This website contains information
that is not intended for underage visitors.

To enter the website, please confirm your age.

Yes, I'm 18 years old (or older)


 
ENGLISH.GAY.RU
About UsLife in RussiaArt and CultureTraveller's GuideForumShop
Life in Russia
PoliticsLawCommunitySocietyFamilyReligionHistoryBisexualLesbianTrans
Trans
 
Your name:
*
Your e-mail:
*
Text:  (no more than 5 thousands characters)
*

Enter the digits you see:
*
* - Required fields
     
Your Message Is Posted
Thank you for your participation.

The letter was sent to your e-mail.
Please read it and follow the link provided in this letter, to confirm your e-mail.
This is one-time request.
The letter was sent to your e-mail.
Please read it and follow the link provided in this letter, to confirm your subscription to comments.
The two letters were sent to your e-mail.
Please read them and follow the links provided in thåså letters, to confirm your e-mail in comment and subscription to comments.
The letter was sent to your e-mail.
Please read it and follow the link provided in this letter, to confirm your subscription to reply on this opinion.
The two letters were sent to your e-mail.
Please read them and follow the links provided in thåså letters, to confirm your e-mail in comment and subscription to reply in this opinion.
The two letters were sent to your e-mail.
Please read them and follow the links provided in thåså letters, to confirm your subscription to comments on this publication and to reply on this opinion.
The three letters were sent to your e-mail.
Please read them and follow the links provided in thåså letters, to confirm your e-mail in comment, subscription to comments and to reply on this opinion.
Weird Moscow

"Are you going to wear your orange dress or the raspberry Marilyn one with the fringe?" asks Alisa.

"I'm not sure," says Zoya Krik, dragging a long fingernail across the table top.


A trans in feminine dressAlisa produces a dustbin liner full of makeup and smoothes foundation onto Zoya's face with quick delicate strokes. Zoya looks nervous.

"Are you sure it doesn't show?"

"Don't worry," says Alisa. "If I apply the concealer thick enough, no one will ever see your stubble."

Alisa and Zoya Krik, both stage names, have been dressing up as women since they won first prize in a transvestite competition earlier this year. Now they spend most nights in their favorite frocks at gay night spots across the capital.

"I love the feel of women's clothes," says Zoya, who pads his bra with old socks. "I do it for fun, and because it makes people smile."

The two drag queens don't perform at night clubs. They leave that to the professionals. Zoya prefers moseying around the dance floor in his shiny black stilettoes and socializing with the other clubbers. But he admits it is tempting.

"You can make anything from $500 to $800 a night," he says. "All you need is a great body and to know the words of every Madonna song ever written."

Zoya doesn't call himself a transvestite -- he is a transmodel. His parents live outside Moscow, but they know what their son gets up to when he isn't studying at theater school.

"They are very supportive and understanding," says Zoya, "and so is my grandmother. She used to be an actress, so she knows all about dressing up."

Not everyone is as sympathetic. Last week Zoya's friend Yurik was beaten up on his way home from the Three Monkeys night club. "I just went out to get some food and two guys jumped on me," he said. But Zoya swears that attitudes toward gays and transvestites are changing. He and Alisa have even been asked to appear in drag at straight night clubs.

Had Zoya ever considered becoming a woman?

"A couple of my friends have had the operation," he says. Breasts cost $7,000 a pair, the big chop is $15,000 and for an extra $5,000 you can get your voice box altered, your waist taken down a size and your jaw line re-shaped."I couldn't afford it," says Zoya, recrossing his legs. "And anyway I wouldn't want to go the whole way. My boyfriend wouldn't approve."

Chloe Arnold
© The Moscow Times
July 25, 1997
Vote:   Interesting   Not interesting
Voting result:   0    0
Ïîäïèñûâàéòåñü
íà íàø êàíàë â Òåëåãðàìå
Share the link
Comments
Share your opinion
Subscribe to the comments
See Also
Life in Russia: Other Publications
Most popular Most popular      Last publications Last publications
Censorship in Russia: Gay.Ru has been added to Russia's centralized internet blacklist 31 Mar. 2018 Putin decorated Milonov - Orthodox crusader against gay people - with the Order of Saint Vladimir for "Good, Honor and Glory" 13 Sep. 2015 Female team from Moscow won the IGLFA European Championship III 18 Jun. 2015 Moscow’s Chief Rabbi about gays: "would not hang myself, but would support those who do so" 9 Jun. 2015 [VIDEO] Those who violated the Silence Day action promised to do the same to everyone who supports LGBT 20 Apr. 2015 Tomsk to have the first "Siberian Athens" - LGBT competition in 3 sports 19 Apr. 2015 Single pickets in Saint Petersburg to support LGBT teenagers 17 Apr. 2015
Life in Russia    Trans
The Moscow Times: Russia's Transgender Community Struggles for Acceptance
Transgender Russians often keep a low profile, worried how they will be treated by friends, colleagues and family members.
Life in Russia
The Washington Post: Surprising Russian reaction to gay marriage in the U.S.
Since 2013, Russia has had a law on the books banning the spread of gay "propaganda" as a means of "protecting children from information advocating for a denial of traditional family values." In the two years since, little progress has been made toward creating a more inclusive, safe space for gays
All news      Subscribe to the news on the topic "Life in Russia"

TOP PUBLICATIONS
PEOPLE ON LOVE.GAY.RU
WEB PARTNERS
SHOP
100.Gay.Ru
100.Gay.Ru
©
Ed Mishin
, together@gay.ru
Web design: Green Art
Gay.Ru is the project of Russian National GLBT center "Together"
Snail mail: PO Box 1, 109457 Moscow, Russia
Please Wait
Subscription
 
Your e-mail:
Enter the digits you see:
     
Unsubscribe option is just one click away!
...
A confirmation request has been sent to you.
Follow the link in the message to confirm your subscription.
Please check your spam folder if you have not received our letter.