Gender Socialization Through the Study of Literature

The article is based on the idea of the socio-psychological nature of gender and contains information on the mechanisms of gender socialization (formation of images of femininity and masculinity) with the help of such agents as family, school, mass culture and literature. The traditional Russian, Soviet and Western types of femininity and masculinity are characterized and tendencies of feminization of public space are noted, as well as coexistence of both traditional, and egalitarian gender models in modern Russian culture. The unique rank of Russian femininity are identified in comparison to Western European femininity. Its origins, first, in Russian folklore, where the image of the wise virgin is vividly represented and then migrates to literature, and secondly, in religion (in Western culture the image of the virgin Mary, Madonna is sung and gives rise to a courtly culture, in Orthodoxy the aspect of motherhood of the mother of God is more important). Femininity in Russian religious philosophy, in contrast to ancient and Eastern philosophy, is associated with divine wisdom, and not with the dark and chaotic. These trends also exist in the literature. The article provides an overview of works by Russian and foreign authors, traditionally included into course syllabi at Russian schools (5-11 grades) and act as the agents of gender socialization. They portrey the image of a strong, self-sufficient and integral Russian woman, while men are depicted in different ways, often hesitating, unable to cope with the test of love. The image of a femme fatale is not typical for Russian culture and literature, as well as the image of a male knight. The paper drew attention to the difficulties in describing of Russian masculinity as portrayed in literature outside the military-Patriotic context. At this time, genre literature draws more unambiguous images of men, but contributes to the formation of gender stereotypes, so there is a problem of selection of texts with positive examples of masculinity.