I live in California, so for me, it’s like an echo chamber. I know my representatives are voting the way I want them to (and I’m trying to express my approval that they do). But I feel helpless about how I can help in other parts of the country. especially because I do not have enough money to make campaign…

I actually started crying. How did our world get to this point? The march yesterday gave me incredible hope in my fellow man. I want us to overcome this wave of hatred together. I just...don’t know what I can do to help.

There was a little girl who was probably kindergarten age who had a sign she handwrote (spelling mistakes and all). Something like “People should be nice to EVERYONE” or something. It was awesome. It was clearly 100% something she thought of on her own, which made it even better to me.

Yes. Very much so. Russian government is very heirarchical to an almost feudal point. The structure has always been a strong leader and his circle of wealthy elite supporters at the top and then the masses at the bottom, with a small class of privileged intelligentsia who are opposed to what is happening. Before the…

Unpopular opinion as someone getting a PhD in Russian stuff: I do not like Masha Gessen. She has some good scholarship and was an important LGBT activist in the west, but most of what she publishes in western news sources is heavily pandering to her audience. The post and the times publish her because she is a Russian…

That was my question as well. I’m in year 2 of a 6-7 year combined MA/PhD and it’s such arduous labor. I feel like if you make it to the dissertation writing phase, you would want it to be 100% your own original work. Otherwise, what the hell is the point? The dissertation is basically step 1 in a long career full…

And some of these fuckers also believe that infertility is God’s way of punishing women either for their sins or for the sins of some random ancestor. i just can’t with these people. even when they are consistent they are horrible.

I play a bit of guitar and female musicians (esp. songwriters) have been SO important for me, both growing up and now. I get a lot of flak for it from male friends (and some female friends). I’m gay so they are like “oh that’s a gay thing”. pisses me off...

Interesting! I don’t have much experience with east Asian culture, but it is my understanding that there are other similarities (focus on the collective rather than the individual, for example). Russians do call themselves “half-Asian” sometimes and the intellectuals at least often relate to their history of being…

Yeah I noticed on various study abroad trips that American men are particularly beloved among host moms for this reason. Helpful AND learning Russian to boot! There were a couple of guys in one of my groups whose host moms had cute crushes on them.

The worst thing about the tendency towards orthodoxy is it not only wants to reinstate the authoritarian types of structures common during the Soviet period, but it also seems to want to erase the actual good things the Soviet government did (like equal rights for women).

The obsession with traditional gender roles don’t help. I need to read more about the sociology of it all, but Slavic cultures have this near-spiritual attachment to motherhood; society sees women’s duty in life as first and foremost being a mother. Moreso than being a wife or being a worker. Makes it frustrating…

In the words of this lawmaker and the duma, perhaps (it’s all controlled by Edinaya Rossiya, Putin’s party, anyway). There are a lot of great things, but sadly we are only seeing the bad because of the shitheads in power. This law is really screwed up, but there are plenty of normal Russians, including Russian men,…

Yeah watching the rise of the Orthodox church in Russia over the last 15 years has been really disheartening. The first time I was over there in 2007, it was making a comeback but didn’t have a ton of power politics-wise, and most of the people I knew were either nonbelievers, or getting-the-eggs-blessed-at-Easter…

Was going to make the same comment about Manchester by the Sea. I’m glad Moonlight beat it because I think it was the better movie, but I don’t get what all the hate is about? I thought Manchester was actually a very subtle, sad piece about masculinity (and honestly, how the patriarchy has created men who are unable…

Best way to distract the masses while they are busy rewriting the law to put money in their pockets and keep them in power. I highly doubt many of these republicans give a shit about Planned Parenthood, but it will get support from the Christian hypocrites who voted for them so they can quietly whittle away those…

Loved the movie, but as a lesbian, I wasn’t thrilled with the sex scene. It was very soft core porn: wide angles, extended cuts, and very unrealistic lesbian sex. It irked me in the same way that the sex scene in Blue is the Warmest Color; it was clearly filmed by a man and has a very voyeuristic feel to it,…

Ugh, I am refusing to see La La Land. It looks like trite trash that was produced for the sole purpose of getting Oscar nods (because Hollywood loves movies about itself). My big fear is that it beats Moonlight for the big prizes, just as The Revenant did with Carol last year. Of course Moonlight and Carol are very…

Writing in as someone who has spent a lot of time in Russia, particularly “small town” Russia, and as someone who studies the Soviet period for a living: this is 100% for the Russian press, not the Western press. They know very well that we are all having this sort of reaction and they will definitely use it to their…

yeah...the family member thing is probably a big reason why it is so quiet. i knew someone who was a survivor and the same extended family member (or perhaps family friend) did it to both my friend and their sibling and the parents got the kids counseling but told them not to tell the counselor (presumably bc the…