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

Abstract

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.

Somewhere over the rainbow (crossing): reflections on LGBTQ allyship at NATO

“…Whether this be as 'progressive allies' in the case of NATO, or as a defender of Mother Russia's 'traditional values' against the 'immorality' of a corrupt West. (Weber, 2016;Baker 2017;Wilkinson, 2018;Slootmaeckers, 2020;Cooper-Cunningham, 2022). These claims are playing out at various levels and across multiple platforms, including social media and have significant, material consequences for LGBTQ individuals and communities within those states and within NATO.…”

Global Queer and Feminist Activism: An Introduction

“…Originally the photo montage artwork depicting Putin in pop-art style make up was used on a protest sign to draw attention to a new law in Russia, banning so called 'propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations'. However, since the image became an internet meme it has been recontextualised to carry variously homonationalist, anti-Russian, pro-LGBTQ+ as well as homophobic messaging in contradictory ways (Baker et al, 2019;Cooper-Cunningham, 2022;Wiedlack, 2020). Other visual artefacts have played similarly ambivalent roles in terms of international politics and gender and sexuality rights (e.g., the 'OneLove' armband during the 2022 men's FIFA World Cup in Qatar; the 2021 PR campaign by the Swedish Armed Forces featuring a squad of combat clad armed soldiers carrying a rainbow flag 3 ).…”