Security, sexuality, and the Gay Clown Putin meme: Queer theory and international responses to Russian political homophobia

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Focusing on the case of ‘Gay Clown Putin’, this article theorizes memes as visual interventions in international politics. While not all memes are political interventions, Gay Clown Putin is an iconic meme that is part of the international response to Russian state-directed political homophobia that emerged after the gay propaganda law was passed in 2013. How it has circulated and the attention it has received make it apt for exploring memes as visual political interventions that challenge national security discourses. Here, I provide three readings of Gay Clown Putin that suggest different possibilities for how the meme might work politically. In so doing, I deepen international relations’ engagement with queer theory by bringing in the politics of play that works through a queer epistemology that embraces deviance. Bringing memes to the study of international security, I show how the collection of images making up the Gay Clown Putin meme provides space for understanding the visual politics of security.
OriginalsprogEngelsk
TidsskriftSecurity Dialogue
Vol/bind53
Udgave nummer4
Sider (fra-til)302-323
Antal sider22
ISSN0967-0106
DOI
StatusUdgivet - aug. 2022

Bibliografisk note

Funding Information:
I would first like to acknowledge the work of the two anonymous reviewers and the editors. Your feedback was incredibly constructive and instrumental in making this article better; I am genuinely grateful for your guidance. Thank you for taking such care and putting in so much time, especially during a pandemic. Thanks to those who heard and commented on this article at the International Studies Association Annual Conference in Toronto 2019 – in particular, to Juha Vuori for being a diligent discussant and giving fantastic feedback. Thank you to Cai Wilkinson for the intellectual sparring around Edinburgh Gardens during my time as a visiting international fellow at Deakin University, Melbourne; you were instrumental in helping me nuance my argument. Thanks to the IR Group at the University of Copenhagen for taking the time to give comments on this article as it went through the revision process. I owe particular thanks to Rebecca Adler-Nissen, Kristin Eggeling and Anine Hagemann for providing excellent discussions about this article at several workshops. As always, Lene Hansen has been the most incredible mentor throughout this process; I have so much enjoyed sparring with you about this article for the last years – thank you. The author disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: Research for this article was supported by the following research projects: ‘Images and International Security’, funded by the Independent Research Fund Denmark, grant number DFF-1327-00056B; ‘Bodies as Battleground: Gender, Images, and International Security’, funded by the Independent Research Fund Denmark, grant number 7015-00093B.

Funding Information:
The author disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: Research for this article was supported by the following research projects: ‘Images and International Security’, funded by the Independent Research Fund Denmark, grant number DFF-1327-00056B; ‘Bodies as Battleground: Gender, Images, and International Security’, funded by the Independent Research Fund Denmark, grant number 7015-00093B.

Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2022.

    Forskningsområder

  • Critical security studies, memes, queer, sexuality, visual politics

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