“A Woman Is A Woman, Man Is A Man”: Putin Vows To Protect Russia From West’s “Gender Obscurantism”

During his marathon annual year-end press conference Q&A, which this year lasted about four hours, Russian President Vladimir Putin once again vowed to defend Russian society against the intrusion of the corrupted values of the West, in particular blasting the “gender obscurantism” pushed by the United States and Europe.

“I am a proponent of the traditional approach that a woman is a woman and a man is a man,” Putin laid out, which it goes without saying also reflects basic Biology 101 and humans’ self-understanding for thousands upon thousands of years. He continued in the remarks on gender: “A mother is a mother, a father is a father. And I hope that our society has the internal moral protection dictated by the traditional religious denominations of the Russian Federation.”

Throughout the remarks he called it basic “common sense” – which strongly suggested that the opposite is currently the rule of the day in America and the West generally, where people fear being “canceled” in their jobs and during public discourse if they don’t confirm to concepts of ‘gender fluidity’ and Frankenstein reassignment surgeries, which is even increasingly being pushed on children. 

Putin was responding to a question form a journalist over recent gender controversies in the West, and also the way it has impacted women’s sports.

“And we learned to treat each other with respect. And what does it mean? That also means treating the foundations of our traditional spiritual culture with respect. All the peoples of the Russian Federation, I would like to stress, all of them have a certain internal moral protection against this obscurantism that you’ve just mentioned,” the Russian leader said.

“If somebody thinks that a woman and a man are the same thing, they’re welcome to [their opinion], but a certain common sense should exist.”

Holding up his country’s traditional values as the “antidote” to the “new ethics”, he also seemed to allude to the “spiritual values” of the Russian Orthodox Church, which has long been dominant in Russian society. 

That’s when he likened the West’s attempts to push these things on Eastern Europe to a viral infection… “just like the coronavirus pandemic,” he said…

“Just like with the coronavirus pandemic one can’t escape [non-traditional values coming from abroad]. We need to look for an antidote.”

At his annual press conference, Vladimir Putin is asked about cancel culture and JK Rowling’s anti-trans opinions:

Putin, thru translator: “If someone thinks that a man and a woman is the same thing, well let them think that. But there is common sense.” pic.twitter.com/YT4DB94XNr

— The Recount (@therecount) December 23, 2021

Referring indirectly to last summer’s Olympic Games in Tokyo which saw New Zealand transgender weightlifter Laurel Hubbard – who is a biological man – compete as a woman, Putin described situations where it’s now as simple as someone “declaring that he is a woman and starts competing in weightlifting”.

“And it is necessary to fight this not with direct orders and shouts and accusations but with the support for our traditional values,” he asserted further. Additionally according to a description in TASS of his remarks, he “cited the example of an incident in the US when a criminal serving time for rape declared that he was female and after a transfer to a women’s prison committed the same crime in his cell.”

The remarks also come at a time that multiple sports controversies have erupted in the US regarding trans competitors, particularly the ongoing saga of a University of Pennsylvania “male-to-female” swimmer who’s smashing all records…

Swimming world magazine editor says trans swimmer has same advantage ‘doping’ provideshttps://t.co/H3zGVEj4zP

— Fox News (@FoxNews) December 20, 2021

In comments earlier this year Putin called imposing transgender teaching on children a “crime against humanity”…

Every year during what the US has designated as “pride month” in June, American embassies around the world fly the rainbow flag in most embassies throughout the globe, including in Moscow and throughout Eastern Europe, where countries like Poland tend to be more conservative that Western Europe.

Of course, there’s a notable exception: US embassies in conservative Muslim nations like Saudi Arabia and Iraq did not fly the rainbow flag this year. The Saudis, it should be remembered, is America’s closest Arab ally and partner. 

USA embassy in Moscow puts up a pride flag. Did the state department do this in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, or any other countries where being gay is a literal death sentence? https://t.co/VhK2fjP8ud

— Chris Tomlinson (@TomlinsonCJ) June 30, 2020

As Putin’s comments suggested, the whole trans and LGBTQ++ movement seems to be bound up with US foreign policy abroad. In prior months, Kremlin officials have accused US-based NGOs of intentionally trying to influence Russian society with these “new ethics” – resulting in a crackdown on the degree which they can freely operate. This as Russia has laws on the books that make it illegal to propagandize children on these issues outside of parental consent.