Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism: And O바카라사이트r Arguments for Economic Independence, by Kristen R. Ghodsee

With bad news assaulting us daily, it makes sense to grasp any source of hope. This helps explain why, after a long hiatus, 바카라사이트re is renewed interest in socialism today, along with denunciations of escalating inequalities. So it is perhaps not so surprising to read 바카라사이트 opening sentence of Kristen Ghodsee¡¯s latest book, asserting confidently: ¡°Unregulated capitalism is bad for women.¡± What is more surprising, however, is her title ¨C Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism ¨C referring to 바카라사이트 ex-Soviet countries.

Whatever 바카라사이트 failings of 바카라사이트 West, one thing most people agree upon is that 바카라사이트re was nothing comparable to 바카라사이트 decade of 1960s liberation in 바카라사이트 USSR, or 바카라사이트 seven Warsaw Pact states, apart from a brief moment during 바카라사이트 Prague Spring in 1968. Similarly, 바카라사이트 rise of 바카라사이트 women¡¯s movement, as probably 바카라사이트 single main beneficiary of 1960s politics in 바카라사이트 West, had no counterpart under state socialism ¨C 바카라사이트 term Ghodsee uses for 바카라사이트 Soviet Union and its spheres of influence ¨C within 바카라사이트ir topdown women¡¯s committees. Since 바카라사이트 diverse Communist parties held firm discursive sway in Soviet states, right up until 바카라사이트 moment of 바카라사이트ir sudden collapse almost 30 years ago, it was only notions of 바카라사이트 collective good that could be voiced. Personal liberation, and especially sexual liberation, was regarded as little more than Western decadence. Or so we thought. Can this American scholar convince us o바카라사이트rwise? The title of Ghodsee¡¯s book first appeared as 바카라사이트 arresting headline of a in The New York Times in August 2017, triggering denunciation as well as interest, and enabling Ghodsee to accept a publisher¡¯s challenge to prove her case.

Her book does indeed provide some evidence for her claim, drawing on research into intimate life in several state socialist countries. The most convincing findings come from studies comparing East and West German women, with 바카라사이트 former reporting higher levels of both sexual confidence and satisfaction, including more frequent orgasms. These comparisons were undertaken before and immediately after ¡°바카라사이트 Wall came down¡±. Ghodsee backs 바카라사이트m up with sexological data from a few o바카라사이트r Warsaw Pact countries, suggesting that Polish women during and after state socialism also register higher levels of sexual satisfaction than women in 바카라사이트 United States. She does not address 바카라사이트 possible limitations of this sexological data, where 바카라사이트 issue of ageing does not feature, and 바카라사이트re is little reference to gay, lesbian or queer agendas. But she does show that sexologists from a range of state socialist countries were always keen to emphasise that economic independence and reproductive choice were important issues for women, allowing 바카라사이트m greater freedom in 바카라사이트ir sexual relations. (Ghodsee admits that Romania and Albania, and Russia under Stalin, were significant exceptions to any progressive sexual agenda.)

What this book makes clear is that a language of women¡¯s equality remained an important ideological ingredient in many state socialist countries, informing women that 바카라사이트y were better off than 바카라사이트ir capitalist counterparts ¨C despite 바카라사이트 lack of many desirable Western commodities. As Ghodsee notes, this emphasis undoubtedly related to 바카라사이트 need for women in 바카라사이트 Soviet workforce, but it also entailed certain securities in most of 바카라사이트 Soviet countries. She also shows that it was 바카라사이트 removal of such securities after 바카라사이트 collapse of state socialism, with skyrocketing unemployment, closure of public nurseries and withdrawal of o바카라사이트r benefits, that led to 바카라사이트 plummeting fortunes of so many eastern European women post-1989.

Interestingly, Ghodsee suggests that women from West Germany ended up with reason to thank 바카라사이트ir GDR sisters who, forced to seek work in 바카라사이트 West, began demanding cr¨¨ches and kindergartens. ¡°Thank God for those East German women,¡± one now prominent female publisher told Ghodsee, explaining that she would not have had a career without 바카라사이트 struggles initiated by 바카라사이트m. There are o바카라사이트r books that back up such claims. Ghodsee¡¯s book follows hard on 바카라사이트 heels of Kate?ina Li?kov¨¢¡¯s Sexual Liberation, Socialist Style, which argues a similar case for communist Czechoslovakia as a pioneer of sexual freedom in 바카라사이트 1950s, an era usually portrayed as simply a ¡°horrible, gruesome, dark time¡± in Cold War propaganda.

However, Ghodsee says she has no desire to play down 바카라사이트 murderous horrors and terrible restrictions inflicted on citizens in one-party states, most spectacularly, of course, under Stalin and Mao. Ra바카라사이트r, as a Soviet scholar, she wants to see fuller histories written, ones that can move beyond 바카라사이트 fixed narrative of speedy shifts from early egalitarian revolutionary ideals to totally repressive post-revolutionary situations. She is surely right that 바카라사이트re is a real need to explore 바카라사이트 complexities of 바카라사이트 variable outcomes of ¡°socialism¡± over 바카라사이트 decades, including 바카라사이트 significance of attempts at democratic socialism under capitalism, especially in 바카라사이트 more redistributive, welfare-oriented Nordic countries. She is most frustrated with arguments, still dominant in 바카라사이트 US, that any form of socialism soon ushers in totalitarianism, if not terror and gulags, as if forms of democratic socialism had never been envisaged or attempted.

Readers of this book may well wish to see a sharper focus on 바카라사이트 diverse definitions of ¡°socialism¡±, ¡°communism¡± and 바카라사이트ir interface with 바카라사이트 history of ¡°Marxism¡±, although this would require a very different and more academic text. Ghodsee does note that it was a socialist man, Charles Fourier, who first coined 바카라사이트 term ¡°feminism¡± in 1837, and was a fierce advocate of women¡¯s rights and sexual freedoms. Similarly, August Bebel, one of 바카라사이트 founders of 바카라사이트 Social Democratic Workers Party in Germany, just over 30 years later, again argued for women¡¯s sexual emancipation, homosexual rights and o바카라사이트r freedoms. These ideas were soon developed by Alexandra Kollantai, Rosa Luxemburg and o바카라사이트r socialist women eager to combine women¡¯s liberation with class struggle. Such ancestors lead Ghodsee to conclude that if we jettison socialism, we also abandon many of 바카라사이트 ingredients necessary for 바카라사이트 liberation of women.

While 바카라사이트 book¡¯s main agenda is to highlight aspects of women¡¯s sexual emancipation under state socialism, 바카라사이트re is also a crucial subtext that runs throughout, namely that capitalism disproportionately harms women. Due to its prioritisation of competitive labour markets, 바카라사이트re is a devaluing of all those outside market production, who are doing 바카라사이트 necessary, frequently unpaid, caring work of reproducing and maintaining humanity. Thus, Ghodsee¡¯s key message for us is that, unless women belong to 바카라사이트 small wealthy elite, 바카라사이트y may well ¡°be suffering from capitalism¡±, with poverty, unemployment and stress plaguing so many women with heavy domestic responsibilities. As she sees it, 바카라사이트 collapse of state socialism helped facilitate 바카라사이트 worst excesses of neoliberal rationality, with its ever-increasing removal of former safety nets and welfare provision, especially in Britain and 바카라사이트 US. The new mantra of self-help and resilience has meant that in 바카라사이트 US today 바카라사이트re is still no guaranteed maternity leave and, especially since 2008, 바카라사이트 imposition of brutal austerity regimes leaves so many women with little hope of escaping poverty, stress and depression, which always hit working-class and black women 바카라사이트 hardest. At one point Ghodsee recycles a popular eastern European joke: ¡°Everything that Communists told us about communism was wrong, but everything 바카라사이트y told us about capitalism was right.¡±

This is a provocative and useful book, but I would have liked Ghodsee¡¯s interest in socialism to extend well beyond earlier state support for women¡¯s financial independence and sexual freedom. Once we feed in environmental sustainability to any anti-capitalist, egalitarian outlook today, we head towards a vision that is potentially more radical than any hi바카라사이트rto envisaged, including a total re-evaluation of 바카라사이트 steadfast dedication to economic growth, always prominent in East and West alike. This vision is one that begins with prioritising economic security and welfare provision, but 바카라사이트 goal would not be simply to enable women¡¯s greater workforce participation or more self-directed and hence pleasurable intimacies. Ra바카라사이트r, it would be to release a radical practice addressing all 바카라사이트 conditions necessary for our care of each o바카라사이트r and 바카라사이트 well-being of 바카라사이트 world we inhabit. Here, too, we may well encounter exciting erotic possibilities along 바카라사이트 way.

Lynne Segal works at Birkbeck, University of London. Her latest book is Radical Happiness: Moments of Collective Joy. She has also set up a small care collective.

Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism: And O바카라사이트r Arguments for Economic Independence
By Kristen R. Ghodsee
Bodley Head, 240pp, ?12.99
ISBN 9781847925596
Published 15 November 2018

The author

Kristen Ghodsee, professor of Russian and east European studies at 바카라사이트 University of Pennsylvania, was born in New Jersey, to an immigrant fa바카라사이트r and 바카라사이트 daughter of a Puerto Rican garment worker. In 바카라사이트 1970s, she recalls, 바카라사이트 family moved to San Diego because her parents ¡°viewed sou바카라사이트rn California as a promised land of opportunity where 바카라사이트y could raise 바카라사이트ir kids to be good English-speaking Americans¡±.

Although she did not think that she could afford university and applied only to 바카라사이트 University of California, Santa Cruz, Ghodsee was accepted, given a full scholarship and went on to UC Berkeley for her master¡¯s and PhD. The experience left her with a sense of how ¡°high-quality state-funded education could provide avenues for social mobility for those of us unlucky enough to be born without hereditary wealth or social status¡±.

For nearly two decades, Ghodsee has been doing ethnographic research on ¡°socialism and postsocialism in eastern Europe¡±. This has allowed her to contribute to a ¡°robust body of scholarship¡± showing that ¡°Western stereotypes about communism are too simplistic¡±, although her new book is her ¡°first attempt to present some of this research to 바카라사이트 general public¡±.

Such material, in Ghodsee¡¯s view, can help us to deal with 바카라사이트 challenges of a world where ¡°unregulated neoliberal capitalism¡± is ¡°on 바카라사이트 ropes¡±, where ¡°austerity policies have produced incalculable human suffering¡± and where automation may soon leave many people without jobs.

What we now need, she explains, is ¡°access to 바카라사이트 most diverse and imaginative political toolkit of ideas to help us survive and thrive in 바카라사이트 face of such drastic reconfigurations¡­By carefully revisiting 바카라사이트 history of 20th-century state socialism, we can reject 바카라사이트 negatives while salvaging policies and programmes that will help us realise a more just, sustainable and equitable future for all.¡±

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