Vladimir Putin is currently among the World's most powerful leaders in the world having the ability to impact and influence millions of people. In the upcoming documentary titled "The Putin Interviews" Putin made a few sexist remarks about women that has resulted in social media outrage questioning his attitude towards the female gender.
Putin's controversial sexist remark
As part of a documentary done by Oscar-winning director Oliver Stone, Vladimir Putin in "The Putin Interviews" said that his stability and stamina is due to the fact that he's a man.
The Russian President casually remarked that if he was a woman he would not be able to stay so healthy and fit.
“I am not a woman, so I don’t have bad days”, was the statement made by Putin as part of the documentary when he was taking Stone for a tour of the Kremlin’s throne room.
Putin even added that he was not trying to insult anyone but he was just referring to some natural cycles. The Russian president even reminded Oliver Stone that his physical fitness and good shape is also an outcome of being Judo master.
Putin has always shown a keen interest in sports like ice hockey. Many photographs of a shirtless Putin doing workouts, swimming and with firearms have gone viral in past. All these acts from the Russian President show his obsession with fitness.
The president has degraded women with his statement that he has this physique and is fit because he is not a woman. Fitness is limited to the biology of an individual, according to Putin.
Trump’s respect for Putin
Donald Trump, the U.S. President was recently embroiled in controversies regarding his association with Putin. He has also received worldwide criticism for his sexist remarks prior to his election.
Trump went on to win the U.S. presidential election in spite of his casual sexism.
Donald Trump commented that Vladimir Putin is "a very smart and amazing leader" during the U.S. presidential election campaign. He even made a comment about Hilary Clinton during the campaign for remarking that she was less energetic than he was.
The statements these presidents of the powerful countries of the world made does have a spark of sexism and reflects their chauvinist attitude towards the other gender.
Recently, Trump was involved in a controversy over alleged sex with prostitutes in Moscow. There was speculation that if this happened he might have opened himself up to blackmail. President Trump denied all the allegations. Vladimir Putin entered the fray, defending Trump stating that prostitutes of Russia are indeed the best in the world.
Rex Tillerson, the State Secretary talked to the media regarding the steps that they took to rebuild a better relationship with Moscow. The irony is that such acts from the State are happening when there are allegations about the relationship of the White House with Kremlin and its influence on the U.S.
presidential election.
The relationship between these two leaders and their attitude towards women does show how rooted sexism is in the politics. Svetlana Feoktistova, Chief editor, and columnist on the site Ezhikezhik.ru also talked about sex discrimination in Russian workplaces. “There is male primacy in work issues”, Svetlana remarked.
Svetlana even told the media that women are "are supposed to tolerate any sexual assault, insulting words or actions from men."
It is not hard to guess what these world leaders think about powerful women the world has seen like Margaret Thatcher, Indira Gandhi, and Angela Merkel.
