by Denise Seigart "What is a feminist? " I asked my students. "What is feminism?" "A terrible thing" they answered. "Feminists are lesbians, they teach women to hate men, they encourage women to do things they shouldn't do!" "Really?" I said, "but I am a feminist." Their eyes grew wide open, as it appeared I did not fit their image of what a feminist is. And so our semester long conversation began.

By T.O. Taenkova, A.A. Taenkova, and M. G. Vostrikhova The demographic situation in the Khabarovsk territory [krai], as in the whole of Russia, remains under stress. In 1990 the number of marriages was double the number of divorces, and by now the two numbers are roughly equal. Up to 19% of young families are not at all inclined to have children.

Most of the articles in this issue focus on the problem of reproductive rights and family planning. Over the past years our magazine has repeatedly addressed this theme by reporting on Russia and other countries, on new trends, the development of new technologies, and women’s struggle for the right of choice in deciding their own fates. In returning again to this subject, we are broadening the discussion.

An Interview with Inga Grebesheva, Acting Director of the Russian branch of “Planned Parenthood” --Inga, your association recently held a conference in Moscow in which it effectively laid out new priorities for the Russian branch of Planned Parenthood—reformulating its approach to providing care for orphaned and neglected children, educating society about parenthood. It was in some ways an unexpected move. What led to it?

Dear “Women’s Dialogue” We had the pleasure of obtaining several issues of your magazine from 1997-2000. For us, it was a real find. Our organization has been working in Georgia on women’s issues since 2000. We’ve gotten experienced in certain ways, but there is still a lot that we need to learn so as to seek new avenues, fulfill our capabilities, and be in demand. We would like to be your regular readers, if possible.

by Natalya V. Ivanova “From the government’s point of view, women are the most important participants in the demographic process and need to be kept on a very tight leash.” Aleksei Mitrofanov, Duma deputy (quoted in the magazine Itogi on 21 May 2002) “Gender censorship? Is there really such a thing?” asked a 30-year-old female advertising executive, the only woman on her agency’s ad creation team.