Fury over Russian space agency’s ‘Playboy’ calendar showing female astronauts as ‘big-breasted sex objects’
RUSSIAN space chiefs are under fire over an outrageous pin-up calendar which portrays women as "big-breasted sex objects."
The cartoon-style "sex doll" images are meant to impress foreign customers of the Russian Space Agency through its subsidiary Glavkosmos.
However the Playboy-style drawings - by Russian artist Andrey Tarusov - have instead sparked a sexism storm.
The cover of the official Glavkosmos calendar shows a flame-haired woman in a tight-fitting jumpsuit with the Russian tricolour emblazoned on her chest as she caresses a rocket.
Critics say the women in the space calendar are all depicted as sex objects and the publication is loaded with raunchy innuendo.
They claim this attitude may explain why Russia failed to consolidate its early lead in sending women into orbit.
January shows a rocket blasting off behind a woman climbing a ladder captioned: ‘Fly me to the moon!'
Compared with the other women the March space laboratory worker is less well-endowed and is pictured holding a mouse.
'Even little ones can help out in space,' reads the not too subtle caption.
May features a 'Catwalk to Space' while in June, a spacewalking woman asks: 'Need a ride?'
Tarusov explained the calendar was all in English “because it's a gift for foreigners”.
He claimed there are “a lot of insider jokes” - but critics saw little funny about the use of taxpayers’ money for an “erotic calendar”.
Andrey Bondar posted: “This sexist sh** is not needed in 2020.”
Ani Petrs said “shame on you” to the Russian Space Agency for depicting women with “big breasts” and “tiny waists”.
Alexandra Bozhneva wrote: “Such calendars should be done with Captain Marvel characters, not with women who risk their lives for exploring space.
SPACE 'WAR'
“Has anyone seen what real cosmonauts look like? They are very beautiful women, so what was the need to turn them into unrealistic dolls?"
Alina Smirnova writes from Star City - home of Russian space exploration: “Has the author seen female cosmonauts? Even on a photo.
“Would NASA commission such a calendar and what would be the reaction in the US?”
Another angry critic Svetlana Borisova accused space chiefs of “objectification of women” and questioned what foreign clients - which include British companies - would make of this “weirdness”.
Neither Glavkosmos nor the Russian Space Agency have commented on the outcry.
The artist admitted a “whole war” had been unleashed by the pictures, but said the space chiefs who commissioned it were “decent people with a sense of humour”.
“I am for feminism and equal rights but what is the line between objectification and empowerment?,” he asked.
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“Why if am drawing a woman that is instantly a sexual object?… Many like how I draw girls that's why I have contracts nearly non stop.”
Glavkosmos is currently supervising the upcoming delayed satellite launch for the UK’s OneWeb company.
The space agency subsidiary is responsible for generating foreign satellite launches to boost commercial earnings.
