Illegitimate sexual practices in the OUN underground and UPA in Western Ukraine in the 1940s and 1950s

This article is an introduction to the “intimate history” of the OUN and UPA, which has not yet received much attention from academics and researchers – partly due to a lack of sources. This attempt to articulate the problem of sexuality within the gender relations system of the Ukrainian liberation movement shows the gap between the official discourse and the everyday practices of underground members and insurgents. It tackles the issue of sexuality as a “national capital” and examines the attitude of the Ukrainian nationalists to the female body as a symbol of nation. It shows the double standard of sexual morality within OUN and UPA and underlines their different manifestations (unequal sanctions for women and men, sexual harassment of women by UPA commanders and OUN leaders). These sexual norms, military culture and hegemonic masculinity resulted in extreme sexual violence in the OUN and UPA upon those women whom they considered as their “own” (members of the underground and civilians) as well as against “others”. Finally, it presents how specific conditions in the Ukrainian underground encouraged sexual intercourse outside of marriage and how adultery (another form of “illegitimate” sexual relations) acquired a half, implicit legitimation.