During the press conference with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, Vladimir Poutine split a mocking sentence, difficult to translate, and whose sexist content caused a lot of reaction. “Whether you like it or not, my pretty, will have to endure,” launched the strong man of Russia for the Ukrainian president. Volodymyr Zelensky had just been critical of certain aspects of the peace plan for eastern Ukraine negotiated in 2015 between Kiev and Moscow.
The misogyny of this spade, launched at his opponent in a conflict that worries Westerners, has shocked many observers. “It’s more than sexist vocabulary, it’s the vocabulary of sexual assault, rape, masked by a false joke”, reacts Véronique Perry, researcher in linguistics. In one sentence, the head of the Kremlin shatters the notion of consent: he will do what he wants “whether it likes it or not” to his enemy, who will have to “bear” the situation.
Vocabulary “crude, obscene, striking”
Vladimir Putin is used to shock sentences. The leader makes a lot of “use of the raw, the obscene, the striking”, analyzes Anna Colin Lebedev, believing that this is an integral part of his “political style”. “While Western leaders will seek to keep a polite and politically correct vocabulary, Vladimir Putin stands out”, underlines the teacher-researcher in political science, specialist in post-Soviet societies.
“In the vocabulary of the dirty, the unspeakable, there are scatophilic and sexual registers and Putin uses both,” she explains. The head of the Kremlin is, in fact, known for brutal declarations such as the iconic: “we will butt (terrorists) even in the toilet”, pronounced in 1999 when he was Prime Minister.
“Putin is in a manly delirium”
We also know several sexist phrases. “I’m not a woman, I don’t have bad days,” he said while filming an Oliver Stone documentary between 2015 and 2017. In 2014, Vladimir Putin responded to an attack by Hillary Clinton thus: “When people cross the limits, it is not because they are too strong, but because they are too weak. But maybe weakness isn’t really a flaw for a woman. The exit of the Russian leader matches his public image. “Putin’s posture is a form of virilism, there are fake photos on which we see him riding a bear, underlines Véronique Perry while the Web is full of montages (ironic or not) of the leader. He is in a virilistic delirium, conquering dominator, à la Napoleon. »
Waiting on Putin pic.twitter.com/cPWC8zsD5Y
— Mr. (Bullish) Bear 🐻 (@Mr_Bear_stocks) February 7, 2022
Vladimir Putin is not the only one to use this type of language to reinforce his image as a “strong man”. Because the “parallels” between the domination of a territory and a woman are “quite common” in political language, in particular that of nationalism, believes Véronique Perry. The far-right presidential candidate Eric Zemmour, himself a nationalist, regularly associates power and masculinity. A conception in which women [ou l’Ukraine apparemment] are considered a “victory” to be achieved.
“Men’s sexual appetite goes hand in hand with power; women are the goal and the booty of any gifted man who aspires to climb in society, writes the former polemicist in his latest work. France has not said its last word”. And even today, women are regularly considered unfit for power because they are “hysterical” or “aggressive”. Witness the exchange this Tuesday morning between the journalist Apolline de Malherbe and the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin:
“I beg your pardon?”: the very tense exchange between Gérald Darmanin and Apolline de Malherbe pic.twitter.com/8XlHS5jzFl
— RMC (@RMCinfo) February 8, 2022
“If you are weak, you get screwed”
Eric Zemmour assumed in 2013 on the set of BFMTV to associate “power” and “virility”. By expressing himself thus, Vladimir Putin therefore establishes his power. “I’m Russian, I’m sexist and I’m fucking you”, translated in trivial terms Véronique Perry who underlines that in History, in particular of colonialism, “it is obvious that to own the land, you have to own the woman” .
“When Putin says that, he is saying the reality of social relations as he sees it: if you are weak, you get screwed,” explains Anna Colin Lebedev, for whom it is not sexism that is central here but violence “. “It’s not the first time that Ukraine has been spoken of as a whore that needs to be controlled,” she admits, but in Russia, the idea that “the violence of the powerful is natural and justified is above all predominant. “.
OK, need a little lighting.
Not on Macron / Putin, but on the social context behind this uninhibited “Whether you like it or not, my pretty, will have to support”, released by Putin in a press conference.
Here is a thread about ordinary violence in Russian society. 🧶 1/14— Anna Colin Lebedev (@colinlebedev) February 8, 2022
“It’s a way of making Zelensky understand that, in any case, we will make him bend. He tells the reality of what he thinks of the Russian-Ukrainian relationship. It says a lot about his way of seeing Ukraine and his place, ”deciphers the teacher-researcher in political science, specialist in post-Soviet societies.
A song about necrophiliac rape
For Véronique Perry, the “my pretty” (or “my beautiful”, according to the translations) used by Putin refers to the “attempt of macho seduction to submit”. Not to mention this “my” which underlines a belonging. “In Russia, there is a very special relationship with Ukraine where we will try to make domination seem natural: ‘You are ours, you are part of the clan and you are obliged to accept'”, explains Anna Colin Lebedev.
The sentence, however, caused so much reaction on the Russian-speaking web that the Kremlin reacted. “The (Russian) president wanted to say that when a state has agreed to take on obligations, it must stick to them,” explained the Kremlin spokesman. Dmitri Peskov also made it clear that this formulation was not taken from a song that circulated on the networks and whose lyrics are disturbingly similar.
According to him, Vladimir Putin does not know this song which tells of a necrophiliac rape and this sentence, which rhymes, would actually be taken from “Russian folklore”. Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky responded Tuesday during a joint press conference with Emmanuel Macron: “Ukraine is pretty, it’s true, but the use (of the personal pronoun) ‘ma’ is too much. Congratulated for his “coldness” by the French leader, the former actor felt that “patience was a virtue” in the face of Russian “provocations”.