Between Mail-Order Brides and Turbo-Folk Women: Eastern Europe's Sexualities in Transition.

Sexuality and Gender in Postcommunist Eastern Europe and Russia. Edited by Aleksandar Stulhofer and Theo Sandfort. Binghamton, NY: The Haworth Press, 2005, 410 pages. Paper, $24.95.

"I felt an intensity of emotion, a fleshly intimacy, that seemed to be based on confinement and therefore could never be duplicated in the West. While extramarital affairs in the West were mainly a result of middle-class boredom, here I felt they served deeper needs. With politics and public life so circumscribed, there was a huge well of authentic emotion that even the most ideal marriages could never consume. And perhaps because you could never escape from the cold, even when indoors, a warm body at night was not enough; you needed one during the day too." (R. D. Kaplan, Balkan Ghosts: The Warmth of our Bodies, New York: St. Martin's, 1993, pp. 198-199).

So wrote American journalist Robert D. Kaplan about his visit to Bulgaria in the 1980s, still during communism. Kaplan traveled expensively through the Balkans and was the first writer from the U.S. to warn of the coming calamities in the Balkan region. The multi-layered complexity of societal relations reflected in his writings, intricately interwoven with political ideologies, dazzling historical patterns, and ancient cultural traditions, is a phenomenon that has fascinated many a foreigner and has attracted some research.

Sexuality and gender relations under communism were among the best-kept taboos, both because of the assumed equality among men and women in the workforce and because of the perception that the topics of sexuality were a Western import, hence a threat to the state. As time has reshaped the political and economic outlook of the Eastern European region, including Russia, the backbone of the former Soviet empire, important questions emerge: how have sexuality and gender relations reflected the transformations in the newly democratic societies? How have the influx of Western ideologies and the availability of new opportunities across national borders altered attitudes toward sexuality?

For those who long to see academic research and analysis of the factors shaping sexuality and gender in the region, Sexuality and Gender in Postcommunist Eastern Europe and Russia is a most welcomed event. This incredible edited volume includes 16 chapters, each followed by a bibliography, which are divided almost equally into four categories: Postcommunist Constructions of Gender and Sexuality, Sexual Politics and Sexual Identities, The Rise of Sex Markets, and Sexual Pleasures and Sexual Risks. The editors have included research on most of Eastern Europe's formerly communist countries: Belarus, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Poland, Romania, and Russia. Missing from the list of post-communist countries in the book are Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Moldova, and the Ukraine. One could argue, however, that cultural and political similarities in the Baltic region may compensate for the presence only of Estonia, and can excuse the exclusion of Macedonia out of all newly formed independent republics of the former Yugoslav Federation. Still, the book is all-inclusive with respect to gender and sexuality issues, regional specifics, and cultural traditions in Eastern Europe and Russia.

What is curious about the book's organization is that the chapters in the first three divisions focus primarily on single countries, while the fourth part (on sexual pleasures and sexual risks) includes articles of comparative analysis between three or more countries, complemented by tables and figures. The writers included in the edition are mostly natives of the countries that they explore, and represent several different disciplines: journalism, psychology, women's studies, sociology, population studies, civil activism, sexual health and sex education, literature and culture, and economies in transition. Throughout the book, the reader encounters diversity, not only with regard to research methods and sources (personal interviews, anecdotal evidence, comparative and qualitative studies), but also with regard to writing styles and analysis.

The book brings many valuable insights to both the American reader and to natives of the East-European region, and its real value may be different for the two types of readers. To the American reader, who inherently perceived communism as the enemy for many decades, the book is more than just a compilation of research on gender and sexuality issues. The edition provides invaluable insights into the political, economic, and social processes that have taken place since the fall of communism, and is the first body of work to place sexuality research in the perspective of transition. Sexuality and Gender is a unique tool for understanding the complex transformations and the cultural traditions influencing sexual behavior (such as Serbia's "state-directed non-development" or the sworn virgins phenomenon); the impact of ethnic wars that have challenged the definition of national identity and have reshaped social relations; and even the generational transmission of traditional values in a time of intense Western influence and global culture of commercialism, sex images, and social liberation. The book is fascinating to the external viewer precisely because it puts gender-related research in context: politico-geographical, historic, cultural, economic, and social.

To the reader who possesses an insider's perspective of the local cultures, the book is significant with its unprecedented scientific findings, while its contextual frame is more of a scholastic proof of long-realized common truths about our societies in transition. It comes as no surprise that national governments are reluctant to recognize gay and lesbian rights (see Ch. 2 on Romania), or that the Catholic and Orthodox Churches fervently oppose sexual education (Ch. 4 on Croatia and Ch. 5 on Russia), or that is has been a painstaking process for Eastern Europe's largely underdeveloped and underfunded non-governmental sector to implement tangible changes in issues such as sexual health, trafficking of women, and the civil rights of sexual minorities. The book is valuable, however, as one of the few sources of research on sexuality during the post-communist period, particularly with its in-depth analysis of social activism, empirical studies, popular culture, and media images. While providing a political, social, and cultural context for gender and sexuality research is the book's primary accomplishment to the Western viewer, coining details and examining specifics may be of greatest value to the native reader.

The editors' introduction is particularly helpful in outlining the big picture of what is to come in the next 390 pages. The introduction prepares the reader for the ideological changes that have occurred in the post-communist years and hints at how those may have influenced attitudes toward gender and sexuality. For example, the editors state that, after communism, "the state ceased to exert almost total control over the society," which led to the "absence of the rule of law," "delegitimization of the public sphere," and eventually to "a culture of pessimism and cynicism." The transition toward more individualistic societies led to "the atrophy of traditional social bonds," while rising unemployment and the high levels of uncertainty and social insecurity "created a new and oppressive social reality." The editors also pay close attention to the profound changes that occurred after 1989 in the three pillars of social regulation: religion, family, and societal institutions. The introduction also ponders the different components of the HIV/AIDS problem: sex education, sexual minorities, sexual permissiveness, and the sex trade--which are all tackled in the articles on the East-European countries in the book.

Another important aspect of the post-communist transition, appropriately stated in the introduction, is the change in gender order, which manifests itself in numerous negative effects on the lives of women (e.g., feminization of poverty, domestic violence and sexual abuse, trafficking of women, shrinking of the social services and benefits such as maternal leaves and mothers' allowances, etc.). The contributors of the chapter on Slovenia call the new democracy "a male democracy"; the authors of the chapter on Serbia refer to gender oppression as "the paradox of democracy"; and in the entry on Russia, the authors hold that "liberalism has undermined the arguments for gender equality from the Soviet era." Indirectly, other phenomena of the post-communist transition have also contributed to a deteriorating status of women: the lack of sexual education, economic devastation that is conducive to engaging in prostitution, personal distress, social fragmentation, and the accelerated decline of the traditional family, which has brought more marriages to an end and has lowered the likelihood of marrying in many East-European societies.

Among the most compelling chapters in the book are those on the mail-order brides and the turbo-folk women. In the chapter on Russian mail-order brides, Tatiana Osipovich describes a specific phenomenon of the post-communist Russian reality--a form of sex trafficking made possible by the widespread use of the internet. Feeding off the large demand for foreign brides, numerous matchmaking agencies flourished during the 1990s, not unlike in previous decades when Asian and Latino brides were the fashion. In the ads, Russian brides were advertised to American men as educated, beautiful, and submissive, happy to be sex objects, yet exceedingly fond of traditional family values. The image of the post-Soviet woman was contrasted to the contemporary American woman, who was dominant, career-oriented, selfish, and materialistic. Osipovich looks at the U.S. public discourse on Russian mail-order brides and criticizes the media for making it appear as if sexual abuse and domestic violence are problems only of the "others"--the foreign brides--and not of "women in developed and progressive societies, such as the United States."

Chapter 6, dealing with gender and sexuality in Serbia during the 1990s, reveals another fascinating phenomena of the new Balkan sex culture: pornography in the mass media and the turbo folk women. In this beautifully written article, Tea Nicolic begins with the acknowledgement that "to deal with sexuality in Serbia is ... a multilayered and very difficult task." For one, "sexual liberalization arrived in Serbia before the political liberalization of the media." While sexology was vulgarized in the media and pornography was widespread, sexuality was used to serve political means in the newly emerging independent nation that had traditionally regarded sex as taboo. Incredibly, political parties defended pornography, assuming it would promote reproduction. Sexuality was also used when a political opponent had to be slandered, as sexuality "was something that could be publicly held against everybody." The rapid change in Serbian society and the formation of the new values reflected also in the popularization of the turbo-folk women: female kitsch-folk singers who, with their explicit sexuality and not necessarily much talent, became role models and celebrities. As I can attest from personal observations in Bulgaria and Serbia, "sexuality is something that turbo folk manipulates, for sex is used for the purposes of advertising and making a profit."

Nicolic's article is insightful also with the revelation that in conducting sexuality research in the country, "middle-aged people are particularly unwilling to provide answers to sexological questionnaires, and most of the research is therefore conducted on young people, particularly high school and university students." The article is illustrative of the challenges to gender and sexuality research in Serbia (as just one example in post-communist Eastern Europe), where, as the author metaphorically described it, researchers "must gather information from different sources and assemble the qualitative sexual map of Serbia, almost like a puzzle." This and other chapters in the book point out that research on sexuality is insufficient and that, as the editors warn, "post-communist countries lack large-scale sex surveys," a challenge that makes this edited volume even more significant.

Across the chapters, contributors place gender and sexuality research in Eastern Europe in the context of the countries' long-term goal of joining the European Union, which is a major motivator for political, economic, and social change. In Chapter 2, for example, Voichita Nachescu states that the weight of arguments against the discrimination of gays and lesbians lies not in the conviction of the political elite in recognizing the civil rights of all citizens, but rather in their particular interest in passing non-discrimination laws to cover the requirements for European Union membership. One thus questions whether the motivation for change within the East European societies has come from within, from the conviction of the people to overthrow the old regime and seek better opportunities for themselves. The fact that social change toward democracy and individual liberty, as understood by the Western societies, are induced by the lucrative option of joining the European Union, may speak to the shallowness and fragility of the new norms and values. Indeed, there is already an anti-discrimination law in most East European countries, but that does not mean sexual minorities are accepted within their own societies. Social change does not happen overnight. The challenges of the region's complex transitional development therefore present an opportunity for authentic research on sexuality and gender, as the communities advance in their slow but steady post-communist transformation.

Sexuality and Gender in Postcommunist Eastern Europe and Russia is a rich source for researchers in the field. Every time I have mentioned it, the book has stirred interest in my East-European friends, colleagues, and specialists on gender and trafficking issues from Eastern Europe and Central Asia. It is a wonderful tool to all, both Westerners and natives of the region, and I strongly recommend it as a reference, study material, or for personal enrichment.

Reviewed by Natalia Miteva, BA, Maryland School of Public Policy, University of Maryland, 4709 Berwyn Rd., College Park, MD, 20740; e-mail: [e-mail].