The Break-Free Trajectory: Queer Topics in the Soviet Magazine Ogonek

Area of Science:

• Sociology
• Media Studies
• Queer Theory

Background:

• The Soviet official public sphere historically rendered queer topics unspeakable.
• Michel Foucault's concept of silence as productive power informs the understanding of censorship regimes.
• The magazine Ogonek (1923-1993) serves as a case study for examining discursive practices.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze how queer topics were made unspeakable in the Soviet public sphere.
• To investigate the role of the magazine Ogonek in negotiating discursive legitimacy around sexuality.
• To trace the evolution of frameworks used to articulate queerness under Soviet censorship.

Main Methods:

• Quantitative mapping of keyword frequencies in Ogonek publications mentioning queer topics.
• Affective coding of emotional orientations associated with queer discourse.
• Thematic discourse analysis of dominant contexts in which queerness was articulated.

Main Results:

• A "break-free trajectory" was identified, characterized by a slow accumulation of constrained discursive possibilities.
• These possibilities became legible only after censorship weakened in the late 1980s.
• Queer subjects were constructed through evolving frameworks: foreignness, criminality, pathology, and vulnerability.

Conclusions:

• Soviet authoritarian regimes structure, rather than solely suppress, public discourse on sexuality.
• Ogonek functioned as a node within a censorship ecology, reflecting shifting political conditions.
• The study contributes to queer media scholarship on the production of public discourse under authoritarianism.