From Poklonskaya to Buzovaya: Women who were the center of attention in 2017
Natasha Fedorenko
2017 is coming to an end, and we have already decided that, summing it up, let's not talk only about the good - during this time enough events happened that caused absolutely polar emotions. We chose ten very different, but quite noticeable women, who this year influenced our ideas about the country and the world, politics, career, success and rights. In addition, the female voice this year was heard more than ever.
Rose McGowan
One of the main feminists of Hollywood, without which, perhaps, would never have happened the proceedings with Harvey Weinstein. A year ago, McGowan hinted that a famous producer raped her, but called his name only a couple of months ago. Prior to this, the actress openly opposed Donald Trump, criticized the sexist recommendations of the screenwriters on her twitter (while losing her film roles) and launched the hashtag and the ROSE ARMY merchandise line - an unspoken symbol of the struggle for equality in Hollywood. In January of next year, her autobiography, Brave, will be released on the sexual abuse she faced in person. While McGowan was writing the book, Weinstein's agents (the journalists found out that even the Mossad staff were among them) had established real surveillance of her and terrorized her with threats.
Olga Buzova
This year, Olga Buzova’s instastoriz was bypassed by the popularity of Kim Kardashian’s videos, while the number of Russian subscribers reached the record 11 million for our country. After her divorce from her husband, a football player at the end of 2016, Buzova repainted her hair in a dark color, wrote hundreds of dramatic posts on social networks and became a singer. Her video for the viral track “Little Half” gathered 20 million views, and the concerts were held in full halls - from bulky provincial DCs to the trendy Moscow gay clubs.
During this year, Buzova managed to go to Chechnya at the invitation of the family of Ramzan Kadyrov, earn 16 million rubles a month from advertising on instagram, express her loyalty to Vladimir Putin in every possible way, come and are rumored to leave First Channel and speak countless times at corporate parties. The host of Doma 2, which they used to laugh at, used to be the most powerful machine for making money generated by social networks, and earned the title of at least 2017 pop discoveries.
At the same time, Buzova does not stop talking, as she would like to find a "strong man" and again "become naive." The paradoxical case of emancipation: having obtained financial independence, the heroine almost hides that she works a lot and continues to cultivate the image of a “fragile” woman. It is possible that this is what allowed her to quickly become a role model for young Russian women who dream of success, but not always about the first roles.
Elena Milashina
The journalist of Novaya Gazeta has become the author of one of the main investigations in 2017 - about the persecution and torture of gays in Chechnya. The facts were so monstrous that the Russian LGBT Network began an urgent evacuation of people from the republic, and the media began to actively discuss the practice of “honor killings” common in conservative communities. Ramzan Kadyrov, in response to the charges, said that in Chechnya "there are no gays at all." The investigation of Milashina (she published the second series in co-authorship with the author of Novaya Gazeta, Irina Gordienko) was supported by other Russian and Western media, however, the safety of the journalist herself after the publication of the text was in question, she admitted that she plans to leave Moscow for a while threats.
Aishat Kadyrova
In May 2017, Russian Tatler released a complimentary text about young designer Aishat Kadyrova, the 18-year-old daughter of the head of Chechnya, who became the head of the fashion house Firdaws (previously it belonged to her mother). An entire landing of social lionesses and instagram stars came to Kadyrov Junior's shows in Grozny. At about the same time, Novaya Gazeta launched a sensational investigation of the persecution and torture of gays in Chechnya - but this question was not raised by the family of the Chechen president.
At the end of October, Kadyrova came to Moscow with a return visit - she became the first designer, whose show was held in the newly opened Zaryadye Park, and Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week recognized him as the best of the season. At the end of the year, Kadyrov’s daughter opened a Lady A intimate shop in Grozny, which caused an ambiguous reaction among the Chechens, and recently was nominated for the Fashion New Year Awards 2018. In the phenomenon of Aishat Kadyrova, it is common to see the expansion of Muslim fashion, and the special position of Chechnya within Russia.
Chelsea Manning
This spring, the WikiLeaks informant came out of prison and became one of the most talked about women of the year. Manning spent in prison about seven years for the transfer of secret documents about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan - she felt that the public should be aware of American war crimes. The case of Manning became an occasion to discuss both the ethics of disclosing state information with a secret vulture, and the prison term itself.
But it is not only a matter of WikiLeaks and wars — during its imprisonment Manning became a real icon of the struggle for gender rights. Born to Bradley and having a transgender transition right in prison, Manning insisted on recognizing that gender dysphoria is a serious problem, requiring hormone therapy, changing the name and surgical correction of the genitals. The American court system didn’t provide such assistance to a prisoner before meeting Manning. Chelsea tried to commit suicide twice, wrote complaints, went on a hunger strike, and nevertheless got out of prison as the winner, seriously expanding her understanding of relations between the state and citizens and the rights of transgender people.
Ksenia Sobchak
The most unexpected candidate for the presidency of Russia is 2018. In October, Ksenia Sobchak, the host of the political program on Dozhd TV channel and a prominent figure in the domestic show business, said she was going to the polls under the slogan "Against All". While she is not registered as an official candidate (she has to collect signatures as well), political analysts argue whether they allow Sobchak to participate in the elections themselves, or they will not register them, retaining the role of a safe electoral race for the authorities.
Sobchak promises to withdraw his candidacy in favor of the opposition leader Alexei Navalny, if they register him. And on the straight line asks Vladimir Putin bold questions about the need for competition in elections. However, the unexpectedly frank response of the president only confirms the unreality of such a castling: Navalny will not be allowed to vote, and his name cannot be pronounced out loud by either the first persons or the employees of the central television.
Candidate Sobchak has supporters, but opponents still suspect her of colluding with the presidential administration and that during the election campaign she strongly distracts attention from Navalny, spraying and devaluing public discontent. In addition, Sobchak exploits the theme of women's representation in power - although the views of the candidate were always far from the ideas of equality and diversity, which are promoted by women politicians around the world. Someone considers Sobchak as an example of a female candidate who appeared at the wrong time for Russia, and someone reckons that the nomination of a well-known person who comes out with liberal slogans on TV, in any case, is more useful than harm.
Evgenia Magurina and Irina of Jerusalem
One of the first notable cases of discrimination in the workplace in Russia began with flight attendants Evgenia Magurina and Irina of Jerusalem. After Aeroflot deprived flight attendants of over forty years of age and clothes over 48, women felt humiliated, felt a hole in the budget, stopped flying abroad and decided to sue.
The company fought back for a long time, complaining that every “extra kilogram of weight costs her an additional 759 rubles a year,” and the district courts rejected the claims of Magurina and Jerusalem. As a result, flight attendants reached the Moscow City Court, secured the cancellation of discriminatory rules within Aeroflot, received compensation of five thousand rubles and returned the salary increment. The company said they were satisfied with the decision of the court. And Magurina with Jerusalem turned out to be the first swallows of the struggle for equal rights. However, after the victory over Aeroflot, Magurin left the company.
Diana Shurygin
The young man, whom the court found guilty of raping Diana Shurygina, received a prison sentence as early as December 2016, but the case was discussed the following year. According to the materials of the investigation, Shurygina, then another 16-year-old girl, came to the party, went too far with alcohol, which was used by 21-year-old Sergei Semenov, who forced her to have sex. The story received huge publicity due to the show “Let Them Talk” on Channel One, where Diana came several times: viewers invariably informed her that she herself was to blame for what happened, looks too good for a victim of violence, and instead of suffering allows herself to sing and twist in car on the front camera, which characterizes it as a "whore and a liar."
For the country, Diana has become a meme and an object of hatred. In support of Semyonov, signatures were collected, and Diana herself was accused of trying to cash in on the criminal case and unwind at the expense of speeches on TV - men's magazines issued instructions on how to avoid accusations of rape by young people. The amount of insults to Shuryginoy clearly showed that Russian society is accustomed to demonizing women, adheres to tradition and is not ready for any discussion of violence.
For the liberal press and activists of women's movements, Shurygin, on the contrary, has become the banner of the fight against sexual violence, bullying and stereotypes. In the finale of history, Shurygina began to participate in patriotic fashion campaigns, however, Diana’s advocates insisted that it was not her views, but the importance of a social problem.
Tarana Burke
After Hollywood started talking about harassment, the campaign spread to social networks. Under the hashtag #metoo (like Ukrainian # I’m afraid to say just bigger), millions of women around the world told how they faced harassment. The author of the hashtag was Tarana Burke, who ten years ago, being the director of the Brooklyn Center, which helped girls from minority groups, faced complaints from her charges about sexual violence in the family and began to support them. Before the release of "Me Too" in a large Internet, Burke was only a district activist in New York, and is now known all over the world, and this is a very good example of the fact that local communities have much more influence than it seems.
Natalia Poklonskaya
State Duma deputy and former prosecutor of the Crimea this year is not famous for lawmaking. All forces were sent to fight the film "Matilda" Alexei Uchitele about the mistress of Emperor Nicholas II. Shot with the money of the Ministry of Culture (and, as a result, coolly met with criticism), the Poklonskaya cinema considered an insult to Russian history and Orthodoxy even before the show. The deputy initiated inspections by the Prosecutor General’s Office, sent 100,000 appeals of indignant citizens to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, issued an emotional appeal to the people against the backdrop of Red Square and gave dozens of interviews on the subject. In general, she finally secured the image of a woman-fighter for traditional values, faith and everything Russian, simultaneously becoming one of the main media figures of this year.
However, if at first the film really had serious problems - radical public associations opposed the trailer, activists attacked the premiere, and cinemas refused to show - then in the final Poklonskaya was thrown by the Ministry of Culture and the Romanovs house, and even the Duma colleagues. Poklonskaya even had to solemnly abandon the "noble titles", which she had previously assigned.
The point here, of course, is not only in Poklonskaya, but also in general state symptoms. This year Kramol was found not only in Matilde, but also in the ballet Nureyev, which premiered at the Bolshoi Theater the other day, but was under a big question: production director Kirill Serebrennikov is under house arrest because of the high-profile case "Seventh studios "and embezzlement charges, which his colleagues believe are unfounded. Children's Ombudsman Anna Kuznetsova discussed with the president the importance of the school course "Family Studies", or "Lessons from Family Happiness". And the ROC suddenly offered to return to the interpretation of the "ethnic sacrifice" in relation to the shooting of the royal family.