Teetotalers, Homophobes and Feminists Blogging Together
The Russian blogosphere conveniently, if bafflingly, revolves around LJ. Each week, RUSSIA! scans the chatter and brings you the top five topics.
• A post in a Russian feminist LJ community explains why the USSR, contrary to appearances, was matriarchal: at the top was not the party bureaucrat, but the female grocer at the meat and diary counter who decided whether or not there would be sausage in your home. Ta-da! Comments poke some holes in the theory: "There were still very few women in the government," and, "There were never any sanitary napkins or tampons." [СССР и феминизм]
• A Moscow blogger surveys a gallery of Miss America 2009 swimsuit photos (a.k.a. "a shocking parade of the deformities") and comes to the conclusion that the "formless," "asexual," and "haggard" state of American women is the reason American men are "so frequently gay," then expresses confusion as to why homosexuals even exist in Russia, considering the superior females available. Nice. So that's the kind of person who still pays attention to the Miss America pageant. [Крокодилицы и жабищи]
• Someone making the case for why Alexandre Dumas' fourth musketeer, D'Artagnan, was a Chechen. Psuedo-academic banter, the usual insults, and random exclamations follow. "Dartanyan... sounds Armenian, I think." Ah, the pitfalls of transliteration. [Орловщина, Смоленщина...]
• A blogger provides all kinds of brand new nifty charts on the cost of Russian alcoholism to health. The response: given a choice between freedom to drink and five more years of life, Russians choose the one you'd think they'd choose. [Пить или не пить - вот в чем вопрос]
• A lawyer cheerfully mocks a quote from a British environmentalist who believes that having more than two children is criminally irresponsible. Advises instead to save nature by curbing the population of environmentalists and "other zoophiles." Others suggest we start with the lawyers. Snap! He shouldn't have gone there. [*заваривая кофе*]
Read more at: www.readrussia.com
• A post in a Russian feminist LJ community explains why the USSR, contrary to appearances, was matriarchal: at the top was not the party bureaucrat, but the female grocer at the meat and diary counter who decided whether or not there would be sausage in your home. Ta-da! Comments poke some holes in the theory: "There were still very few women in the government," and, "There were never any sanitary napkins or tampons." [СССР и феминизм]
• A Moscow blogger surveys a gallery of Miss America 2009 swimsuit photos (a.k.a. "a shocking parade of the deformities") and comes to the conclusion that the "formless," "asexual," and "haggard" state of American women is the reason American men are "so frequently gay," then expresses confusion as to why homosexuals even exist in Russia, considering the superior females available. Nice. So that's the kind of person who still pays attention to the Miss America pageant. [Крокодилицы и жабищи]
• Someone making the case for why Alexandre Dumas' fourth musketeer, D'Artagnan, was a Chechen. Psuedo-academic banter, the usual insults, and random exclamations follow. "Dartanyan... sounds Armenian, I think." Ah, the pitfalls of transliteration. [Орловщина, Смоленщина...]
• A blogger provides all kinds of brand new nifty charts on the cost of Russian alcoholism to health. The response: given a choice between freedom to drink and five more years of life, Russians choose the one you'd think they'd choose. [Пить или не пить - вот в чем вопрос]
• A lawyer cheerfully mocks a quote from a British environmentalist who believes that having more than two children is criminally irresponsible. Advises instead to save nature by curbing the population of environmentalists and "other zoophiles." Others suggest we start with the lawyers. Snap! He shouldn't have gone there. [*заваривая кофе*]
Read more at: www.readrussia.com