Analysis Of Alexandra Konontai's 'New Woman'

New Woman was written by Alexandra Kollontai in 1918. She was born in 1872 to an aristocratic family. Kollontai is sort of an unsung hero of feminism in Russia. In this time, feminism was not what it is today; especially in Russia. She begins the work by describing what the “new woman” is and what the “new woman” is not. She uses this phrasing throughout to describe Russia’s past and future. To Kollontai, the “old woman” is a woman’s role in Russian in the past and the “new woman” is the future of women. In her description of the “new woman”, Kollontai uses the women from popular Russian literary works. Kollontai lists all these women and describes how they go against the Russian patriarchy. For example, Kollontai mentions Theresa and she says,

One of Kollontai’s hang-ups is that she narrows her piece too much. This piece was written for Russian women, but it doesn’t seem to translate as well for all women. The audience she is writing to is not even most women in Russia. The working-class women are already outperforming the men and taking their jobs. The “old woman” has already reached the “new woman” standard from simply living and working. Now, in the case of aristocratic Russian women, this piece could be moving and empowering. However, that audience is a very small percentage. Today, this piece could move mountains. This is the type of work to activate men women to a more feminist mindset. Her call to arms throughout the piece could be received by both men and women around the Western world. Since America and countries like it have become so aristocratic, it is easier for it to be

Her description of the new woman through Magda is spot on. Kollontai describes sex as the same desire as hunger and thirst. This depiction of sex would have many of the population up in arms today, let alone in Russia in 1918. “Magda knows the worth of her personality and staunchly defends her right to be herself. To rise above her sins is more to her than the pharisaical purity in which the bourgeois world lives.” What a perfect way to describe a woman’s sexual desire. Kollontai wants young women to not base their worth on how many men they have or have not had sex with. She wants women to know their worth is much more than a body count. Describing sex as a “glass of water”, Kollontai rips the rug out from under Russia with this one phrase. Sex for most of the world is a spiritual process that requires the permission of a government and a god. That is not what sex is for the “new