Annotation: What is gender in an environment where gender identity is barely articulated? How did uncensored art reflect sexuality, corporeality, marriage, childbirth and parenting? In this book, the history of Soviet underground art is presented for the first time through the prism of gender studies. With the help of this lens, art critic Olesya Avramenko constructs new principles for the comparative analysis of of Western and Soviet art works—starting from the formation of an underground culture in the Soviet Union, examining its existence throughout the era of stagnation, and ending with its disintergration during the years of perestroika. Particular attention is paid to the history of Soviet gender policy and its impact on society and art. Avramenko's book is valuable not only for its depth of research into the problems posed by the author, but also for its presentation of unique source materials, which include a series of interviews with participants and eyewitnesses from the nonconformist art scene of the Soviet era. Avramenko’s interviewees include Joseph Backstein, Irina Nakhova, Vera Miturich-Khlebnikova, Andrey Monastyrski, Georgy Kiesewalter and many others.