‘Boys should be strong and smart. And girls, too.’

An interview with the 11-year-old girl who set feminist fire to Russian Twitter

On October 22, a Twitter user shared a photograph of her younger sister’s school textbook, where students were asked to list various “men's” and “women's” household chores. The sister listed identical chores for both men and women, including things like “cooking,” “washing the dishes,” “tidying up,” “laundry,” and “taking the kids to school.” The tweet became a hit, attracting more than 4,750 retweets and almost 20,000 likes. Meduza discovered that the girl at the center of this story is 11-year-old Victoria Taranenko in Saratov. With her parents’ permission, we spoke to Victoria about the assignment, and also talked about her school lessons, important qualities in men and women, Harry Potter, and her least favorite household chores.

People want to know if you intentionally answered the question the way you did, or were you just joking? Or maybe you just wanted to be done with the assignment?

No, I intentionally answered it that way!

Why?

I think there should be an equal amount of things men and women have to do. It shouldn’t be that women have to do one thing, while a man has to do something else. Because usually women cook, clean, and tidy up. And men go to work, where they have to lift something heavy, or do all kinds of things with machines, repairing things.

But, for some reason, that's not what you wrote about.

Well, I don’t think women can do that kind of hard work, where you need good physical strength.

Have you ever tried?

No.

You’ve never put a hammer to a nail?

No.

Maybe you should give it a shot!

[Thoughtfully.] Maybe…

How do you feel about the fact that your sister shared a photo of your homework on Twitter?

Well, I was surprised. But I guess that she might do it.

Are you on any social media? Do the kids in your class do that kind of thing?

Not really. I’m only on Viber. I don’t know how popular it is, but half the class is on Vkontakte or some other network. But I’m not interested. I like talking to people online, but it seems like it eats up a lot of time.

Why do you think so many people liked your answer to the textbook assignment?

I think they also don’t like these divisions of duties between men and women.

How did your teacher react to your answer? Is your teacher a man or a woman?

A woman. She still hasn’t seen what I wrote. I think she’ll ask me why I feel the way I do.

How do you think your classmates did this assignment?

Well, I think they probably divided up the duties like they’re usually divided [in families].

Are there more boys or girls in your class?

More boys.

Do you get along with them?

With most of them, yeah.

What qualities would you say are most needed in boys and girls?

I think boys should be able to protect girls and themselves, and they should be strong. They also need to be smart.

And what about girls?

And girls, too.

What are your favorite subjects in school?

My favorite subjects are P.E. and biology. I really like sports, and I love riding on my bicycle and running. I also go to art school.

What are you learning in social studies?

Right now we’re going over what kinds of families there are, and what kinds of rights family members have. For example, one paragraph [in the textbook] says that there are two-generation families and three-generation families. And there are broken homes, where there’s no dad or mom.

And in families without a father, the mother has to do a lot of hard things?

Well, yes. But if there’s something she can’t do, I think she can always call in a plumber or a mechanic or whatever.

Did you discuss these divisions with your classmates or at home?

My classmates and I don’t talk about that kind of thing, if it’s just homework. And at home we just have our chores. Everybody does something. My sister and I do the dishes at home, and we clean our rooms.

Are there chores you’d rather not do?

To be honest, I don’t really like cleaning my room. But it’s gotta happen. We’ve got a cat, so it’s not a choice, otherwise he might end up eating garbage or getting into something else accidentally.

What do your parents do for a living?

My mom is a doctor at a maternity ward, and my dad is a programmer.

Have you already thought about what you’d like to be, when you grow up?

I still haven’t made up my mind, but I want to do something with computers. Like become a programmer or some kind of developer. I like computers. I like the games and I like how they’re built.

Does your dad tell you about computers?

No, this is in school. We don’t have shop class, but we do have lessons in technology and informatics, where we work on computers.

Have you discussed these plans with your parents? What do they think about it?

Well we’ve talked about it some, but I still haven’t made up my mind. But I think they’ll support me in whatever I decide.

Your sister said that you also have a twin brother. Do you feel that you’re alike?

I don’t think my brother and I have that much in common. I really like sports, but he doesn’t. But we do both like the same movies and cartoons, and we go to art school together. In school, there are some subjects we both love. So we’re alike, but we have some major personality differences.

Such as?

Well, he likes some games that I don’t. I might act one way in a situation, and he’ll do something totally different. We’re both pretty active, but sometimes we don’t get along. We have different opinions about things, and we can get into fights because of this.

What’s your favorite movie?

I like all the movies about Harry Potter — “The Goblet of Fire,” “The Half-Blood Prince,” and “The Deathly Hallows.” And also the Marvel movies, like “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.”

Who are your favorite characters in Harry Potter?

It’s two characters: Fred and George Weasley. Because they’re the most fun and upbeat in all the movies, and in any situation — even the darkest moments — they find something to laugh about and make everyone laugh.

If you were an animagus [a witch or wizard who can morph at will into an animal], what would you change into?

I’d like to turn into a wolf, because it’s the strongest animal in the forest and it can stick up for itself. The wolf is a predator, it can hunt other animals, it can get anywhere in the forest, and it doesn’t die from hunger and won’t be killed.

You said that you like movies made from comic books. Can a woman be a superhero?

Yes. If I were a superhero, I'd fight crime and villains. I think there’s a balance between good and evil. And anywhere there’s a superhero, there’s always going to be a supervillain. And the other way around.

Interview conducted in Russian by Olga Strakhovskaya, translation by Kevin Rothrock