Origins of Gender Asymmetry in Russia of Modern Age:   “Yunosti Chestnoe Zertsalo” Cover Image

Об истоках гендерной асимметрии в России Нового времени: «Юности честное зерцало»
Origins of Gender Asymmetry in Russia of Modern Age: “Yunosti Chestnoe Zertsalo”

Author(s): N. V. Kapustin
Subject(s): Gender Studies, Studies of Literature, Gender history, Modern Age
Published by: Ивановский государственный университет
Keywords: “Yunosti Chestnoe Zertsalo” (“The Honorable Mirror for Youth”); Peter the Great’s epoch; innovations; traditions; gender asymmetry;

Summary/Abstract: “Yunosti Chestnoe Zertsalo” (“The Honorable Mirror for Youth”) belongs to the significant cultural phenomena of Peter the Great’s epoch with its orientation to innovations. The more interesting is the connection of this book with the tradition, clearly exposed in gender asymmetry. Having analyzed its manifestations (in architectonics, composition, semantics of the key notions, presence/absence of the prescribed types of behavior), the author of the article tries to explain the causes of the existing disproportions, and his viewpoint differs from the solutions already suggested in special literature. The observations made and the interpretations offered lead to the final conclusion that “Yunosti Chestnoe Zertsalo”, claiming to the creation of a new model of the Russian world and having a prescriptive character, actually recorded gender asymmetry, leaving the woman at the religious and moral height but at the same time limiting her opportunities in the society.

  • Issue Year: 2019
  • Issue No: 1
  • Page Range: 111-120
  • Page Count: 10
  • Language: Russian