Human Rights
Vladimir Putin Caught Wearing High-Heeled Shoes During Photo-Op With Moscow Students
In a series of photos with students from Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin was pictured wearing high-heeled shoes. I don’t know if Putin was doing this because he’s 5’7”, but he was spotted Wednesday at Vorobyovygory for Russian Students Day, The Daily Mail reports.
Putin and his propaganda ministers have assiduously catered to his public image as President, but it wasn’t long before onlookers noticed him adding an extra inch with raised shoes (they look a little bit like platform shoes but not so extreme).
According to American historian Timothy Snyder, some see Putin “as the closest match” to the fictional Russian Stierlitz (a sort of Russian James Bond) in polls. Stierlitz became a national favorite, becoming popular in the 1990s.
Putin has also been sure to show off his macho image, having been photographed shirtless while riding horses and carrying rifles. And in 2015, The Express reported that a source from the Kremlin said no one could be taller than the President in official photos. The insider added, “That’s why his bodyguards are always shorter than he is, to give the impression that Putin is a tall person.”
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As The Economist noted in 2020: “In politics, height matters.” The magazine cited research that stated that on average, taller politicians outperformed their rivals.
So why is this? Taller people enjoy better self-esteem, overall, and they are perceived as healthier, more intelligent, and more authoritative. And Russia has been quite carefully censoring negative representations of Putin.
Believe it or not, concerns were even raised about the Harry Potter character Dobby the Elf, with Russian lawyers allegedly preparing a lawsuit over the perceived similarities between Putin and the popular character.
And apparently, 54 percent of children, responding to a poll on the CBBC website said they agreed Dobby and Putin had “probably” been separated at birth.
Russia has implemented a number of cruel crackdowns on LGBTQ people, and in 2017 when he was portrayed as a “gay clown” the Russian leader was enraged. So he made it illegal to share the meme, which was described as “extremist propaganda.”
Wow. Talk about a guy with no sense of humor. Putin was so strict about this, in fact, that anyone caught retweeting the image faced a 3,000 rubles ($53 at the time) fine or 15 days in jail.
Alexander Tsetkov, who shared several such images to his social media account was charged with incitement or enmity and was committed to a psychiatric institution for the misdemeanor.
LGBTQ activists have used the meme on social media as a way to protest the lack of protections for the community in Russia.
The Russian justice ministry has outlawed more than 4,000 images, including some that are anti-Semitic and racist — and others that portray Putin as a Nazi.
I find similarities between Putin and many Republicans in the U.S. Both dislike LGBTQ people and are causing real harm to their communities. Putin’s heart is apparently as small as his stature.
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