“If you agree to have a sugar daddy, isn’t it logical that you’ll get yourself chopped into pieces?” A socio-anthropological study of anti-feminist rhetoric on Russian-speaking Internet platforms in cases related to gender-based violence.

Abstract: The following paper is a socio-anthropological study of the anti-feminist and victim-blaming rhetoric that characterizes debates about cases related to gender-based violence on Russian-speaking Internet platforms. The study approaches the topic with two main questions in mind, namely: what are the common arguments of victim-blaming on Russian-speaking Internet platforms? How does the anti-feminist rhetoric on Russian-speaking Internet platforms relate to the cultural and socio-historic context of post-Soviet reality? The study used the renowned cases of the Khachaturian sisters and the Anastasia Yeshchenko murder as points of departure for data-collection as they created intense online discussions on Russian-speaking platforms. The analysis of the discussions spurred by these events demonstrates how comments to online articles and Twitter posts about gender-based violence on Russian-speaking platforms were characterized by a victim-blaming and anti-feminist rhetoric. The most common victim-blaming arguments were the following: the victim deserved it, something about the victim makes their victimhood questionable, and that violence is healthy, natural and/or sometimes required of heterosexual men. The study suggests that the victim-blaming tendencies and the anti-feminist sentiments expressed on the online platforms should be understood in their cultural and socio-historic context, as linked to post-Soviet ideas surrounding gender, sex, ideal victims and masculinity.