About this product

Product Identifiers

PublisherCornell University Press

ISBN-100875803717

ISBN-139780875803715

eBay Product ID (ePID)56974414

Product Key Features

Book TitleDictatorship of Sex : Lifestyle Advice for the Soviet Masses

Number of Pages264 Pages

LanguageEnglish

Publication Year2007

TopicHuman Sexuality (See Also Psychology / Human Sexuality), Russia & the Former Soviet Union, Europe / Eastern, Gender Studies, Customs & Traditions

IllustratorYes

GenreSocial Science, History

AuthorFrances Lee Bernstein

Book SeriesNiu Series in Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies

FormatHardcover

Dimensions

Item Height1 in

Item Weight32.1 Oz

Item Length9 in

Item Width6 in

Additional Product Features

Intended AudienceTrade

LCCN2006-026557

Dewey Edition23

ReviewsFrances Bernstein, in her excellent book on the sex question in the early decades of the Soviet experiment, makes a convincing case for the centrality of sexual enlightenment--in both its discursive and its institutional manifestations--in the project of creating a Communist society populated with newly transformed Soviet citizens. Her discussion of the relationship among state goals, the emergence of new medical institutions, and the representations, whether textual or visual, of Soviet sexual enlightenment will engross anyone who is interested in how the state and its institutions regulated behavior in the process of creating the new Soviet man, woman, and child., "A valuable contribution ... will be of interest to a number of audiences-from historians of gender and the family to those that specialize in the history of medicine."- Canadian Journal of History "Beautiful and thickly descriptive. The source base is impressive."- The Russian Review "Richly documented and well-researched. Essential reading ... provides many important and original insights into Soviet reformers' ideas about gender, sexuality, marriage, and family in the 1920s and about their attempts to discipline the Soviet public."- Slavic Review, ""A valuable contribution... will be of interest to a number of audiences-from historians of gender and the family to those that specialize in the history of medicine."--Canadian Journal of History "Beautiful and thickly descriptive. The source base is impressive."--The Russian Review "Richly documented and well-researched. Essential reading... provides many important and original insights into Soviet reformers' ideas about gender, sexuality, marriage, and family in the 1920s and about their attempts to discipline the Soviet public."--Slavic Review "Frances Bernstein, in her excellent book on the sex question in the early decades of the Soviet experiment, makes a convincing case for the centrality of sexual enlightenment-in both its discursive and its institutional manifestations-in the project of creating a Communist society populated with newly transformed Soviet citizens. Her discussion of the relationship among state goals, the emergence of new medical institutions, and the representations, whether textual or visual, of Soviet sexual enlightenment will engross anyone who is interested in how the state and its institutions regulated behavior in the process of creating the new Soviet man, woman, and child."--Journal of the History of Sexuality", "A valuable contribution ... will be of interest to a number of audiences-from historians of gender and the family to those that specialize in the history of medicine."- Canadian Journal of History "Beautiful and thickly descriptive. The source base is impressive."- The Russian Review "Richly documented and well-researched. Essential reading ... provides many important and original insights into Soviet reformers' ideas about gender, sexuality, marriage, and family in the 1920s and about their attempts to discipline the Soviet public."- Slavic Review "Frances Bernstein, in her excellent book on the sex question in the early decades of the Soviet experiment, makes a convincing case for the centrality of sexual enlightenment-in both its discursive and its institutional manifestations-in the project of creating a Communist society populated with newly transformed Soviet citizens. Her discussion of the relationship among state goals, the emergence of new medical institutions, and the representations, whether textual or visual, of Soviet sexual enlightenment will engross anyone who is interested in how the state and its institutions regulated behavior in the process of creating the new Soviet man, woman, and child."-Journal of the History of Sexuality, Richly documented and well-researched. Essential reading... provides many important and original insights into Soviet reformers' ideas about gender, sexuality, marriage, and family in the 1920s and about their attempts to discipline the Soviet public., "A valuable contribution ... will be of interest to a number of audiences--from historians of gender and the family to those that specialize in the history of medicine."-- Canadian Journal of History "Beautiful and thickly descriptive. The source base is impressive."-- The Russian Review "Richly documented and well-researched. Essential reading ... provides many important and original insights into Soviet reformers' ideas about gender, sexuality, marriage, and family in the 1920s and about their attempts to discipline the Soviet public."-- Slavic Review "Frances Bernstein, in her excellent book on the sex question in the early decades of the Soviet experiment, makes a convincing case for the centrality of sexual enlightenment--in both its discursive and its institutional manifestations--in the project of creating a Communist society populated with newly transformed Soviet citizens. Her discussion of the relationship among state goals, the emergence of new medical institutions, and the representations, whether textual or visual, of Soviet sexual enlightenment will engross anyone who is interested in how the state and its institutions regulated behavior in the process of creating the new Soviet man, woman, and child."--Journal of the History of Sexuality, A valuable contribution.... will be of interest to a number of audiences--from historians of gender and the family to those that specialize in the history of medicine.

Grade FromCollege Graduate Student

Dewey Decimal306.77094709042

Table Of ContentTable of Contents List of Illustrations Preface Introduction 1: Disciplining the Sex Question in Revolutionary Russia 2: Making Sex 3: "Nervous People" 4: Envisioning Health 5: Conserving Soviet Power 6: Doctors without Boudoirs Conclusion Abbreviations List Notes Bibliography Index

SynopsisThe Dictatorship of Sex explores the attempts to define and control sexual behavior in the years following the Russian Revolution. It is the first book to examine Soviet "sexual enlightenment," a program of popular health and lifestyle advice intended to establish a model of sexual conduct for the men and women who would build socialism. Leftist social theorists and political activists had long envisioned an egalitarian utopia, and after 1917, the medical profession took the leading role in solving the sex question (while at the same time carving out a niche for itself among postrevolutionary social institutions). Frances Bernstein reveals the tension between the doctors' advocacy for relatively liberal social policy and the generally proscriptive nature of their advice, as well as their lack of interest in questions of personal pleasure, fulfillment, and sexual expression. While supporting the goals of the Soviet state, the enlighteners appealed to "irrefutable" biological truths that ultimately supported a very traditional gender regime. The Dictatorship of Sex offers a unique lens through which to contemplate a central conundrum of Russian history: the relationship between the supposedly "liberated" 1920s and "repressive" 1930s. Although most of the proponents of sexual enlightenment in the 1920s would suffer greatly during Stalin's purges, their writings facilitated the Stalinist approach to sexuality and the family. Bernstein's book will interest historians of Russia, gender, sexuality, and medicine, as well as anyone curious about social and ideological experiments in a revolutionary culture., The Dictatorship of Sex explores the attempts to define and control sexual behavior in the years following the Russian Revolution. It is the first book to examine Soviet "sexual enlightenment," a program of popular health and lifestyle advice intended to establish a model of sexual conduct for the men and women who would build socialism. Leftist social theorists and political activists had long envisioned an egalitarian utopia, and after 1917, the medical profession took the leading role in solving the sex question (while at the same time carving out a niche for itself among postrevolutionary social institutions). Frances Bernstein reveals the tension between the doctors' advocacy for relatively liberal social policy and the generally proscriptive nature of their advice, as well as their lack of interest in questions of personal pleasure, fulfillment, and sexual expression. While supporting the goals of the Soviet state, the enlighteners appealed to 'irrefutable' biological truths that ultimately supported a very traditional gender regime. The Dictatorship of Sex offers a unique lens through which to contemplate a central conundrum of Russian history: the relationship between the supposedly 'liberated' 1920s and 'repressive' 1930s. Although most of the proponents of sexual enlightenment in the 1920s would suffer greatly during Stalin's purges, their writings facilitated the Stalinist approach to sexuality and the family. Bernstein's book will interest historians of Russia, gender, sexuality, and medicine, as well as anyone curious about social and ideological experiments in a revolutionary culture., The Dictatorship of Sex explores the attempts to define and control sexual behavior in the years following the Russian Revolution. It is the first book to examine Soviet sexual enlightenment, a program of popular health and lifestyle advice intended to establish a model of sexual conduct for the men and women who would build socialism. Leftist social theorists and political activists had long envisioned an egalitarian utopia, and after 1917, the medical profession took the leading role in solving the sex question (while at the same time carving out a niche for itself among post-revolutionary social institutions). Frances Bernstein reveals the tension between the doctors' advocacy for relatively liberal social policy and the generally proscriptive nature of their advice, as well as their lack of interest in questions of personal pleasure, fulfillment, and sexual expression. While supporting the goals of the Soviet state, the enlighteners appealed to 'irrefutable' biological truths that ultimately supported a very traditional gender regime. central conundrum of Russian history: the relationship between the supposedly 'liberated' 1920s and 'repressive' 1930s. Although most of the proponents of sexual enlightenment in the 1920s would suffer greatly during Stalin's purges, their writings facilitated the Stalinist approach to sexuality and the family. Bernstein's book will interest historians of Russia, gender, sexuality, and medicine, as well as anyone curious about social and ideological experiments in a revolutionary culture.

LC Classification NumberHQ18.S65B47 2007