There is no point in trying to write a funny article about 8 March, International Women’s Day in Russia. That’s because the funniest article about it has already been written – in 2008, by one Dmitry Artemyev, a contributor to Russia’s APN (Agency Political News) website whose byline listed his credentials succinctly as ‘Orthodox Christian.’
Poe’s Law
Artemyev’s approach to Women’s Day was done in a style I like to characterise as ‘Orthodox Taliban.’ Everything offended Artemyev about the day, including its socialist roots, but he was particularly incensed by the idea that the holiday somehow celebrated women’s terrifying, mysterious bodies. Proving that Poe’s Law – that a parody of extremism or fundamentalism is indistinguishable from extremism or fundamentalism itself – also holds true in reverse, Artemyev declared that the flowers, which Russian women traditionally receive on this day, are symbolic of sex organs. Taking his argument to its natural conclusion, he wrote that the champagne traditionally drunk on this day is symbolic of ejaculation.
The flowers, which Russian women traditionally receive on this day, are symbolic of sex organs
