Eurosodom : examining weaponized sexuality and gender-based narratives in Russian and pro-Russian disinformation

The Kremlin, under the leadership of President Vladimir Putin, has sponsored a resurgence of political warfare against Western targets. This analysis will focus on a particular aspect of Kremlin-sponsored political warfare: sexuality and gender-based narratives in Russian and pro-Russian sponsored disinformation campaigns targeting EU and aspiring members from 2014-2020. The potency of these narratives arises from the emotional and cognitive load that they elicit. Their significance is often overlooked in security, intelligence, and communication studies. In order to alleviate this gap, this thesis consists of a mixed-methods analysis in order to analyze the role and function of these narratives within the larger body of Russian disinformation and the intended effects of targeted demographics’ consumption of these narratives. This research shows that sexuality and gender-based disinformation narratives are designed to target basic human emotions, such as fear, anger, hostility, confusion, and disgust by exploiting existing cognitive biases within the targeted population. These narratives are a useful and effective political and propaganda tool meant to elicit support for a specific brand of traditional values that furthers the Kremlin’s geopolitical aim of creating an alternative to Western liberal hegemony. These metanarratives designate the West as a bastion of moral and material decadence and deviance, and Russia as the savior of traditional Christendom because of its adherence to traditionality and rejection of liberal multiculturalismRussian, East European, and Eurasian StudiesGlobal Policy Studie