Reading circle: Ostra-Oinas and Kollontai, 2 April 2023

On 2 April 2023, a discussion will be held at Vabamu about the essay The new woman (1919) by the creator of socialist feminism, Alexandra Kollontai and the novel Aino (1923) by the Estonian early feminist Alma Ostra-Oinas. Ostra’s novel depicts the life of a female student in St Petersburg, and the discussion will analyse the depiction in the light of Kollontai’s thoughts about economic independence, a new relation to emotions and free sexual morals of the new woman. One of the organisers of the reading circleis senior researcher of the project, Merlin Kirikal.