Foreign Affairs

unhappycamper

(60,364 posts) Thu Jun 26, 2014, 05:52 AM Jun 2014

A new level of idiocy: Russia considers banning high heels, foreign words, and condom ads

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/06/25/a-new-level-of-idiocy-russia-considers-banning-high-heels-foreign-words-and-condom-ads/

A new level of idiocy: Russia considers banning high heels, foreign words, and condom ads
By Agence France-Presse
Wednesday, June 25, 2014 14:26 EDT

If Russian lawmakers have their way, smoking for women under 40 will soon be banned, advertisement for condoms and pregnancy tests will be banished from the pages of mainstream media and using foreign words will result in a steep fine.

The latest string of initiatives by MPs have become so bizarre that Russians say they don’t know whether to laugh or cry.

One lawmaker with the Russian parliament’s lower house, the State Duma, recently proposed introducing official standards for footwear, charging that high heels and ballet flats were bad for women’s health.

A legislator from the ruling United Russia party, Elena Mizulina, has put forward so many controversial ideas including proposals to ban abortions and surrogate motherhood that Russians have launched an online petition calling for her sanity to be checked.

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10 replies

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A new level of idiocy: Russia considers banning high heels, foreign words, and condom ads (Original Post) unhappycamper Jun 2014 OP

Nice to see other countries have their versions of Teahadists as well nt rpannier Jun 2014 #1

Yup. ctsnowman Jun 2014 #6

I see a lot of news features saying that high heals are messing up woman's feet yeoman6987 Jun 2014 #2

And before you fling the first stone, up until the most recent past the U.S. banned condom ads retired rooster Jun 2014 #5

Yes, extreme high heels may cause damage sarge43 Jun 2014 #7

Maybe yeoman6987 Jun 2014 #9

"Lawmakers ... are trying to guess what the system - that is Putin - wants from them." pampango Jun 2014 #3

Russia's Cultural Revolution PeoViejo Jun 2014 #4

And in other news... truth2power Jun 2014 #8

i think you missed the point of the movie Idiocracy. Kuroi_ Jun 2014 #10

rpannier

(24,329 posts)

1. Nice to see other countries have their versions of Teahadists as well nt

Reply to unhappycamper (Original post)

Thu Jun 26, 2014, 06:28 AM

Jun 2014

ctsnowman

(1,903 posts)

6. Yup.

Reply to rpannier (Reply #1)

Thu Jun 26, 2014, 07:24 AM

Jun 2014

yeoman6987

(14,449 posts)

2. I see a lot of news features saying that high heals are messing up woman's feet

Reply to unhappycamper (Original post)

Thu Jun 26, 2014, 06:29 AM

Jun 2014

Perhaps as a health outlook, it might not be a bad idea to ban the high heals like other things we ban or at least decrease the usage for the health of the overall person. Something to consider.

retired rooster

(114 posts)

5. And before you fling the first stone, up until the most recent past the U.S. banned condom ads

Reply to yeoman6987 (Reply #2)

Thu Jun 26, 2014, 07:24 AM

Jun 2014

sarge43

(28,941 posts)

7. Yes, extreme high heels may cause damage

Reply to yeoman6987 (Reply #2)

Thu Jun 26, 2014, 07:44 AM

Jun 2014

However, nothing like the well documented damage caused by smoking and drinking. Notice not a mumbling word about restricting those virulent, deadly health hazards. Has any woman ever died as result of wearing high heels?

Notice that several of these prohibitions target women.

Someone needs to explain how ballet slippers pose a public health problem.

yeoman6987

(14,449 posts)

9. Maybe

Reply to sarge43 (Reply #7)

Thu Jun 26, 2014, 08:19 AM

Jun 2014

No studies, but I have seen some pretty bad spills with woman in heels. Cigarettes have been criticized for years. Banning heals is too far, but I would imagine some woman who are elderly wished they didn't wear them. Oh well. Easier to laugh it off.

pampango

(24,692 posts)

3. "Lawmakers ... are trying to guess what the system - that is Putin - wants from them."

Reply to unhappycamper (Original post)

Thu Jun 26, 2014, 06:53 AM

Jun 2014

The State Duma in its current make-up was elected in 2011 amid claims of rampant fraud in favour of the ruling party. Widespread electoral violations triggered huge anti-Kremlin protests but Putin dismissed calls to disband the parliament.

Perhaps, analysts say, it is not surprising then that the compliance of the rubber-stamp parliament reached new heights during Putin’s third term.

“Lawmakers are not fools or psychopaths. They are trying to guess what the system — that is Putin — wants from them,” said pro-opposition analyst Dmitry Oreshkin.

Soon after Putin was inaugurated for the new term, Russian legislators moved to unleash a crackdown on dissenters. Then they pushed through bills banning gay propaganda to minors in a bid to promote the country as a bastion of family values. The new eyebrow-raising initiatives, critics say, reflect a severe crisis of ideas in a country whose authorities brook no dissent.