opushchennye

In Soviet prisons there was a class of men called opushchennye (degraded) who were required to fulfill the sexual needs of the rest. On the one hand, they were at the lowest rung of the social ladder, but they were sometimes protected by their lovers. And not only men charged with Article 121 were opushchennye: any prisoner could be degraded by ritualized rape - for losing at cards, over an insult, or even because his beauty made him an attractive sex object.

Both were counted to the opushchennye, one because of his looks, the other by his lack of respect.

by barbama September 7, 2009