Archive
2009 year, issue 3-4 read »
2011 year, issue 5 read »
2013 year, issue 3 read »
«The Ethnology Notebooks» 2018 year, issue 4 read »

« 2017. #3 (135)

The Ethnology Notebooks. 2017, 3 (135), 555–565

UDK 343.264:364.633]­055.2(477)

https://doi.org/10.15407/nz2017.03.555

WOMEN’S BODIES AND SEXUALITY IN CONFINEMENT: EXPERIENCES OF THE UKRAINIAN WOMEN POLITICAL PRISONERS OF THE GULAG

Kis Oksana, candidate of sciences in history,

Senior Researcher at the Institute of Ethnology

of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine,

departmeny of social anthropology.

Svobody Avenue 15, 79000, Lviv, Ukraine.

Contacts: e-mail: oksanakis55@gmail.com

Abstract. Tens of thousands of Ukrainian women have been convicted to long¬term imprisonment in the Gulag for political accusations in the mid 20th century. Peculiarities of women’s experiences of confinement were to the great extend determined by specific features of a woman’s body. This theme however is one of the most repressed in women’s narratives from the GULAG. This article is based on the analysis of personal testimonies of former female political prisoners of the GULAG. It discusses what happened to a woman’s body behind the barbed wire and how women tried to preserve their physical health. It shows that a woman’s sexuality could turn into an additional source of survival for some women (taking form of a survival prostitution, quasi¬family alliances etc.). This article also explores the widespread practices of gendered sexual violence against female convicts (forced nudity, body integrity violation, rape etc.).

Keywords: GULAG, political prisoners, Ukrainian women, sexual violence, woman’s body.

Received 21.03.2017

REFERENCES

Adamova-Slyozberh, O. (2002). Put’. Moskva. Vozvraschenye [in Russian].
Andrusiak, Ye. (2001) Spohady. L’viv. LNU im. I. Franka [in Ukrainian].
V namysti z koliuchoho drotu. Spohady zhinok, v’iazniv HULAHu, uchasnyts’ noryl’s’koho povstannia 1953 roku (2009). Uporiad. Kryvuts’kyj I. ta in. L’viv. Manuskrypt [in Ukrainian].
Volovich, Kh. (1989). O proshlom. Dodnes tiagoteet. Vyp. 1: Zapiski vashei sovremennitcy. Sost. S. S. Vilenskii. Moskva. Sovetskii pisatel. S. 478–479 [in Russian].
Herling-Grudzins’kyj, G. (2010). Inshyj svit. Soviets’ki zapysky. Chernivtsi. Knyhy-XXI [in Ukrainian].
Glinka, E. (1990). Trium, ili Bolshoi «kolymskii tramvai»: rasskazsvidetelstvo. Raduga. № 2. S. 14–30 [in Russian].
Grankina, N. (1989) Zapiski vashei sovremennitcy. Dodnes tiagoteet. Vyp. 1: Zapiski vashei sovremennitcy. Sost. S. S. Vilenskii. Biogr. spravka E. Silinoi. Moskva. Sovetskii pisatel. S. 149–174 [in Russian].
Epplbom, E. (2006). Istoriia HULAHu. Per. z anhl. A. Ischenko. Kyiv. Kyievo-Mohylians’ka Akademiia [in Ukrainian].
Zaiachkivs’kaMykhal’chuk, Hanna. (2009). Zaruchnytsia imperii (spohady politv’iaznia). L’viv.PP Soroka [in Ukrainian].
Zemskov, V. (1991). GULAG (istoriko-sotciologicheskii aspekt). Sotciologicheskie issledovaniia. № 6. S. 10–27 [in Russian].
Ivanova, G. (2006). Istoriia GULAGa 1918–1958: Sotcialnoekonomicheskii i politiko-pravovoi aspekty. Moskva. Nauka [in Russian].
Karvans’kaBajliak, A. (2000). Vo im’ia Tvoie (Merezhane zhyttiam) Varshava. Ukrains’kyj Arkhiv [in Ukrainian].
Kis’, O. (2016). Zhinochyj dosvid HULAHu: stan doslidzhen’ ta dzherel’ni resursy v ukrains’komu konteksti. Ukrains’kyj istorychnyj zhurnal. № 3. S. 125–138 [in Ukrainian].
Kokhans’ka, H. (2008). Z Ukrainoiu v sertsi: spohady. Litopys UPA. T. 9. L’viv. Toronto. Litopys UPA [in Ukrainian].
Malsagov, S. A. (1995). Adskie ostrova: Sovetskaia tiurma na Dalnem Severe. Per. s angl. Sh. Iandieva; predisl. V. G. Tankieva ; vstup. st. M. Absametova.Nalchik. Elfa [in Russian].
Meshko, O. (2005). Ne vidstupliusia!: Do 100-richchia Oksany Yakivny Meshko. Kharkivs’ka pravozakhysna hrupa. Uporiad. V. V. Ovsiienko, O. F. Serhiienko. Kharkiv. Prava liudyny [in Ukrainian].
Nepokhytni: Zb. spohadiv (2005). Red. B. Hordasevych. Upor. S. Voloschak. L’viv: Ridna shkola [in Ukrainian].
Neskorena Berehynia: Zhertvy moskovs’ko-komunistychnoho teroru XX stolittia (2002) Svitova federatsiia ukrains’kykh zhinochykh orhanizatsij (SFUZhO). Uporiad. B. O. Hordasevych. Red. H. L. Hordasevych, Yu. Zajtsev. Toronto. L’viv: Piramida [in Ukrainian].
Olitckaia, E. L. (1971) Moi vospominaniia (v 2 kn.) Kn. 2. Frankfurt. Posev [in Russian].
Onyshko, L. V. (2007) «Nam sontse vsmikhalos’ kriz’ rzhavii graty…»: Kateryna Zaryts’ka v ukrains’komu natsional’novyzvol’nomu rusi. Toronto. L’viv. Litopys UPA [in Ukrainian].
Petkevich, T. V. (1993) Zhizn – sapozhok neparnyi: Vospominaniia. Poslesl. B. F. Egorova. Khudozh. I. Arkhipov. Sankt-Peterburg. Astra-Liuks. ATOKSO [in Russian].
Pozniak (Skrypiuk), H. (2001) Meni bulo 19: Avtobiohrafichna rozpovid’. Kyiv. Kyievo-Mohylians’ka Akademiia [in Ukrainian].
Ruzhentceva, T. D. (1996) [Vospominaniia] Vsia nasha zhizn: Vospominaniia Galiny Ivanovny Levinson i rasskazy, zapisannye eiu. Izd. podgot. O. Blinkina, E. Velikanova ; avt. predisl. N. Okhotin. Moskva. Memorial. S. 64–81 [in Russian].
Savka, B. (2003) «A smert’ ikh bezsmertiam zustrila». Narysy spohady dokumenty pro uchast’ zhinotstva tr’okh rajoniv Ternopillia… v natsional’novyzvol’nij borot’bi OUN-UPA. Ternopil’. Dzhura [in Ukrainian].
SlobodianKovaliuk, O. (2010) Za Ukrainu! Za ii voliu! Kolomyia. Vik.
Solzhenitcin, A. (2006) Arkhipelag GULAG. 1918–1956. Opyt khudozhestvennogo issledovaniia. Ch. 3–4. Ekaterinburg : UFaktoriia [in Russian].
Surovtsova, N. (1996) Spohady. Kyiv. Vyd-vo im. Oleny Telihy [in Ukrainian].
Ulanovskaia, N. M. (2003) Istoriia odnoi semi. Sankt-Peterburg. Inapress [in Russian].
Shapovalova, V. (2003) Lager kak obraz zhizni: zhenskie lagernye memuary. Sotcialnaia istoriia. Ezhegodnik. Zhenskaia i gendernaia istoriia. Pod red. N. L. Pushkarevoi. Moskva. ROSSPEN. S. 465–487 [in Russian].
Shapovalova V. (2012) Sestrenki, mamki, damki: tema nasiliia v zhenskikh lagernykh memuarakh. Bytovoe nasilie v istorii rossiiskoi povsednevnosti (XI–XXI vv.). Sankt-Peterburg. EU Sankt-Peterburga. S. 142–163 [in Russian].
Shiriaev, B. N. (1991) Neugasimaia lampada. Moskva. Tvorchestvo russkikh khudozhnikov [in Russian].
Epplbaum, E. (2006) GULAG. Pautina bolshogo terrora. Moskva. Moskovskaia shkola politicheskikh issledovanii [in Russian].
Barnes, S. A.(2011) Death and Redemption: The Gulag and the Shaping of Soviet Society. Princeton University Press.
Chyz, M.(1962) Woman and child in the modern system of slavery – U.S.S.R. Toronto. SUZERO. New York. DOBRUS.
Cormos, G.(2011) Gender Policies in the Romanian Gulag. The Scientific Journal of Humanistic Studies. Vol. 3 (5). Р. 72–73.
Cormos, G.(2009) Women Humiliated in the Romanian Communist Prison. The Scientific Journal of Humanistic Studies. Vol. 1 (1). Р. 72–75.
Gulag Voices: Oral Histories of Soviet Incarceration and Exile (2011) Ed. by Jeanne M. Gheith, Katherine R. Jolluck. New York. Palgrave MacMillan.
Lipper, E. (1951) Eleven Years in Soviet Prison Camps. Chicago. Regnery.
Shapovalov, V. (2001) Remembering the Darkness: Women in Soviet Prisons. New York. Rowman and Littlefield Publishers.
Bondaruk, L. Kenhirs’ke povstannia iak vyiav kryzy systemy HULAH [elektronnyj resurs]. Retrieved from: http://www.memory.gov.ua/news/ do60tilittyakengirskogopovstannyakengirskepo vstannyayakviyavkrizisistemigulag [in Ukrainian].
Gritcenko, V. (2009). Zhenskoe litco GULAGa: Kak na Mertvoi doroge roslo naselenie SSSR. Novaia Gazeta. 8 kvitnia 2009 r. № 36. Retrieved from: http://www.novayagazeta.ru/data/2009/036/33.html [in Russian].
Kersnovskaia, E. Skolko stoit chelovek. Retrieved from: http://www.gulag.su/albom [in Russian].
Kuzin, V. (2007) Zhenshchiny GULAGa. Grani epokhi: etiko-filosofskii zhurnal. № 32. Retrieved from: http://ethics.narod.ru/articles7/3210.htm [in Russian].
Petrov, N. Istoriia imperii GULAG. Glava 6. Retrieved from: http://www.pseudology.org/gulag/glava06.htm [in Russian].
Applebaum, A. «Sex was survival strategy in gulag», says us journalist Anne Applebaum. Interview by Written by Monika Horáková. Retrieved from: http://www.expats.cz/prague/article/weeklyczechnews/ Sex%20was%20survival%20strategy%20in% 20gulag,%20says%20US%20journalist/.

Read»

Our authors
Olena Fedorchuk. Senior Research Fellow, Ph.D. read »
Oksana Kis. Senior scientific employee, candidate of... read »
Roman Radovych. Researcher, Ph.D. in History. read »
Kuzmenko Oksana Senior Researcher, Candidate of... read »
Wax candle as ukrainian Christmas and epiphany ritualistic text
For the first time in native ethnology the article has brought some results of special study in sign functionality of a wax candle under the context of Ukrainian Christmas and Epiphany ritualistic text (ritualism of Christmas Eve, New Year, Epiphany Eve and Feast of Epiphany). The study has stated extremely high semiotic position of a wax candle as projection of Sun, mediator between the spheres of sacral and prophane elements, symbolic analogue of human existence, apotropy, cultural symbol re-establishing borders of acculturated space.
Read »

Boikos’ pandemonium: categories of evil deceased
In the article have been presented some research-work on peculiarities of Boikos’ traditional demonological notions as for so-called evil deceased; on the basis of field records and ethnological literary sources quite a number of scum categories have been defined as well as essential habits, modes of behavior and functions of these personages of people’s demonology.
Read »

Daily bread baking of ukrainians in the south-western ethnographical region at the late XIX to early XXI cc.
The paper has dealt with analytic study in prescriptions, signs, customs, methods, ways of selection, procurement and some peculiarities in usage of subsidiary means — water, firewood and leaves in bread baking. The final aim of the mentioned actions had been (and still is) selection of the means and ingredients fit, by their characteristics, for the backing of bread. The paper has demonstrated dependence of bread backing subsi­diary means criteria from the folk nutritional standards and world outlook stereotypes as well as from regional social and economic, natural and geographical factors and peculiarities of material culture.
Read »

On bessarabian and moldavian ukrainians in the studies of historical ethnography
The article has thrown some light upon a sum of scientific findings got during XIX to XXI cc. in historio-ethnographic studies of Bessarabia and Moldavian Ukrainians. In the pre­sent paper has been given author’s answer to the problem of lacking progress as for the numerous themes concerning Ukrainians. State and achievements of the research-works in Ukrainians’ material and spiritual culture by the scientists of Moldavia and Ukraine through the years of independence has been exposed.
Read »