The new topics in the ‘cultural war’ between the West and Russia are gender-based violence, gender equality, homosexuality, as well as non-normative gender representations. The author questions the reasons, cultural significance, and goals of the representation of lesbian and gay bodies. The article interrogates the place of vulnerable Russian bodies and citizens vis-a-vis the Russian state, the Orthodox Church, and mainstream society in contemporary cultural discourse, for instance, in media reports, tabloids, TV-shows, and popular culture.
