• Cross-Cultural Studies
• /
• v.43
• /
• pp.51-77
• /
• 2016

In February, 2012, three members of the Russian Feminist Rock group 'Pussy Riot' were accused of staging a 'Punk Prayer' in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow and were imprisoned for two years. This case, which sparked widespread enthusiastic support from those in the West, was viewed in Russia in quite a different way. The Pussy Riot affair very effectively shows the historic base of contemporary Russian gender discourse and gives an explanation as to why Putin's very conservative and masculine-centered nationalistic agenda works in Russian society with such great success. In this article, we introduce the Pussy Riot case and compare the reactions to the case published in the Russian and Western press; we then examine the historic causes of the masculine-centered nationalistic agenda of Putin's government.