CC BY
67
УДК 316
Yana Katriy,
Graduate student of the Master's Program in Political Science, The Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and
Public Administration, Shanghai, People's Republic of China
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE IN RUSSIA: COMMUNICATING WOMEN'S NARRATIVES
THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA
Annotation
In 2017 domestic violence was decriminalized in Russia. 4 out of 5 women (79%) convicted in 2016-2018 for premeditated murder actually defended themselves against domestic violence. In this article I talk about the ways social media can raise awareness among general public on such topic. Using a social media platform in my research I was able to deliver the narratives of Russian-speaking women who suffered domestic violence, providing them with a safe space to share their authentic stories and to be heard.
Key words:
domestic violence, women, intimate partner violence, public health problem, Russian women, violence against
women, hierarchy of power, emancipation.
Domestic violence (DV), understood as synonymous with violence against women, is characterized as a phenomenon of multiple determinations and it is defined as any act based on gender relations that results in women's physical and psychological damages or suffering [9, p. 383-394]. It refers to the hierarchy of power, desires of domination and annihilation of the other and that can be used consciously sometimes in marital relations as a mechanism for subordination of women to their partners [3].
In the research that gathered data from 35 studies in 24 countries [10, 135-145], the high incidence of violence of men against women was shown to be the most endemic form the sexual and physical violence of intimate partners against their women, which reiterates the phenomenon as a serious public health problem. The use of physical force and/or psychological containment imposed on a woman against her interests, wants and desires, results in damage to physical and mental health by the violation of human dignity in its integrity [15, p.1019-1027].
A study on quality of life and the presence of diseases such as depression in women suffering from violence revealed that most of the victims of aggression (72.0%) developed a significant degree of clinical depression. The majority of women experiencing violence (78.0%) also present symptoms such as anxiety and insomnia and those who suffered aggression (24.0%) began to use anxiolytic medication after the onset of episodes [12, 108-113].
In 2017 domestic violence was decriminalized in Russia. 4 out of 5 women (79%) convicted in 2016-2018 for premeditated murder actually defended themselves against domestic violence. The results were obtained using a machine learning algorithm that analyzed about 2,500 court sentences. Among those convicted of causing grievous bodily harm resulting in death, every second woman defended herself against her IP - that makes about 52% of cases [24].
In addition, journalists studied about 1.5 thousand verdicts passed in 2011 -2018 for murders exceeding the limits of necessary defense. The scale of domestic violence was the highest there: 91% of women defended themselves from partners or other male relatives. At the same time, men convicted under the same article of law defended themselves from partners in only 3% of cases. The authors of the study concluded that, according to the Criminal Code of Russian Federation, many of these cases should not have happened at all: women have to go to prison only because they cannot fight off the aggressor with their bare hands, for the symmetry of power required by the court [24].
In the conclusions of psychiatric examinations, which were assigned during the investigation, one can often
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see statements that the state of a woman at the time of the murder cannot be considered the 'crime of passion' since: "the violence was systematic for her" and she had to get used to it [24].
Most of these cases should be qualified as self-defense or exceeding its necessary limits, but it is easier and more profitable for investigators to identify them as murders, - says a former investigator who served for 20 years in the Prosecutor's Office and the Investigative Committee of St. Petersburg and asked to stay anonymous. "Statistics of murder detection, that is, the number of cases brought to court, is the main frame of reference by which the work of the Investigative Committee is assessed. There is an average number for each region, and investigators have a powerful motive to classify something like murder as self-defense. As long as it's not acquittal," - he explains [24].
Almost 40% of verdicts against women say that the deceased man had previously regularly beat up the woman. In cases investigated, 83% of women defended themselves from their husbands and IPs, and 8% from other male relatives. The opposite numbers were seen in the verdicts for men: only 3% of the convicts defended themselves from their wives or female partners, and the majority (67%) defended themselves from other male acquaintances. Another 18% defended themselves from relatives, who in almost all cases were also men. Men who women already know present a greater danger to women than strangers [24].
In practice, judges assess the threat to life and health depending on whether the attacker used a weapon. If the attacker is unarmed, and you use any household item, you are breaking the law. And men in such cases often attack with their bare hands, and many women, in defense, are forced to use weapons, because they are physically less strong. And then the investigators and judges decide that the woman has exceeded the limits of necessary defense, which means she has committed a crime [24].
The bill [13], which human rights activists are talking about now, was submitted to Parliament in 2016. Even then, it assumed the introduction of protective orders that prohibit the aggressors from approaching their victims, the building of shelters for the victims, guaranteeing them legal and psychological assistance, - but it was rejected by the State Duma council. At the same time the law of Senator Elena Mizulina on decriminalizing physical abuse in the family - passed [23].
Opponents of the bill (some are even institutional - like Russian Orthodox Church) claim it is destructive to traditional Russian family values. They consider it 'an instrument of radical and violent change in the very foundations of Russian society, the destruction of the traditional family and moral values' [4].
The situation has reached an outrageous point: if a woman gets hit, beaten up or raped by her husband - the worst punishment that a husband can face is a conversation with a police officer and a fine up to 55 EUR. Then a woman has to return home to her abuser, and at home is when most fatal cases happen - the majority of them in front of the children.
For victims of domestic violence, it has resulted in having to make a choice: be dead or be sentenced. 16 millions [7] of victims are the evidence we have to put a stop to it.
Today Russia is the only country in Europe and Central Asia that does not have a law regarding domestic violence. The State Government is resisting to discuss the bill in Parliament during this upcoming Fall Session, and if they do - the bill is likely to be modified: they will eliminate the sexual, economic and psychological wording out of it 'because sexual abuse does not happen between man and wife', keeping only the physical violence clause.
Right now, Russian police do not recognize 'family conflicts.' They are only able to condemn for the criminal consequences: dead bodies, raped women, cut off joints. Proactive measures have to be introduced. In the post-Soviet era, initiatives related to domestic violence have been submitted to the State Duma more than 40 times [24]. Not a single document was considered at the plenary session. When there is a law against domestic violence, this is a completely different attitude of the State. There is a special training for police officers, investigators and judges, they are taught how the aggressors behave, what the victims are experiencing, how it all develops.
Social Media
In 2019, the American research company Edelman [6] published an annual rating of the trust level of residents of different countries towards public institutions and institutions of power (33 thousand people in 28 countries have participated in the survey). Russia took the last place in terms of the general level of trust and is at
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the bottom of the rating in most sections of the report. Russians' trust index is 29 out of 100.
The State does very little to promote mutual trust in society. It is not very concerned with protecting individual rights and building horizontal institutions of solidarity and interaction at the base level [21].
However, people would still need to get their information from somewhere and this is where, I believe, social media comes in.
'People do not watch TV, do not read advertisements on banners, do not listen to the radio - they scroll through Instagram, Facebook, VKontakte, and watch stories. And bloggers are people who are trusted and whose example they [people] follow' [7].
We can analyze an impact social media has on raising awareness and even legislative initiative by following the results of 3 viral hashtags: #MbiCecTpbiXaHarypaH - 2.4k (We are Khachaturyan Sisters), #CBo6ogyCecTpaMXanaTypaH - 2.6k (Free the Khachaturyan Sisters) and #^HeXoTenaYMHpaTb - 23.3k (I Did Not Want To Die).
One of the leaders of the movement against DV in Russia, Alena Popova [2], founder of the 'Protect Women Project' says: 'Bloggers changed my opinion on Instagram, when we started the flash mob [I Did Not Want To Die]. They proved: we have the power, when we are together. We can accomplish a lot, when we are together. We can make a difference. We have collected additional 100,000 signatures for the petition, women have shared their experiences. Some [women] for the first time talked about the hell they had to live in. Mass media started talking about the problem of domestic violence. We have really created resonance, expanded the information field and turned [people's] attention towards the significance of the law' [8].
Today, Internet users write posts using those hashtags, hundreds of people go on single pickets. Protesters point out the Khachaturyan sisters' case is the case of DV, and it applies to everyone [1].
2018-2020 have become the groundbreaking years in the field of raising awareness around the problem of DV in Russia. Social media has started the trend with the viral posts and hashtags, followed by numerous of documentaries on DV made by bloggers and independent journalists. In 2018 Irina Snegovskaya, a blogger and student of the Faculty of Journalism at St. Petersburg State University, filmed a documentary about DV, "A Family Case". In the picture, there are five heroines who tell stories about how they were abused by their husbands, boyfriends and fathers, as well as comments from a lawyer and a psychologist [20]. Second part of the film was released in 2019. The film "Rebirth" consists of interviews with several characters: victims of violence, representatives of crisis centers and a tattoo artist, who covers the scars with drawings [14].
Regina Todorenko, TV host and influencer, has also released a documentary in 2020 about DV called "What have I done to help?". Hence, the title of the film is a reference to the phrase: "What have you done to make him hit you?", which Todorenko said in an interview with Peopletalk. This interview and conversation with Glamor editor-in-chief Ilyana Erdeneeva on Instagram has caused one of the largest media scandal around the topic of DV. The TV host, who said that the victims themselves are guilty of physical abuse and should seek the right kind of approach to the rapist, was stripped of the title of "Woman of the Year Glamor", as well as contracts with PepsiCo and Pampers [22].
Other documentaries worth mentioning are: the movie by BBC Russia 'To Hit Back: Russian women against domestic violence' [18], documentary series on DV 'Enough!' [19], where the hosts - actor Vladimir Mishukov and journalist Nastya Krasilnikova are discussing the stories of women who have experienced violence in different situations: at work, in the maternity hospital, at home. Those stories and statistics are creating a conversation, in which men and women are able to hear each other and say what they were silent about before. And also a two-part series by Irina Shikhman 'If he beats you - he beats you' - referencing and refuting a famous Russian saying 'If he beats, [that means] he loves you'. In the first episode Irina is interviewing victims of DV and several celebrities who were willing to open up about their history of violence and abuse [17]. In the second episode she is addressing a situation in Dagestan (a region in Russia with very traditional communities), legislative initiatives and 'Me Too' movement in Russia [16].
My research
To better understand the situation with DV within the community of Russian speaking-women, I have
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conducted a survey research. I used the questionnaire with multiple choice questions as the main instrument for collecting data. However, women were also provided with an option to extend and further their answers by sending me a personal message. That was a very unique opportunity to read women's narratives and analyze their feelings and thoughts in a very authentic and personal form. And that is what, I believe, a lot of times is lacking in science - seeing a human behind the numbers.
It is also important to note that I have used a social media platform (personal blog on Instagram) to conduct this survey, which again shows us: the audience is ready to partake in the initiatives revolving around the issues of DV.
The form was only available to the audience for 24 hours. The total of 670 women filled out my questionnaire - all volunteers willing to talk about their experience.
370 women have said they weren't exposed to situations of violence in their family and/or intimate partner relationships.
However, after the questionnaire several women found themselves reassessing their statement. They said they had not realized that what they had been experiencing had been violence and abuse; they thought 'it was normal, every family/ relationship experiences that'.
One woman has checked off 'no experience of violence', then wrote me a personal message saying she had not quite realize what she had been experiencing had been abuse. She described her violent IP, who had taken money from her, would not allow to go to work and then impregnated her against her will. Her words were: 'I thought this was the norm; and every family goes through that. You have opened my eyes'.
193 women said they have experienced abuse from their IPs, with 133 votes for psychological abuse and 67 for more than one type of abuse.
When asked if they had anyone they could reach out for help to, 184 women found help in their family member or a friend, 21 women were able to go through this with a psychotherapist, no woman was able to find help within an organization and 165 women weren't able to find any help at all and had to go through this experience alone.
131 women stated their IPs have, in fact, limited their social interactions and restricted their communication with family and/or friends; 5 women were forbidden to go to work, 18 women got their money taken away by their IPs.
129 women have stated they have been forced by their IPs to engage in certain sexual activities against their will, with 20 women saying they had been infected (STIs), and 31 women saying they had not notices any symptoms of STIs, therefore they did not go for a checkup with their gynecologist, so they were not able to correctly assess whether or not they had been infected.
Another big factor in silencing women's voice is shame. 157 women reported they felt dirty and ashamed of themselves. They did not want to talk about it, 'but would rather die'. In their private messages they have confessed to considering suicide.
Conclusion.
Russia is the country without Sexual Education in its school program's curriculum. And I could vividly see how easily some breaches (in understanding the phenomenon of DV and self-defense) could be closed had some basic knowledge been introduced. As we analyze the comments of several women - they have clearly stated they were not aware what they had been going through is considered violence and abuse. Looking at the results of the research we are facing a major factor of unawareness topped up with women's inability to ask for help. The latter could be the result of the lack of institutional help (DV was decriminalized in Russia in 2017) or the lack of facilities and organizations that could provide shelter and/or help for the victims of DV. A woman could think that even by reaching out she might not get help but she will definitely escalate the conflict with her IP by publicly calling out on his actions. That is why most women remain silent.
It could be concluded that in today's Russia women lack control over their lives. Deciding to end their silence in the face of a situation of violence presents both facilitating and troublesome aspects. Among the facilitating aspects are personal attitudes, such as feelings of exhaustion and revolt, and awareness of potential life
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risks. Among the troublesome factors, fear, guilt and shame, as well as family, material and institutional obstacles [11].
The system is deficient in guaranteeing the protection of women against their abusers. Therefore, we cannot even expect trained health professionals to help women or monitor the situation. We are back at square one: 'kill or be killed', which is definitely not the value people should live by in 2020.
In the civilized world we would be talking about measures to empower women to exercise mastery over their lives. This would include institutions to provide the necessary psychological support, educational initiatives to emphasize the importance of women's financial independence, qualification for the labor market and opportunities for income and employment, - so that they can also be economically empowered to leave the relationship of violence [5]. However, the current legislative environment in Russia sends us back to medieval times when women were considered marital property and therefore are used and treated as disposable objects. Russian women today are either kept in the dark to think that DV is the norm, or fighting singlehandedly against the initiatives of the State and Russian Orthodox Church, in the country proclaimed to be secular by its Constitution.
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© Katriy Y., 2020
