I. Ignatenko, PhD in History, Associate Professor

Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Kyiv, Ukraine

W. Grahn, PhD in Gender Studies, Associate Professor

Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden

DOI: https://doi.org/10.17721/1728-2640.2021.150.2


A WOMAN’S BODY AND SEXUALITY IN TRADITIONAL UKRAINIAN CULTURE

In this article our point of research will be the traditional rural beliefs of women and women’s bodies, in order to examine how above all femininity has been constructed in a traditional Ukrainian way. We focussed on the period from the mid 19th to the early 20th centuries. During this time, Western Ukraine was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and Eastern and Central Ukraine were part of the Russian Empire. We have used ethnographic interviews, and archived interview materials, but also included the study of contemporary sources. We use deconstruction and reconstruction as our main methodological approach. We found that strong the control of women’s sexuality has been in the past. We see the compulsory heterosexuality that is being constantly presented by society as a strong reason for this. The heterosexual option is the only officially articulated way of living that is vocalized. It is an unchallenged way of living that is part of the Ukrainian cultural imaginary. The overall impression is that Traditional Ukraine was a society where a heterosexual matrix was so strong that it seems to overshadow all other possibilities of Women's life. The stronger these two power axes (the heterosexual matrix and the patriarchal domination) are, the more restrictions there seem to be on women’s lives in such societies.

Keywords: woman’s body, gender, sexuality, traditions, patriarchy, Ukraine, compulsory heterosexuality, intersectionality.

Submitted: 21.07.2021

Download Full Text

References:

1. Borysenko, V. (1988). Wedding rituals and customs in Ukraine. Kyiv: Science. [In Ukrainian].

2. Vovk, F. (1995). Studies of Ukrainian Ethnography and Anthropology. Kyiv: Art. [In Ukrainian].

3. Hnatyuk, V. (2013). About Studios “Antropofitei”. Translated from German by Vasily Balushko. In: O. Boryak & M. Mayerrchik (Eds.), Ethnography of Sexual life and Physicality. Kyiv: Vypol. Pp. 32-39. [In Ukrainian].

4. Hrushevskyi, M. & Kuzelia, Z. (2017). The child in the customs and folk beliefs of the Ukrainian people. Part 1. Kyiv: Intellectual Book. [In Ukrainian].

5. Hrushevskyi, M. & Kuzelia, Z. (2017). The child in the customs and folk beliefs of the Ukrainian people. Part 2. Kyiv: Intellectual Book. [In Ukrainian].

6. Dysa, K. (2010). History of Sexuality of the early modern era: ideas and discussions at the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries. SOCIUM. Almanac of Social History, (9), 392-401. [In Ukrainian].

7. Boriak, O. & Maierchyk, M. (Eds.). (2013). Ethnography of Sexual life and Physicality. Kyiv: Vypol. [In Ukrainian].

8. Ignatenko, I. (2019). Domestic violence in the Traditional Culture of Ukrainians. Folk Art and Ethnology, (2), 56-65. [In Ukrainian].

9. Ignatenko, I. (2016). The Woman’s Body in Traditional Ukrainian Culture. Kharkiv: KSD. [In Ukrainian].

10. Kistiakovskyi, A. (1870). About the morality censorship of the people. Institute of the Manuscript of the National Library of Vernadsky, File 6, Volume, 96, 20 sheets. [In Russian].

11. Kis, O. (2008). Women in the traditional Ukrainian culture in the second half of 19th – early 20th centures. Lviv: Institute of Ethnology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. [In Ukrainian].

12. Kon, I. (2003). The Male Body in the History of Culture. Moscow: Slovo. [In Russian].

13. Kravchenko, V. (2009). The works and materials on archival heritage. Kyiv: Institute of Art History, Folklore and Ethnology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. [In Ukrainian].

14. Boriak, O. & Maierchyk, M. (Eds.). (2018). Inventings the Obscence. The Hidden Collection of Fedir Vovk. The Ethnography of Sexuality in the Late 19th and Early 20th Century. Kyiv: Critique. [In Ukrainian].

15. Lytvynova-Bartosh, P. (1900). Wedding Rituals and Customs in the Village of Zemlyantsi, Hlukhivskiy Povit, Chernihivskiy Region. In: Materials on Ukrainian-Russian Ethnology. Vol. 3. Lviv: NTSH. Pp.70-172. [In Ukrainian].

16. Masliichuk, V. (2008). Infanticide in the Left-bank and Slobidska Ukraine in the second half of the 18th century. Kharkiv: Kharkiv Private Museum. [In Ukrainian].

17. Petrov, V. Ukrainian legends about barren mother and unborn children. NFRF IMFE, File 1, Volume, 309. 10 sheets. [In Ukrainian].

18. Stavytska, L. (2008). Ukranian without Taboos. A Dictionary of Obscenities, Euphemisms and Sexual Slang. Kyiv: Critique. [In Ukrainian].

19. Sumtsov, N. (1886). “Dosvetki” and “posidelki”. Kyiv: [s. n.]. [In Russian].

20. Boriak, O. & Maierchyk, M. (Eds.). (2003). The Body in the Texts of Cultures. Kyiv: Institute of Art History, Folklore and Ethnology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. [In Ukrainian].

21. Bailey, J. (2012). Parenting in England 1760-1830: Emotion, Identity, and Generation. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

22. Burr, V. (2015). Social constructionism. London: Routledge.

23. Butler, J. (1993). Bodies that matter: on the discursive limits of ‘sex’. New York: Routledge.

24. Butler, J. (2006). Gender trouble: feminism and the subversion of identity. New York: Routledge.

25. Cossins, A. (2015). Female Criminality. Infanticide, Moral Panics and the Female Body. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

26. Crenshaw, K. (2003). Mapping the margins: intersecionality, identity politics, and violence against women of color. In: L. M. Alcoff & E. Mendieta (Eds.), Identities: race, class, gender, and nationality. Malden, MA: Blackwell. Pp. 175-200.

27. Dawson, G. Soldier heroes: British adventure, empire, and the imagining of masculinities. London: Routledge.

28. Hunt, M. (2009). Women in eighteenth-century Europe. London: Routledge.

29. Jackson, S. & Scott, S. (2002). Introduction: The gendering of sociology. In: S. Jackson & S. Scott (Eds.), Gender: a sociological reader. London: Routledge.

30. Lykke, N. (2010). Feminist studies: a guide to intersectional theory, methodology and writing. New York: Routledge.

31. Matswetu, V. S. & Bhana, D. (2018). Humhandra and hujaya: Virginity, Culture, and Gender Inequalities Among Adolescenta in Zimbabwe. Open Sage, 8(2), 1-11. doi: https://doi.org/10.1177%2F2158244018779107

32. Shoemaker, R. (1998). Gender in English society, 1650-1850: the emergence of separate spheres? London: Longman.

33. Ramazanoglu, C. & Holland, J. (2002). Feminist methodology challenges and choice. London: SAGE Publications.

34. Rich, A. (1980). Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 5(4), 631-660.