Emily Schuckman Matthews

ematthews@sdsu.edu
Articles by Emily Schuckman Matthews

Excerpt from “Sex Work in Contemporary Russia: A Cultural Perspective,” Part III

Prostitution existed in Russia for several centuries but became a widespread phenomenon during Peter I’s rule (1683–1725), with the first brothel or “public house” reportedly established by a German in the 1750s. Undoubtedly, prostitution existed in Russia prior to this time, but its linkage to the influx of Western ideas during Peter’s reign, and crediting the first brothel to a non Russian, set up an important pattern of identifying prostitution and its social and symbolic implications with a Western, and not Russian, value system.

Continue reading...

Excerpt from “Sex Work in Contemporary Russia: A Cultural Perspective,” Part II

The sex industry in Russia is multiethnic, with scholars estimating a significant number of female migrants (from Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and Central Asia) working as sex workers, especially in large cities like Moscow. Despite this diversity in real life, the sex workers (and their clients) featured in films and literature are almost exclusively depicted as white, ethnic Russians.

Continue reading...

Excerpt from “Sex Work in Contemporary Russia: A Cultural Perspective,” Part I

The character of the female sex worker has recurred pervasively across time, space, and genre, repeatedly used by writers, filmmakers, artists, intellectuals, and politicians to explore anxieties about the disruptive processes that have marked the Russian cultural space throughout the centuries.

Continue reading...