of good intentions in the early days, both in showing exemplary conduct and in allowing the general populace some hereto denied freedoms.

Lenin, the old chap indulged in some typical bourgeois pastimes himself though, in the tradition of keeping a mistress on the side, Inessa Armand. No divorce for him.

Shock: the leaders were hypocrites. 🤣

Does anybody know what the soviet stance on gynecology was?

N.

Shock: the leaders were hypocrites. 🤣

Ha ha … drunks and alcoholics and let's not get into Beria's activities when out prowling the streets of Moscow.

However, one could say that the lower functionaries, the middle cadres were earnest enough in the early years.

Ha ha … drunks and alcoholics and let's not get into Beria's activities when out prowling the streets of Moscow.

However, one could say that the lower functionaries, the middle cadres were earnest enough in the early years.

That seems to be the case with many movements.