Study title

Sexual Autobiographies from St. Petersburg 1996

Dataset ID Number

FSD2549

Persistent identifier

urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD2549

Data Type

Qualitative

Authors

• Haavio-Mannila, Elina (University of Helsinki. Department of Sociology)
• Roos, J.P. (University of Helsinki. Department of Social Policy)
• Rotkirch, Anna (University of Helsinki. Department of Social Policy)

Other Identification/Acknowledgements

• Lagunova, Elizaveta (Saint-Petersburg State University. Institute of Sociology)

Abstract

This qualitative dataset contains love biographies written by citizens of Saint Petersburg (Russia), received through a biography writing competition conducted by the research project "Mosaic life. Upbringing, gender and sexuality in Finland, the Baltic countries and St. Petersburg". The St. Petersburg writing competion was titled "Sex, love and sexuality in your life", and was conducted by the University of Helsinki (Finland) together with the Institute of Sociology in St. Petersburg. The competition announcement was published in the newspapers "Vechernii Peterburg" and "Chas Pik" and, in addition, leaflets were dsitributed in various academic institutions and women's organizations in the area. In the announcement, the researchers specified what kind of issues they were interested in, and instructed participants to write authentically and honestly about their life, as if they were writing to a close friend. The dataset consists of 43 biographies translated from Russian into Finnish. Similar competitions were held in Finland and Estonia (see FSD2545).

The biographies describe people's concepts of love, family life, childhood and adulthood, whether sex was talked about at home and school, sexual experiences over the lifetime, importance of sex in the participants' lives, factors influencing their love and sexual life, marriages and other love relationships, experiences of loneliness, combining love and work, and unusual subcultures. The writing instructions also included a couple of questions related to pornography and prostitution.

The dataset is only available in Finnish.

Keywords

family life; interpersonal attraction; interpersonal relations; life events; love; partnerships (personal); sexual awareness; sexual behaviour; subcultures

Topic Classification

• Social sciences (Fields of Science Classification)
• Social behaviour and attitudes (CESSDA Topic Classification)
• Family life and marriage (CESSDA Topic Classification)

Series

Individual datasets

Distributor

Finnish Social Science Data Archive

Access

The dataset is (B) available for research, teaching and study.

Data Collector

• Lagunova, Elizaveta (Saint-Petersburg State University. Institute of Sociology)
• Klyotsin, Alexander (Saint-Petersburg State University. Institute of Sociology)

Time Period Covered

1996

Collection Dates

1996

Nation

Russia

Geographical Coverage

Russia, St. Petersburg

Analysis/Observation Unit Type

Individual

Media unit: Text

Universe

Men and women living in St. Petersburg

Time Method

Cross-section

Sampling Procedure

Non-probability: Availability

Invitation to participate in the biography writing competition was published in newspapers "Vechernii Peterburg" and "Chas Pik", and distributed via leaflets in various academic institutions.

Collection Mode

Self-administered writings and/or diaries

Research Instrument

Data collection guidelines: Self-administered writings guide

Data Files

43 RTF files, approximately 900 pages in total. In addition, HTML files based on the RTF files.

Data File Language

The data files of this dataset are available in the following languages: Finnish.

Qualitative data are available in their original language only and are not translated.

Data Version

1.0

Related Datasets

FSD2545 Sexual Autobiographies of Estonians 1996

Completeness of Data and Restrictions

The biographies were anonymised. Contact details of the authors were removed.

Some of the texts were too short or incomplete to count as a biography.

Citation Requirement

The data and its creators shall be cited in all publications and presentations for which the data have been used. The bibliographic citation may be in the form suggested by the archive or in the form required by the publication.

Bibliographical Citation

Haavio-Mannila, Elina (University of Helsinki) & Roos, J.P. (University of Helsinki) & Rotkirch, Anna (University of Helsinki): Sexual Autobiographies from St. Petersburg 1996 [dataset]. Version 1.0 (2010-08-17). Finnish Social Science Data Archive [distributor]. https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD2549

Deposit Requirement

Notify FSD of all publications where you have used the data by sending the citation information to user-services.fsd@tuni.fi.

Disclaimer

The original data creators and the archive bear no responsibility for any results or interpretations arising from the reuse of the data.

Related Publications

Rotkirch, Anna (1998): "I'm a typical woman - a variation on the norm'". Depictions of exemplary Soviet family life in autobiographies from St Petersburg. Paper presented at the Comparative Women's History Workshop, Department of History, University of Minnesota, April 7.

Haavio-Mannila, Elina & Rotkirch, Anna (1998). Generational and Gender Differences in sexual Life in St. Petersburg and Urban Finland. Yearbook of Population Research in Finland XXXIV, 133-160. Helsinki: The Population Research Institute.

Haavio-Mannila, Elina & Roos, J.P. & Rotkirch, Anna (1998). Types of Love and Male Infidelity in Finnish, Estonian and Russian Autobiographies. Paper presented at the 14th World Congress of International Sociological Association, Montreal, July 26 - August 1.

Haavio-Mannila, Elina & Roos, J.P. & Rotkirch, Anna (1999). Rakkaustyylit suomalaisissa, virolaisissa ja pietarilaisissa seksuaalielämäkerroissa. Teoksessa Juha Kinnunen, Pirkko Meriläinen, Katri Vehviläinen-Julkunen ja Tiina Nyberg (toim.) Terveystieteiden monialainen tutkimus ja yliopistokoulutus. Kuopion yliopiston julkaisuja E. Yhteiskuntatieteet 74, 143-157.

Haavio-Mannila, Elina & Roos, J.P. (1999). Love stories in sexual autobiographies. Teoksessa Ruthellen Josselson and Amia Lieblich (eds) Making Meaning of Narratives. Narrative Studies on Lives 6. Sage, 239-282.

Haavio-Mannila, Elina (1999). Kaukorakkaus intohimona ja riippuvuutena Virossa, Pietarissa ja Suomessa. Teoksessa Sari Näre (toim.) Tunteiden sosiologiaa I, Elämyksiä ja läheisyyttä. Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura, Tietolipas 156, 66-103.