Russia Bans ‘Emasculating’ Photos of Putin to Retain Macho Image

President Putin does not want to be known or seen as the “gay clown”.

(Photo Courtesy: Twitter/@randym77777)

An “emasculating” Warholian image of Russian president Vladmir Putin, which has him in a full face of makeup, has been banned by Russia to protect his masculine image, as New York Times reported.

Putin goes to great lengths to remind his citizens he’s *literally* the man. Images of him riding a horse, bare-chested but not barebacked, taking an opponent down in martial arts have become memes in the past.

A Russian named Alexander V Tsvetkov posted photos and comments last year on the country’s largest social media website VKontakte, and the authorities took notice.

The Central District Court of Tver ruled that certain images, including the Warholian one, were “extremist”. In March, the Justice Ministry updated its list of extremist materials and allotted a fine of 3,000 rubles ($53) or 15 days of administrative detention to the offenders.

What else figures in the banned material?

Image No. 4072, which Russian officials described as a poster resembling Mr Putin “with makeup on his face – his eyelashes and lips are painted – which, as envisioned by the author/authors of the poster, should hint to an alleged nonstandard sexual orientation of the Russian president.”

The Warholian image has been widely referred to in social media and by news outlets as “gay clown”, with many noting that the description is a stereotype in itself.

Putin’s homophobia has been documented in the past as in 2014 he signed laws banning gay couples from adopting Russian-born children and allowed police to arrest tourists and foreigners suspected of being gay or pro-gay and detaining them for up to 14 days.

He has signed a bill classifying “homosexual” propaganda as pornography, which could subject those who argued for tolerance or educating children about homosexuality to get arrested and fined.

Kiosks have gone as far as selling posters of Putin to project an aura of “machismo” to show off in their homes (and clearly, to cleanse their minds of the “gay clown”.)

The image-ban is a two-pronged attack; the first being on free expression and the second to quash anything perceived as ‘pro-gay’.

Gregory Vitarbo, a professor of history and Russia expert at Meredith College in Raleigh, said that Putin is “notoriously vain.”

So it is the perfect convergence: for Putin to be mocked in an image, and done so in an way that overtly invokes homosexuality, would indeed draw the particular ire of the regime.

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