Centered on the musical experiences of homosexual men in St. Petersburg and Moscow, this ground-breaking study examines how post-Soviet popular music both informs and plays off of a corporeal understanding of Russian male homosexuality.

Drawing upon ethnography, musical analysis, and phenomenological theory, Stephen Amico offers an expert technical analysis of Russian rock, pop, and estrada music, dovetailing into an illuminating discussion of homosexual men's physical and bodily perceptions of music. He also outlines how popular music performers use song lyrics, drag, physical movements, images of women, sexualized male bodies, and other tools and tropes to implicitly or explicitly express sexual orientation through performance. Finally, Amico uncovers how such performances help homosexual Russian men to create their own social spaces and selves, in meaningful relation to others with whom they share a "nontraditional orientation."

| Cover Title Contents Acknowledgments Notes on Transliteration, Translations, Attribution of Informants' Quotations, and Audiovisual Resources 1. Introduction 2. Music, Form, Penetration 3. Phantom Faggots 4. Corporeal Intentions 5. Gay-Made Space 6. Conclusion Epilogue List of Interlocutors and Interviewees Notes Works Cited Index | Marcia Herndon Prize, Gender and Sexualities Section of the Society for Ethnomusicology (SEM), 2015. Special Mention, IASPM Book Prize, International Association for the Study of Popular Music, 2015. — Gender and Sexualities Section of the Society for Ethnomusicology (SEM)
Marcia Herndon Prize, Gender and Sexualities Section of the Society for Ethnomusicology (SEM), 2015. Special Mention, IASPM Book Prize, International Association for the Study of Popular Music, 2015. — International Association for the Study of Popular Music
|Stephen Amico is an associate professor of music at The Grieg Academy at the University of Bergen.