Gayrope (russian: Гейропа, Geyropa, portmanteau of "gay" and "Europe") is a

homophobic Homophobia encompasses a range of negative attitudes and feelings toward homosexuality or people who are identified or perceived as being lesbian, gay or bisexual. It has been defined as contempt, prejudice, aversion, hatred or antipathy, m ...

slur widely used in

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

(including Russian state owned media) and occasionally in other

post-Soviet states The post-Soviet states, also known as the former Soviet Union (FSU), the former Soviet Republics and in Russia as the near abroad (russian: links=no, ближнее зарубежье, blizhneye zarubezhye), are the 15 sovereign states that wer ...

, referencing European civilization (as a part of wider

Western civilization Leonardo da Vinci's ''Vitruvian Man''. Based on the correlations of ideal Body proportions">human proportions with geometry described by the ancient Roman architect Vitruvius in Book III of his treatise ''De architectura''. image:Plato Pio-Cle ...

) as opposed to the ultraconservative

Russian civilization The Russian civilization (Русская цивилизация) is a purported civilization formed by Russians, and a concept used in Russian nationalism and Russian irredentism. Definition The concept takes on a different meaning depending on ...

. Initially, it only referenced Europe as a place where "

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is a ...

is dominating" (which was seen in a negative context, given that Russia is one of the most

-unfriendly nations in the world), but later it grew to mean the "decay" of European civilization in general, while Russia keeps the "traditional values".

History

In the beginning of 2000s,

Russia–European Union relations Russian–European Union relations are the international relations between the European Union (EU) and Russia. Russia borders five EU member states: Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland; the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad is surrounded ...

were full of optimism, but after a sequence of

colour revolution Colour revolution (sometimes coloured revolution) is a term used since around 2004 by worldwide media to describe various anti-regime protest movements and accompanying (attempted or successful) changes of government that took place in post ...

s in post-Soviet states (the

Orange Revolution The Orange Revolution ( uk, Помаранчева революція, translit=Pomarancheva revoliutsiia) was a series of protests and political events that took place in Ukraine from late November 2004 to January 2005, in the immediate afterm ...

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

, the

Rose Revolution The Rose Revolution or Revolution of Roses ( ka, ვარდების რევოლუცია, tr) was a nonviolent change of power that occurred in Georgia in November 2003. The event was brought about by widespread protests over the ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

and the

Tulip Revolution The Tulip Revolution or First Kyrgyz Revolution (russian: Тюльпановая революция; ky, Жоогазын революциясы) led to President of Kyrgyzstan Askar Akayev's fall from power. The revolution began after parliame ...

Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan,, pronounced or the Kyrgyz Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Asia. Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the south, and the People's Republic of China to the east. ...

), those relations started to deteriorate. According to the political scientist Andrew Foxall, it started during the second term of Vladimir Putin in the presidential office (2004—2008) and significantly strengthened during his third term (2012—2018). In the 2010s the feeling of clash of two civilizations strengthened, and promoting freedom of homosexuality in Russia by the West was seen as symbol of the western

cultural imperialism Cultural imperialism (sometimes referred to as cultural colonialism) comprises the cultural dimensions of imperialism. The word "imperialism" often describes practices in which a social entity engages culture (including language, traditions, ...

and one of the aspects of this confrontation. The word "Gayrope" became popular during the

Euromaidan Euromaidan (; uk, Євромайдан, translit=Yevromaidan, lit=Euro Square, ), or the Maidan Uprising, was a wave of Political demonstration, demonstrations and civil unrest in Ukraine, which began on 21 November 2013 with large protes ...

Revolution of Dignity The Revolution of Dignity ( uk, Революція гідності, translit=Revoliutsiia hidnosti) also known as the Maidan Revolution or the Ukrainian Revolution,

in Ukraine in 2013—2014 and the subsequent

Russo-Ukrainian War The Russo-Ukrainian War; uk, російсько-українська війна, rosiisko-ukrainska viina. has been ongoing between Russia (alongside Russian separatist forces in Donbas, Russian separatists in Ukraine) and Ukraine since Feb ...

, and it was widely used in both Russia and Ukraine. In 2016 this word was added to the "Russian etymological dictionary" under edition of Oleksandr Anikin, with a tag that this is a "pejorative vulgar neologism".

Political meaning

According to sociology scientist Tatiana Riabova, Russian anti-Western sentiment presents Europe as being decaying, with one of the explanations for this being the alleged "distortion of natural

gender role A gender role, also known as a sex role, is a social role encompassing a range of behaviors and attitudes that are generally considered acceptable, appropriate, or desirable for a person based on that person's sex. Gender roles are usually cent ...

s". Negative attitude toward Europe is serving as a basis for Russian

national identity National identity is a person's identity or sense of belonging to one or more states or to one or more nations. It is the sense of "a nation as a cohesive whole, as represented by distinctive traditions, culture, and language". National identity ...

, and not only exalts Russia for its inhabitants, but also gives it a role of the messiah, the stronghold of traditional family values, destined to "save" Europe and the whole world. Riabova also states that the concept of "Gayrope" is an important part of legitimizing of the current political regime in Russia, allowing the government to pose itself as keepers of "normality". The forced picture of Russian political opposition as traitors of the state is supplemented by their picture as people with gender deviations. Values of people from the

creative class The creative class is the posit of American urban studies theorist Richard Florida for an ostensible socioeconomic class. Florida, a professor and head of the Martin Prosperity Institute at the Rotman School of Management at the University of To ...

are shown as pervert, and the political activity produced by them as illegitimate, and not worthy of attention. According to the gender sociologist Tamara Martsenyuk, usage of this word in Ukraine is a good example of the fact that

homophobia Homophobia encompasses a range of negative attitude (psychology), attitudes and feelings toward homosexuality or people who are identified or perceived as being lesbian, gay or bisexual. It has been defined as contempt, prejudice, aversion, h ...

is still present in the country.

History

Political meaning

See also

References

Further reading