Queer in Russia: A Story of Sex, Self, and the Other

The book is based on the author's trips to Russia over a period of fifteen years and tells a story of gay and lesbian scene in the country. It narrates about the development of queer identity in the decade following the collapse of the Soviet Union. Essig addresses the central issues of Russian LGBT community including the historical context of its formation which encompasses the years of legal prosecution of homosexual men and forced psychiatric treatment of lesbians in the Soviet state. The book is an effort to fathom what does it mean to be a queer in post-Soviet Russia.