Domestic Violence on Russian Television: A Sociological Perspective.

My work is dedicated to exploring the representation of domestic violence against women on Russian television and how these images are interpreted by different women. Despite the pervasive nature of this issue in modern Russian society, the topic of domestic abuse remains taboo on television, and I have discovered only two series that discuss it: Boiling Point (2010) and The Perfect Victim (2015). Such series as the Brazilian Mulheres Apaixonadas (2003), the English Broadchurch (2013-2016), and the American Big Little Lies (2017) successfully addressed the issue in the form of what is known as E-E, entertainment-education. Produced by a channel with significant possibilities for outreach, both Russian shows had an opportunity to offer constructive help in the same way. A preliminary critical analysis, however, has demonstrated that these shows offered highly unrealistic solutions to the victims’ problems and portrayed various forms of support as unhelpful and possibly dangerous, potentially discouraging victims from seeking help. Moreover, these shows have been found to objectify women and display examples of victim-blaming, alongside mythologizing the importance of family values. The second step of the research is collecting and analyzing data from Russian women to determine how they perceive the messages of these shows and if they are able to identify the characters’ abusive behavior. I'm looking at how these abilities correlate with religious beliefs, living in cities, towns or villages, being employed, having children, and personal experience of abuse.