https://youtu.be/62wSFQAKtFI

Source

Pro eto. Seksual’naia zhizn’ invalidov. NTV. 1998. https://youtu.be/62wSFQAKtFI

Description

Clip from Pro Eto hosted by Elena Khanga that brings together 1990s interest in sex with the increasing visibility of disabilities and the disintegration of state institutions previously entrusted with their care.

Era

Post-Soviet

Date

1998

Annotation

Billed as “The First Talk Show in Russia about Sex and Love,” Pro eto, or About That, aired on NTV from 1997 to 2000 and tackled topics from radiosex to pornography, HIV/AIDS, and, in this episode, the sexual lives of disabled Russians. The show was a runaway success for NTV and its producer Leonid Parfenov, but it also became one of the targets of the Duma’s attack on public discussion of sex. Pro eto was discussed in legislative debates on the 1998 law “On State protection of the moral health of citizens and the strengthening of control over the use of products of a sexual character” (О Государственной защите нравственного здоровья граждан и усилении контроля за использованием продукции сексуального характера), which included limitations on where pornography could be sold or shown and what should be counted in that category. The show was not pulled from the air and the government attention most likely aided viewership.
“Every show was a kind of provocation,” as assistant producer Andzhela Boskis remembers. “We received an enormous response. At first mostly negative. Then our guests started telling us how their grandmothers watch Pro eto and learn a lot. Older people would even call and ask, for instance, what is sadomasochism.” Though the show was meant to be provocatively themed, it was so popular because it was ultimately about “real human feelings.” The show’s success, in large part, derived from the charisma and sensitivity of its host, Elena Khanga who was able to combine a worldliness (derived in part from her experience as a journalist in the U.S.) with a youthful openness and curiosity that disarmed guests and showed viewers a way of discussing sex that was neither leering nor prudish. The show was the first on federal television to openly discuss homosexuality, to debate the morality of monogamy, to push audiences towards safe sex, and much more, but of all the episodes she recorded, Khanga recalls this episode on the sexual lives of disabled Russians best. “We were all in tears,” from the story of the first guest, Lena (10:08–16:46).

Related: Секс в девяностых: что писали телезрители в редакцию программы «Про это», Afisha Gorod, 5 Oct 2015: https://daily.afisha.ru/archive/gorod/people/seks-v-devyanostyh-chto-pisali-telezriteli-v-redakciyu-programmy-pro-eto/

Associated People

Khanga, Yelena, Parfenov, Leonid, and Fred Smith

Geography: Place Of Focus

Moscow

Bibliographic Reference

Elena Khanga, et al., "Seksual'naia zhizn' invalidov," Pro Eto, NTV, 1998. https://youtu.be/62wSFQAKtFI