Ensconced in darkness, a figure dressed in black darted along the corridors of Saint Petersburg State University’s Faculty of International Relations. Carefully avoiding the security cameras and wearing a cap to conceal her identity, Yulia dashed around the hallways, affixing posters to announcement boards. It was March 6, 2018.
Printed in bold pink ink were sexist quotes said by different professors of the faculty, with the corresponding name of the faculty member. At a discussion with American and Russian students, Yulia explained how over months, increasingly frustrated by certain professors and inspired by the #MeToo movement, she had painstakingly collected such phrases she and her friends recalled from lectures. She made sure to ask for the context of the quotes she received from friends, to counter any forthcoming criticism that the words were misrepresented.
On March 7, those arriving to the Faculty of International Relations were greeted by an unexpected sight. Yulia later recalls a sleepy professor thinking the posters expressed congratulations from the faculty head to female staff on the upcoming Women’s Day holiday. The posters lasted a few short hours before being whisked away. But people had seen them, taken pictures, spread them on social media. University students from all over the country read the posters. Soon afterwards, Meduza, one of Russia’s leading media outlets, would cover the story.
The Faculty of International Relations at the university has around a 70:30 female-to-male ratio, yet men are encouraged far more than their female counterparts. In an introductory lecture for first-year students, one professor spoke about how his course was for “diplomats and diplomats’ wives.” Another had a personal blog online where he wrote several pieces arguing against women in academia. Beyond the obvious, immediate negative effects of such derogatory discourse, there is a secondary, more pernicious one, Yulia explained. Saint Petersburg State University is one of the top educational institutions in Russia, where many of the country’s future leading politicians, policymakers, and diplomats are educated. A sexist professor who educates young, promising students may perpetuate this same mentality into the future. The classroom sets the stage for real life.
Controversy ripped through the halls of the university, particularly after students in the Social Sciences Faculty followed Yulia’s lead, and she received a stream of supportive messages. However, many students pointed out that these professors were excellent educators if one could look beyond such statements, and were angered at her smearing their good names. They accused her of simply wanting to be trendy and jumping onto the feminist bandwagon of the #MeToo movement. The professors issued emphatic denials or protested that their words had been taken out of context or were mere humor. Nonetheless, Yulia and other students said they felt professors were more careful with their words now, though many complained that they felt they could no longer make jokes or any comments about anything at all. Some made fun of Yulia, deriding her project and complaining about the rise of feminism.
In conjunction with the Social Sciences Faculty, Yulia and the dean are planning a joint event between professors, gender and sexuality experts, and students. She hopes the professors will gain greater appreciation for their authority and thus the impact their words can have on their pupils, particularly the youngest ones. Yulia and her generation are in the center of an increasing push for social liberalism from youth. She says she can see the changes in her country. The fact that a media outlet as big as Meduza wanted her story is a big step, reflecting both the existence of an interested audience and an increase in the coverage of topics such as feminism.
Yulia is very much a modern, global individual: her English is flawless as she tells of how Tumblr introduced her to feminism and compares her posters to Regina George’s “Burn Book” from the 2004 Mean Girls film. She writes blog posts in Russian about feminism to educate fellow Russian-speakers about a topic often reserved for Western, English-language forums. As encouraging as this may be, it is also easy to see the cultural gap she faces: a young woman from a small Siberian town discussing Tumblr feminism in front of a group of Soviet-educated, greying professors from an elite faculty in an elite university in an elite city. She is unsure about the extent to which well-established professors from older generations can even begin to understand the effect of their words, as well as why such remarks are inappropriate in a classroom setting and in life as a whole. But she is hopeful.