Kaverin: I have a daughter growing up, and I would like her to live, rather, in the world that feminists imagine as ideal

Nastassia Roŭda asked Kaverin if he himself was afraid of ever facing a wave of public outrage, similar to the one Andrei Stryzhak faced after the dick pic scandal.

In response, Konstantin recalled that he had already had such an experience — due to a statement about the Belarusian language.

"It wasn't easy. I want to say that I'm half-wit. Well, if you did something, why defend it? You messed up and then you defend what you messed up... It would look stupid. Well, I messed up," Kaverin said.

According to him, the very idea he was trying to convey then doesn't seem flawed to him now. Kaverin now sees the problem in how he formulated it.

"There are indeed idiotic educators who simply turn people away from something important. But the phrasing there, for example, was something like: 'I hate the Belarusian language.' Well, why start with such phrasing? For what? That's why I deservedly got it."

Roŭda asked when exactly Kaverin realized his mistake — immediately after the scandal or years later.

"No, then I was more self-confident. Then — sabre drawn. It was later, when everything had settled down, that I thought about it to myself, reconsidered. Later."

Now, according to Konstantin, he no longer has that self-confidence. At the same time, he doesn't link his state to a fear of being "canceled."

"I am not self-confident now. I am unsure of everything, I am afraid of everything. And this is not a consequence of cancel culture. It's some internal state of confusion I'm in now. Because I don't understand many things at all: why things happen the way they do."

"It's like the question with Crimea"

After this, Roŭda returned to the story of Andrei Stryzhak and asked Kaverin if the public reaction to his action was deserved.

"I can't understand where this line is. That is, I can't understand the boundaries," Konstantin continued and suggested modeling a situation:

"— Let's say I come home today, get drunk and send you... What are your options?"

Nasta replied that she had never received such photos, so she didn't know how she would react in such a situation.

Konstantin, in turn, noted that he also cannot know what a woman feels when she receives an unwanted intimate photo:

"I don't know the consequences of this dick pic for women. I don't know how a girl feels at that moment. I don't know the consequences of Stryzhak's action for her psyche, for all her future life. I don't know.

To claim: 'Oh, poor girl, oh my, oh my, she's never seen one. Oh dear. What a baby, she's already an adult,' — I can't say that because I don't know what a person feels at that moment."

At the same time, the host of "Obychnoe utro" believes that everyone can make a mistake and one action should not always lead to a complete cancellation of a person.

"I perfectly understand that everyone is capable of making a mistake. The trigger can be anything: alcohol, drugs, some emotional outburst, anything you want. Well, something just snapped. And to automatically cancel a person for that? It seems excessive to me."

On the other hand, Kaverin noted that the lack of a timely reaction to certain actions can also have consequences. As an example, he mentioned the Russian-Georgian war of 2008.

"If Putin had gotten punched in the face back in 2008, maybe everything would have been different. Well, he didn't, he wasn't canceled, and we see the consequences of all this. That is, if it's not stopped at the root, who knows how it might all end."

As a result, Kaverin formulated his attitude towards Stryzhak's story as follows:

"Do I feel sorry for Stryzhak? Yes, I do. Did he cross a line? Did he get what he deserved? Yes, he did."

At the same time, Konstantin admitted that even in such a situation, not every personal feeling should be voiced publicly.

"Again, maybe I shouldn't say that I feel sorry for him. Keep your opinion to yourself. You don't always have to say how you feel. Tolerance is precisely about being able to hate black people, and Jews, and LGBTQ+, and so on. But you cannot talk about it.

The sacred simplicity of tolerance is that you can feel anything you want, but you must not voice it or express it."

"I would probably lie if I said I perfectly understand what feminism is"

After this, Nasta asked Konstantin about his attitude towards feminism.

"Excellent, wonderful. Feminism is the fight for women's rights, right? Wonderful," Kaverin replied.

At the same time, the host admitted that his ideas about feminism and the role of women have changed significantly over time. According to Konstantin, he used to be convinced that women were not even capable of making good films.

"I would probably lie if I said I perfectly understand what feminism is. [Earlier], even before Marina [Mentusava], I was convinced that, for example, a woman is not capable of making a good film. Well, there are, conventionally speaking, Kira Muratova, Agnieszka Holland. These are exceptions."

Similarly, according to Kaverin, he previously explained why there were significantly more men among Nobel laureates, famous artists, scientists, and writers.

"I was convinced that this was due to the intellectual superiority of men over women. These caveman beliefs lived in me," Kaverin noted.

Konstantin admitted that at the time when he held such views, he didn't even consider whether women had equal opportunities with men to receive education, develop, and realize themselves.

"I didn't ask those questions. Why? Well, they're just worse — that's all. It was in me."

In summary, Kaverin noted:

"Undoubtedly, my opinion has changed. Besides, I have a daughter growing up, and I would like her to live, rather, in the world that feminists imagine as ideal, than in the world that [Russian entrepreneur and scandalous advocate for restricting women's rights] German Sterligov imagines as ideal."

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