Quadrabers respond to deputies

Massive concern about the phenomenon of quadrobers, which we recently wrote about, forced us to return to this issue. “Takiye Dela” collected the most prominent initiatives and statements of Russian politicians aimed at teenagers in masks, and asked the teenagers themselves to comment on these historical statements in order to provide an opportunity for both sides to speak out. At the request of quadrobers, we are not disclosing their names, but we would like to note that all opinions belong to people aged 11 to 13 years

According to Yandex.Wordstat, in August-September 2024 there were 265 thousand requests on the topic of “quad bike” (two years ago the number of requests was about 2.5 thousand). According to VTsIOM polls , 35% of Russians believe that the passion for quad training is a consequence of negative sociocultural influence that comes through social networks, the Internet and the media.

The demand for products for quadrobers is also growing: masks, tails and gloves. Vedomosti, with reference to marketplaces, said that over the three quarters of 2024, sales of such goods on Wildberries increased by 4800% in units. Currently, there are 1,218 products on the marketplace that mention quadrobics and 14,905 that mention quadrobics.

What adults say

The growing interest in the youth subculture attracted the active attention of the State Duma. Deputy Yana Lantratova said that she is already developing a bill to ban “propaganda of destructive ideology, including quadrupleism.” State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin published a post on his telegram channel about the negative influence of the West and the implementation of the “Dehumanization” project, noting that “today we are at a stage when people are being pushed to renounce not only gender, but also human identity.” Deputy Sergei Kolunov turned to Children's Ombudsman Maria Lvova-Belova with a request to help ban the subculture of quadrobers and introduce fines of up to five thousand rubles for their parents for walking their children on a leash or on all fours: “Think about it, children pretend to be animals - cats, dogs — and ask their parents to walk them outside on a leash. There are a lot of similar videos. As in the case of LGBT people, the attack came from the West, from the USA.” Senator Alexei Pushkov commented on Kolunov’s initiative as follows: “Let cat people, dog people and other living creatures of this kind walk around San Francisco and New York. Without us."

At the same time, Vitaly Milonov, deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee for Family Protection, believes that the ban, on the contrary, will only fuel the interest of young people in this movement.

At a meeting of quadrobersPhoto: Maria Gelman for TD

The comment of Vsevolod Belikov, deputy of the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg, deserves special mention : “The presentation of this information arouses children’s interest in allowing such behavioral actions. Someone didn’t know and didn’t do anything. Someone saw it, he liked it, and now they are flocking in the forests, putting on masks and running around in search of acorns, fly agarics and I don’t know what else.”

In turn, Archpriest of the Russian Orthodox Church Andrei Tkachev believes that the quadrobers originated from atheists: “Their popes are atheists, perhaps. Mothers may be atheists. When his mother was carrying him in her womb, she did not read a single prayer. She smoked cigarettes and listened to rock music. And then no one raised them, probably. And now they’re standing up and barking.”

What children answer

Ayaka: “This is complete stupidity. Because of the young quad children who can behave inappropriately, people have a bad impression [of this subculture]. And I agree that the more they ban, the more they stir up interest.”

Lurie: “Because of some laws, I’m not going to give up the direction I’ve been in for almost a year and a half. I’m actually offended - if I go out wearing a mask, I’m afraid of the police and the National Guard. But if I’m with the quad guys, I’m not so scared.”

Unnamed: “At “Conversations about Important Things” we were told about quadrobers. The teacher said that she read about this new hobby and saw a comment from one mom on some website: “I took away my daughter’s phone, because pussies don’t need phones, and put a tray, because pussies are uncomfortable going to the toilet, and a bowl I put it with cat food.” We were shocked. After that, everyone [in the class] started thinking that all quadrobers eat cat food. Do you think the cool thing [is] to talk bad about quadruples, it demeans us? [If we are insulted], we will not stop practicing quadratics. And I don’t give a damn about your unnecessary opinion.”

At a meeting of quadrobersPhoto: Maria Gelman for TD

Yumiko: “I had a case where my classmates got to the bottom of the quadrobers, and I began to defend them, and I was kicked out of the company. I love this hobby [of quad racing]. I thought I would do this [continue], but everything has changed: now I’m scared to do it. And I don’t understand why the quad bike should be banned. People don’t even realize how difficult it is to do it because you need to be in good [physical] shape to jump.”

Sindecch: “There are quadrobers who don’t do anything bad to others, don’t bite, don’t bark—why ban them? I'm wondering: why does it matter so much to people whether a person jumps on all fours? After all, this does not harm society in any way. If so, then why is it bad? Even after the ban, children will be able to continue jumping like quadrobers at home. A ban would be meaningless."

Keri: “If quadrobers in St. Petersburg run after fly agarics just to watch, have fun, shoot videos, communicate, then let them run. And if they [really] eat fly agarics, then I consider [them] to be sub-quadrabers, [because eating fly agarics] is dangerous for their own health. And such children spoil the reputation of our fandom (community).”

Nerd: “This is idiotic. I don’t understand what to punish for if someone suggests that someone do quad training. It's good for bones. You cannot move away from gender or humanity by doing quad training. Gender can be changed through surgery, but it won’t change because you jump on all fours.”

At a meeting of quadrobersPhoto: Maria Gelman for TD

Ruddy: “I don’t like that MPs talk bad about us. We don’t eat food and don’t attack, but they say that everyone does this. All this news: “Quadrobers bit an elderly woman and her dog until they bled,” people are not embarrassed that children somehow bit [someone] until they bled. Okay, you can still bite a woman and a person until he bleeds (although it’s very difficult), but a dog? She would bite them faster than they would bite her! They [deputies] are turning people against us. And if they attack us, break something or beat us, then nothing will happen to the offenders, and they will try to punish the victims.”