SUMMARY:

The article by Irina Roldugina introduces, for the first time in historiography, the archival documents of the so-called Kalinkin Commission, also known as the Commission for the Obscene (1750–59). The commission was established on the royal decree of the Empress Elizaveta Petrovna in response to a seemingly mundane scandal: the discovery of a ring of elite prostitutes (or rather an escort service) in St. Petersburg, made up mostly of foreign nationals. The initial instruction given by the empress was to prosecute the culprits, according to standard criminal procedure, for the felony of fornication (blud). However, several weeks later, a special investigative commission was established, and all those arrested, both men and women, were placed in Kalinkin House in the countryside. Created for these inmates, this was an unprecedented cross between a medical facility and a workhouse, maintained under incredibly humane conditions compared to the standards of the epoch in Russia or in Western Europe.
The author asserts that this case captures the precise moment of the discovery of modern sexuality as a public discourse and a distinctive practice in Russia. Further developing the concept of “transgression” as elaborated first by Michel Foucault, Roldugina interprets the story of the Kalinkin Commission as a case of transgression that puzzled the authorities and prompted them to take extraordinary steps such as creating the Kalinkin House facility. What was initially perceived as a crime bore a remarkable similarity to the mores and even aesthetics of the most refined (“enlightened”) social circles in both Russia and Western Europe. This was a transgression in more than one sense (elite practices were reproduced by commoners, erotic sexuality was exchanged for money as in crude fornication, etc.), but not an outright felony. The situation of transgression helps to capture the moment of a new meaning being forged, and normative restrictions being challenged and nuanced.