Harrass at Will

Unprecedented revelations by several female journalists about unwanted advances by a senior State Duma deputy has sparked a debate on sexual harassment in Russia. But only a debate. 

While the #MeToo movement in the West has ended careers and impacted everything from politics to filmmaking, in Russia the subject is largely dismissed. Even the lawmaker in question, Leonid Slutsky (The last name Slutsky (Слуцкий) is pronounced Sloots-kee and does not have the connotation in Russian that it might if pronounced otherwise in English), has ridiculed the journalists’ claims (several said he has groped their private parts and one made an audio recording of the incident), hinting at a political conspiracy targeting both him and Russia as a whole in the run-up to March’s presidential elections.

Below are some of the reactions to the incident.