Gay Lives and ‘Aversion Therapy’ in Brezhnev’s Russia, 1964-1982 (Genders and Sexualities in History)

by: Rustam Alexander (Author)

Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Publication Date: 25 Nov. 2023

Language: English

Print Length: 179 pages

ISBN-10: 3031458699

ISBN-13: 9783031458699

Book Description

This book examines the autobiographies and diaries of Soviet homosexual men who underwent psychotherapy during the period from 1970 to 1980 under the guidance of Yan Goland, a psychiatrist-sexopathologist from Gorky. The examination of these unique and little known documents contributes to our scant knowledge about the practices that many would call a Soviet proto-type of ‘aversion therapy’. It also helps us understand the way homosexual people faced “queer dilemmas” of the self and how they sought to reconcile their queer desire with being Soviet.