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Feminism in the Post-Soviet space: the geopolitics of Estonian feminism

Abstract The article deals with the problem how Estonian geocultural difference (Estonia as a small, economically vulnerable post-socialist country in the borderlands of Europe) constructs Estonian feminism(s) both in today’s and historical context. The geocultural location has had a great influence upon Estonian society and culture, and the Estonian situation can be understood as a state of being somewhere in-between (see Koobak and Marling 2014), not only geographically but also socio-culturally. Estonian feminism began in close connection to the Estonian national movement in the second half of the 19th century. The Soviet period in Estonia (1940–1991; from 1941 to 1944 Estonia was occupied by Nazi Germany) which interrupted the feminist tradition had a controversial meaning considering the gender aspect. Although the idea of gender equality was an integral part of Soviet ideology, it was not implemented in reality. Estonia was regarded as the Soviet republic both economically, geographically (the neighborhood of Finland) and culturally closest to the West. Thus, Estonian gender ideas consisted of a mixture of Soviet gender equality rhetoric, the ideas of Estonian nationalism, some Western influences, puritanical attitudes toward sexuality and the female body. Feminism reappeared in Estonia after the restoration of independence. The Estonian experience belongs to those small stories set in a specific local context (see Lykke 2010) and as such, it has shaped feminist practices that are a result of complex socio-spatial power relations and intersections of ethnicity/nationality, gender, geocultural place etc., both historically and in today’s context.