Queer History of Russia and Eastern Europe

The history of sexuality is a new area of scholarly inquiry. It grew out of feminist examinations of women's history as well as the development of both masculinity studies and gender studies. Existing work on gay and lesbian history tends to focus on the United States, Britain, and, to a lesser extent, the rest of Western Europe. One possible explanation for this stems from the fact that many historians investigating homosexuality link the development of homosexual identity, as opposed to homosexual behavior, to processes of modernity dating to the Victorian era. Despite this focus on the West, some scholars have begun to look at other times and places in order to broaden their understanding of homosexuality. Such a trend exists in both Russian and E ast European historiography. This article attempts to give an overview of some of the sources and developments to date in the field of Russian and East European gay studies for those people who may be interested but are unfamiliar with the topic.

The earliest scholarship dealing with homosexuality in Russia is that of Simon Karlinsky.1 Karlinsky authored several articles that attempted to bring to light Russia's gay history. Initially, rather than focus specifically on one particular time peri od, Karlinsky outlined the more general existence of both homosexual behavior and identity within the Russian experience. Karlinsky's work simultaneously pointed out a tradition of homosexuality in Russia and underscored the need for more intellectual inv estigation into this subject matter. Although his work does not necessarily provide the most in-depth discussions, it serves as an excellent starting point for anyone interested in the subject of gay and lesbian history in Russia.

Laura Engelstein has produced the best scholarship dealing with Russian gay and lesbian history. Although she deals specifically with gay and lesbian issues, she also manages to tie this subject to a larger discussion of the dynamics of sexuality in t urn-of-the-century Russia. This is particularly true of her monograph, The Keys to Happiness: Sex and the Search for Modernity in Fin-de-Siecle Russia, and is also apparent in other articles.2 When dealing with early Soviet ideology, Engelstein provides a thorough explanation of how and why Soviet attitudes developed as they did. For anyone interested in pursuing this subject, Engelstein's work provides a good vantage point from which to begin exploring other sources.

Russian scholars have also conducted research on gay and lesbian issues. The most well known scholarship of this type is that of Igor Kon.3 Kon explains contemporary (post-communist) attitudes toward "sexual minorities" by giving an overview of how th ese attitudes were shaped by the Soviet experience. His work serves as a useful source for those interested in more recent gay and lesbian issues. His utilization of opinion polls makes for a very informative read. Kon provides a mixed bag of both positiv e and negative reactions and developments in the 1980s and early 1990s, all of which are well grounded in detailed and solid research. Kon's work cannot be categorized as gay and lesbian history per se, but instead falls under the broader umbrella of gend er studies. However, it stands as an excellent background for anyone wanting to learn more about Russian (and Soviet) attitudes toward homosexuality.

Recently, Laurie Essig published a monograph that deals directly with the issue of gay and lesbian experiences in Russia.4 Like Kon, she remains largely concerned with contemporary attitudes and developments. In addition, she attempts to explain a str ong Russian gay and lesbian political agenda -- going so far as to define a "Queer" segment of Russian society, a term that is politically loaded. Her book is both interesting and useful in terms of augmenting previous scholarship and breaking new ground. Moreover, it demonstrates what a rich topic gay and lesbian issues can be for scholars of Russia and Eastern Europe.

While no single book attempts to provide an overview of Eastern European gay and lesbian history, there are several articles that treat this issue either through specific region-based case studies or other types of comparison. Interestingly, while thi s area of research has been growing, almost all of the scholarship concentrates on the post-socialist period. Many Western scholars have become interested in how gays and lesbians experienced the collapse of communism and are curious to see what, if any, role homosexuals will play in rebuilding various East European societies. Contemporary books examining gay and lesbian rights in an international context are useful as a starting point for concerned scholars and individuals who are unfamiliar with this to pic.5

The primary exception to the post-socialist focus found in the current scholarship is the case of East Germany. Several works attempt to address the East German situation by going back to the 1980s or earlier.6 Some works look at the experience of Naz ism as a source of later East German attitudes. As more scholars become interested in gay and lesbian issues, other aspects of East European gay and lesbian history will come to light.

The experiences of Russian and East European gays and lesbians constitute a major new arena for interested scholars. Despite the growth of such research, much remains to be done. We need to study not only what life was like for homosexuals in these co untries, but also how people in each society understood and responded to gay and lesbian individuals. My own research thus far has examined how certain members of cultural elites in Russia during the early part of the twentieth century attempted to use ar t and literature to construct and advance a distinct gay and lesbian identity. However, my interest in gay and lesbian history is limited neither to Russia nor to the early twentieth century. I plan to do further research that looks at the Russian and E ast European gay and lesbian experience from a comparative perspective.

1. See for example his "Russia's Gay Literature and History (11th-20th centuries)" Gay Sunshine 29/30 (1976): 1-6, or his "Russia's Gay Literature and Culture: The Impact of the October Revolution" in Hidden From History: Reclaiming the Gay and Lesbian P ast, (New York: Meridian, 1990).
   
2. The Keys to Happiness Sex and the Search for Modernity in Fin-de-Siecle Russia (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1992). See also "Soviet Policy toward Male Homosexuality: Its Origins and Historical Roots" Journal of Homosexuality 29, 2-3 (1995).
   
3. For example his "Sexual Minorities" in Sex and Russian Society (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1993).
   
4. Laurie Essig, Queer In Russia: A story of sex, self and the other (Durham: Duke University Press, 1999).
   
5. For example, Barry D. Adam, et. al. eds., The Global Emergence of Gay and Lesbian Politics: National Imprints of a Worldwide Movement (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1999) or Donald J. West and Richard Green, eds. Sociolegal Control of Homosex uality: A Multi-nation Comparison (New York: Plenum, 1997).
   
6. See for example the work of Katrin Seig, Christina Schenk, and Denis Sweet or Jurgen Lemke, Gay Voices from East Germany (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1991).