What's the problem? In Russia, they did not understand the Weinstein sex scandal

Фото: Depositphotos

Although the number of women reporting sexual harassment by Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein continues to increase, there is one country where society does not seem to believe these allegations. It's about Russia. This country is not inclined to be sensitive, especially when it comes to the United States of America. But to the scandal that broke out in the United States and Europe, Russia reacted with mixed feelings of mistrust and slight bewilderment, writes Foreign policy.

Embarrassed by covering her mouth with her hand, the Russian participant in the Miss Universe contest, Ksenia Alexandrova, told reporters that this is impossible in Russia thanks to President Vladimir Putin. The beauty queen did not go into details and did not talk about how the Russian leader solves this problem. Russian candidate for the title of "Miss World" Polina Popova agreed with her: "It all depends on how a woman behaves with men." It is necessary to keep a distance, and everything will be fine, ”she said.

In Putin’s Russia, women's problems have been sacrificed to an increasing wave of conservatism, which coincided with the spread of influence of the Russian Orthodox Church. In February, Putin excluded some aspects of domestic violence from criminal acts. The debate on the prohibition of abortion is gaining momentum. Slightly more than 10 years ago, Putin himself fell for frivolous sexual harassment when Israeli President Moshe Katsav was accused of raping an employee, and then convicted. Putin joked about this, and the Kremlin later said that the joke was incorrectly translated.

In a deeply patriarchal Russian society, both sides of the political spectrum express discontent with the victims of the Weinstein scandal. Dozens of famous women accused this media mogul of unlawful sexual behavior, starting with harassment and ending with rape. The list includes celebrities such as Angelina Jolie and Rose McGowan, who are well known to Russian audiences.

“Why have you been silent all these years?” Mikhail Kozyrev, who works at the Dozhd TV channel, addressed his question to women accusing Weinstein of sexual harassment. “What prevented you at that moment from taking a step back and saying: “There is no way I will work with this person”? Or declare the danger and raise the alarm?” asked Kozyrev, whose channel is the only independent television channel in the country. Dozhd recently aired an interview with an employee of the notorious Russian “troll factory,” which was allegedly involved in attempts to influence the 2016 US presidential election. Among other things, the Russian trolls who worked at this factory had to watch the TV series “House of Cards.”

Pro-Kremlin glossy journalism website and TV channel Life, covering this story with great enthusiasm, speaks of Weinstein very respectfully. He even justifies him by calling him a “sex machine” and a man “greedy for women.”

Last week, the leader of the state Channel One Ivan Urgant opened his evening talk show with revelations about Weinstein. “It seems that in the American show business it is possible to go upstairs through the bed,” Urgant joked, speaking to an audience. “This is not the case here,” he added, and then casually joked that the male guard at the entrance to the television studio had somehow offered to let him inside in exchange for sexual pleasures.

The Weinstein scandal raises many questions about the culture of violence against women and forces various branches of the media, including journalism, to analyze their own behavior. However, Russia is not even trying to carry out such self-examination. The issue of sexual harassment and domestic violence is often banned in Russia, although there is a widespread one and the other.

But the emerging feminist movement in Russia condemned attempts to blame Weinstein’s victims for everything. A fighter for women's rights, Alena Popova, referring to a participant in the Miss Universe contest who thanked Putin for the absence of such scandals in Russia, said that the discussion about sexual harassment is a sign of a healthy society. “Probably, you thank the authorities, because we have women who are silent about sexual harassment, because they are accused of being guilty of this,” Popova wrote sarcastically on her page Facebook.

Popova noted that in Russia today there are very few mechanisms of effective legal protection for women who fall under sexual harassment at work.

Weinstein’s actions also hurt producer Victoria Smirnoffwhich now lives in Switzerland.

“Harvey asks where the toilet is here ... He pushes me into the bathroom, locks the door and starts strange movements. I did not abuse alcohol, I did not use drugs, and I had nothing to explain the glitch that was happening: he was looking for his pants or something! It can be seen that this was not an easy task - he weighed twice as much as he does now. I say: the urinal is over there, you have poor eyesight, or what? ”, She wrote in Facebok.

Rescued the actress could her young man. Now the actress says that she does not consider herself a victim and refuses to communicate on this subject with Russian journalists.

“They won’t miss a chance to point the finger at America,” she wrote.

Read also on ForumDaily:

Why is Hollywood silent about Harvey Weinstein for so long

How the New York Times investigation made the film industry turn its back on the legendary producer

Do you want more important and interesting news about life in the USA and immigration to America? — support us donate! Also subscribe to our page Facebook. Select the “Priority in display” option and read us first. Also, don't forget to subscribe to our РєР ° РЅР ° Р »РІ Telegram  and Instagram- there is a lot of interesting things there. And join thousands of readers ForumDaily New York — there you will find a lot of interesting and positive information about life in the metropolis.