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Most of us, especially those with Catholic backgrounds, are familiar with the 'Madonna/whore' complex. This 'either/or' Western construct seeps into popular culture and creates stereotypes of women. It's a cantankerous that most women must carry (no pun intended).

In Western society, in that location is still the expectation that women must exist compliant and not express themselves sexually, otherwise they may be considered a whore. Conversely, men's sexual appetites are freely expressed and celebrated by the media. Fourth dimension may have inverse some perceptions, but objectification of women and misogyny remain rampant. And in Western culture, when it comes to Russian women the negative stereotypes are compounded with Russophobia.

We've witnessed it many times. Russian women are often portrayed in news stories in Western media as sexually alluring, very flawed and cold-hearted. There are very few nuanced or realistic depictions. This is carried into pop civilisation, as we have seen in comedies such as 'The Spy Who Dumped Me' and even action thrillers from the likes of Marvel.

In 2022, nosotros have get used to the neoliberal crowd decrying bigotry and the stereotyping of people, but there even so appears to exist no problem in attacking Russian women. This was recently demonstrated in the 'Sex and the Metropolis' spin-off 'And Just Like That,' which casually referred to women who owned luxury apartments in New York as "Russian hookers." It appears vile micro-aggressions like that that are acceptable, as long as the victims are Russian.

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On social media, snide remarks are commonplace. I was somehow caught in the crosshairs of this phenomenon after I came forward about Joe Biden. Democratic trolls accused me of being a Russian spy, "a Russian whore who makes all her coin on her dorsum," and other slurs I will not echo. All this, and I am an American citizen.

I remember a afar cousin calling me frantically. "Are y'all a Russian amanuensis?," she asked. "I but finished watching 'The Americans' !" (This was the Television receiver show ready in the 1970s that follows Russian spies posing as Americans and was very loosely based on an actual spy cell found in the Us). I reminded her that I was her cousin, after her breathless barrage of questions. I told her non to e'er believe the New York Times. We have not talked since. These narratives do their damage.

Some other example of this bias is a recent conversation I had with a "silence breaker" from a famous sexual misconduct case to whom I had sent a piece that I'd written for RT. She replied sanctimoniously, "Tara, sending love, just I will non click on the commodity. Supporting Russian media is a non-starter for me."

We engaged in an intense back and forth as I presented some historical context and argued with her, defending RT and Russia, but the whole exchange almost drove me to tears. She replied that this was her "boundary" because she was a history graduate from an Ivy League higher and she "knew" Russian federation. I retorted that I had a law degree. She apologized casually if she "had offended me."

I disputed her views, but bigotry is often hard to soften. The hypocrisy of her position was maddening, but her biased perception is based on years of carefully crafted Western media propaganda aimed at vilifying Russians.

There is a level of agony to force an enemy on the American public consciousness.

The states and British intelligence take meaning influence over Hollywood and the mass-produced films and television that send messages, rewriting history and vilifying whole nations. It'due south a partnership of subliminal manipulation that the public dutifully laps up. This is how the existent wars are fought, with the subtle art of mass-produced messaging. As everyone knows, conflicts are non merely conducted via weapons and the military. The psychological attacks using propaganda are role of the Western empire's long game. The medium of film and Goggle box, with the help of social media, is the perfect battleground for the constant promotion of negative stereotypes of any perceived enemy.

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The objectifying and demeaning portrayal of Russian women in western media is a staple of this, and has get a long-standing tradition, as we have regularly seen in James Bond movies where they are bedded and so brutalized by the English cloak-and-dagger agent. The Russian woman is to exist viewed as conniving and mortiferous, and still vulnerable to the strong western spy.

This aforementioned tedious narrative repeats in 'The Red Sparrow' where the Russian spy, trained every bit a dangerous honeytrap, falls in honey with a "heroic" American agent. It's the same plot, with different actors. Even Curiosity's Natasha Romanoff is a comic-book character reduced to the aforementioned predictable stereotypes. To add insult to injury, the stars of these films are usually never Russian.

These depictions are dehumanizing, harmful and inaccurate. It would be refreshing to meet media portrayals of Russian women who are positive role models, such every bit the famous soprano, Anna Netrebko, or the Duma member and first woman in space, Valentina Tereshkova, or the acclaimed poet,Anna Akhmatova.

Instead, the Western media brushes aside the mass achievements of Russian women in the arts, politics and sciences to concentrate on vapid portrayals designed to make their audiences numb to any relatable, positive qualities. Hopefully, when the West's latest tensions with Russia are resolved, peradventure it will be time to finally admit the land and its people were never the enemy in the first place.

As Anna Akhmatova wrote about unrequited love "I'1000 non request for your love—/ It's in a safe place now …"

The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.