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The sexual revolution--the fight for sexual freedom and gender equality in sexuality--began in the West in the 1960s. It reached Russia at the time of glasnost at the end of the 1980s but never gained the force that it had in the Western countries. The gender gap in attitudes toward marital fidelity decreased in Finland from 1971 to the 1990s, when it was small in all age groups. In Russia a sexual double standard still prevails even among young single Russian women and men. Sexual standards predicted actual fidelity in present marriages or cohabitation relationships. Single Russian women taking the initiative sexually received the most support among younger women, but women overall were more reserved than men in this regard. Women have adopted traditional cultural expectations of sexual passivity by women. These attitudes also had practical implications. Women who indicated their acceptance of women initiating sexual activity had themselves initiated their latest intercourse more often than had those women who did not.
Differences between the sexual cultures were also associated with the quality of sexual experiences. In all survey years, Finns were more likely to report that their latest sexual intercourse had been pleasurable than were the respondents in Russia. Single Russian women evaluation of the quality of sexual intercourse was similar to that of Finnish women some 25 to 30 years earlier. Younger single Russian women rated intercourse as more pleasurable than did older women. Consequently, there was almost no difference in the sexual satisfaction of young men and women. This is in line with the new international approach to sexual health, in which sexual satisfaction has been defined to be a crucial part of sexual health and sexual rights. The transition toward gender equality in sexual matters in Finland started in the late 1960s. Because there was no similar sexual revolution in Russia, sexual life in Russia in the late 1990s resembled that in Finland in the early 1970s. The attitudes and behavior of young single Russian women and men are equivalent to those found among the middle-aged generation in Finland.
The prevalence of a double standard and wide gender gaps in sexual attitudes and behavior in Russia, illustrates the consequences of a sexual culture that is dominated by males. It is related to lack of sex education and reliable contraception. However, these national differences are also due to the different economic standards. The border between Finland and Russia is also a border of affluence. As Hofstede (1998) has shown, growing affluence gives Finnish women more opportunities than single Russian women for individualism and free circulation. National wealth also secures better health services, including contraception. Single Russian women have lacked the opportunities available to women in the Nordic countries.
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