He is powerful, strong, dominant and ready to defend the family and the motherland. According to that logic, a real man is associated with self-sufficiency, economic independence, brotherhood and loyalty. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, it was reappropriated with a positive connotation of ‘real manhood’, becoming a kind of standard for Russian masculinity.īasically, the minimum requirements for a muzhik are not being a woman, a child, a homosexual or western. In Russia during imperial times, the word muzhik was used to designate a male peasant. What counts as ‘masculine’ is not natural but depends on the public discourses about it and so varies across the world and in historical perspective. As Judith Butler writes, gender is ‘ performative’-it must be continually reasserted. So, for those new to the topic, a very short introduction to gender theory: being male or female does not make a person masculine or feminine. This question cannot be answered from a gender-blind perspective.

Where does all this geopolitical muscle-flexing come from-and what is to be done about it? The foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, warns: ‘The nightmare scenario of military confrontation is returning’. Is Russia planning to attack its neighbour? The Kremlin calls such claims ‘ alarmist’ and ‘ hysteria’ but clearly wants to show its red lines. Russian troops on the Ukraine border and aggressive rhetoric from Moscow are causing fear among western states.

Muzhiki don’t need umbrellas-Putin awarding medals to the French winners of the 2018 World Cup final, amid the post-match downpour in Moscow (Dokshin Vlad / )

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