Sex in Different Cultures: Russia

There are many factors that go into structuring a culture's society. Much like many post-colonial literatures from nations that were once under British rule, the sexual traditions of each culture is varied and unique. Imagine the influence of modern Western religious belief of monotheism combined with the ancient Greeks' belief of many gods. An attempt to reconcile the two philosophies-even if it's only half-successful-would give birth to an entirely different entity. Religion is only one aspect of a culture. Throw in the nation's traditional garb, ethnic food, moral values, history of conquest, institutions, and you have a smorgasbord of possible sexual outcomes.

Sex, apart from other basic necessities like food and water, is what every culture has in common. Yet, each culture's sexual practices-whether courting rituals, preference for foreplay, or the extensive use of sex toys during intercourse-don't appear out of thin air on a whim. As much as humans are driven by the need to create-whether babies or ideas-anthropologists will tell you there are other forces at work.

Some of what we discover may be old wives' tales that turned out to be true; other facts may lead to wonderful epiphanies and just might enlighten the ordinary reader in a titillating way...

High Testosterone versus the Strong Woman Syndrome

Type "Russia" into any Internet search engine and a list of websites spring up, most commonly ads of women looking for their Western male Romeo. The average site will tell you how beautiful, skinny, respectful and educated Russian women are compared to the rest of the world. A closer look into the history of sexuality in the Russian Federation may explain exactly why the world's largest country with the ninth largest population would look beyond their borders to find a mate, when there are so many available on the home front.

A brief historical sketch shows early Slavic tribes populating the area in the fifth century. The unification of Russia began with the first state of Novgorod in 860 CE and expanded to Kiev, under the rule of princes. In 988, Prince Vladimir introduced Christianity into the region, influenced by Constantinople and the Byzantine Empire. The Mongols invaded in 1223 and stayed until the Grand Duchy of Moscow expelled them in 1340. In 1530, Ivan the Terrible took over as the first Tsar. Tsars ruled Imperial Russia until the Revolution in 1917 and the Soviet Union was formed in 1922. In 1991, the USSR collapsed, and is now known as the Russian Federation.