This book examines the autobiographies and diaries of Soviet homosexual men who underwent psychotherapy during the period from 1970 to 1980 under the guidance of Yan Goland, a psychiatrist-sexopathologist from Gorky. The examination of these unique and little known documents contributes to our scant knowledge about the practices that many would call a Soviet proto-type of 'aversion therapy'. It also helps us understand the way homosexual people faced "queer dilemmas" of the self and how they sought to reconcile their queer desire with being Soviet.

Explores first-hand accounts of the lives, struggles and suffering of Soviet homosexual people Provides a first person look at how it actually felt to be gay in the Soviet Union Reveals many hitherto unexplored and unknown facets of the Soviet homosexual experience

Autorentext
Rustam Alexander is a historian, specializing in Russia and the USSR, who received his PhD from the University of Melbourne, Australia. He is the author of Red Closet: The Hidden History of Gay Oppression in the USSR (2023) and Regulating Homosexuality in Soviet Russia, 1956-91: A Different History (2021). His work on the history of Soviet homosexuality has been published in Slavic Review, Russian History, Europe-Asia Studies and other academic journals.

Inhalt
1 : Introduction.- 2 : Yan Goland and His 'Aversion Therapy'.- 3 : Leonid BykovAn Autobiography.- 4 : Leonid BykovDiary.- 5 : Pavel KrotovAn Autobiography.- 6 : Mark OrlovAn Autobiography.- 7 : The Autobiography and Diary of Artem Smirnov.- 8 : Conclusion.