Abstract: This study examines the complex visual and spatial mechanisms of female representation in Chinese Buddhist cave art, with a particular focus on the Longmen Grottoes. As sacred architectural complexes, Buddhist caves are not only repositories of devotional images but also gendered spaces in which hierarchical social structures and religious forms of subjectivity are encoded. Women frequently appear in these visual programs—primarily in the role of donor figures—but their depiction is typically marked by marginal spatial placement, reduced scale, and stereotypical facial and bodily features. These visual strategies simultaneously render women visible and push them to a symbolic periphery, creating a dual process of representation and erasure. This research centers on the representation of women in Chinese Buddhist cave art, addressing a cutting-edge topic at the intersection of religious art and gender studies. The article engages in a comprehensive discussion of the mechanisms through which gender and power interact in Buddhist iconography. It combines the theory of alterity with the practice of Buddhist visual language to move beyond the traditional, simplified depiction of donor figures. The argument is presented through feminist critique and image analysis. Against the backdrop of a growing re-evaluation of female spiritual subjectivity and the increasing study of women's positions within non-Western visual traditions, this work offers a Chinese perspective on how women construct spaces of agency within traditional religious and patriarchal structures. It also contributes a cultural perspective to contemporary discussions on gender equality and religious diversity. The aim of this research is to analyze the visual representation of women in Chinese Buddhist art, with a special emphasis on cave art—particularly the Longmen Grottoes. The study seeks to explore how gender and power interact in Buddhist iconography and how female figures express their spiritual practices and subjectivity while situated within religious and social structures.

Keywords: Feminine representation, Patronage, Religious space, Visual subjectivity, Iconography, Gender and religion, Female patron, Longmen Grottoes, Buddhist cave art, Otherness

Abstract: According to the ideas dominating in scientific discourse, female stayers of the twentieth century had to overcome gender stereotypes for a long time and in a tense struggle, according to which long running deprives them of "femininity" and threatens reproductive function. The article shows that the reasons for the long negative attitude of society towards physical culture and sports women's running are much more diverse and historically deepened, they go far beyond the sphere of training and competitive activity and "pure" physiology, having a socio-culturally determined ideological basis. The objectives of the article: to determine the types of women's running practices; to analyze the goals and motives of the running activities of their participants; to identify the causes of social conflicts generated by these practices and ways to overcome them. The main types of women's running practices are ritual competitive and out-of-competition running, festive competitive running, wellness and sports running. Running was used by women to achieve the following goals: marriage, material reward, pleasing the gods, transition to a new social group, magical influence, emancipation, physical development and setting records. The motives of running practices were gaining patronage, ensuring the well-being of the community, confirming their gender and age fullness, acquiring magical abilities, overcoming the scarcity of life, health care, self-realization, achieving equality with men in competitive activities and opportunities provided by society to outstanding athletes. The collisions of women's running practices are mainly associated with the mythological, religious and philosophical misogyny of traditional societies and gender stereotypes of modern times, according to which prolonged running locomotion does not correspond to the gender expecta-tions of society, the norms of decency and causes irreparable harm to women's health. Largely due to the selfless struggle of runners for equality in realizing their athletic potential, women's identity today is associated not only with femininity, and at the last Olympics in Tokyo, gender parity of participants was achieved for the first time.

Keywords: gender studies, history of women, run, femininity, gender stereotypes, philosophy of sports, sociocultural determination, Olympic Games, misogyny, women's equality

Abstract: The comprehensive analysis of Sergei Prokofiev’s operas “Maddalena”, “The Gambler”, “The Fiery Angel” reveals the peculiarities of personification of the image of the protagonist as femme fatale (Maddalena, Polina, Renata). Despite heightened interest to this topic, this article is first to view the listed operas from such perspective, which defines the scientific novelty. The fact that the libretto of these works was created by the composer himself can be considered as testimony that S. Prokofiev deeply intertwines with the psychology and personality traits of his heroes. The composer depict “femme fatal” a specific type of personality that combines self-worth and spiritual pursuit, desire to manipulate others and natural talent, no sense of guilt, and realization of self in another person. The use of comparative-historical, musical-culturological, and theoretical-analytical methods allow tracing correlation between the opera plot and their life context of creation, finding differences and commonalities in the means of expressing the image of femme fatal, and indicating the evolution and universality of the composer’s way of thinking on the early stage of creation. Attention is given to the synthesis of the principles of symbolist, romantic, realistic and expressionist musical drama, which S. Prokofiev uses in the opera under review.

Keywords: expressionism, symbolism, musical drama, femme fatale, The Fiery Angel, The Gambler, Maddalena, Prokofiev, mystic, Christian Science

Abstract: The article is devoted to the story "the Oven" and PhD thesis "Pantomime in the education of the actor" by Russian writer, Director and researcher pantomime E. V. Kharitonov (1941-1981). Kharitonov was one of the first writers of the Soviet period, who made the Central theme of his work homosexual desire. Appeal to this problem did Kharitonov unprintable by the author and introduced in the broader context of the non-censored Soviet literature, the study of which is today an important issue both for literature and for philosophy,and cultural studies. The subject of the article is a gesture that arises from Kharitonov not only as themes but also as a specific means of expression (ellipsis) in order to retain in the text displaced "forbidden" content. Like, "two-dimensional" perception of the novel allows us to conclude that her perception is irrelevant to the usual procedures of interpretation of texts, based on mimesisThe study is based on analysis of the syntactic structures of the novel and interpreting the gesture using the methodology developed by J. Telecom based on the semiotics of C. S. Pierce.

Keywords: Gilles Deleuze, homosexuality, Judith Batler, Yevgeny Kharitonov, gender, pantomime, gesture, literature, ellipse, subject

Abstract: The author of the article analyzes the impact of a critical feminist statement in the field of contemporary art on the social position of women in post-Soviet society. It is considering the confrontations that feminist art is faced in discursive and social fields and possible solutions of listed problems. The reasons and events that led the modern feminist discourse to the position in which this phenomenon exists today in Russian society and the dynamics and interference of feminist art with academic and public spheres are described and analyzed in the article. The investigation method can be designated as experimental. In the process of creating a work, there are applied tactics such as observations, simulations, comparisons. We can get an extensive view based on historical and scientific facts, comparing the achievements of the previous studies, in cooperation with the empirical experience. The main conclusion of the research is that for changing the perception of the phenomenon of feminism by the large society feminist artists and activists should popularize the gender theories and the feminist art. The important perspectives of feminist art are civil activism, the spreading of art through graffiti, stickers, social networks, video and zines (Self-publishing). Feminist art is intended not only for professionals in the art and gender studies field but also for the nonprofessional viewer, who wants to understand and sort out the phenomenon of feminist rhetoric. To win a non-professional audience and make art understandable and accessible to the masses, feasibly by attracting the attention of society to socially sensitive topics that rise in works and acts of feminist artists. That kind of art can become a powerful lever of influence on the formation of public consciousness. In addition very important to develop institutions which can receive a systematic education, to develop a verbal and visual language expressing the values of feminist discourse. As a result, more artists and activists will be able to attract attention to the social problems faced by millions of people each day, it will give an opportunity for correctly inspiring others, who afraid of openly expressing their views, it can afford a platform for the utterance of oppressed groups, to allow the subject to quest about correctness of the social norms grafted to him by default.

Keywords: Gender roles, contemporary art, russian feminism, gender studies, activism, gender, feminist art, feminism, critical art, Post-Soviet feminism

Abstract: The subject of the research is communication between the life strategy, phenomenal manifestations of will and subjects as the existing in male/female lifeworlds. Admitting the fact of man's and woman's beginnings in each person with one of them prevailing , it is claimed that the male mode of will is a rational will (Kant), and the femail mode is a irrational will (Schopenhauer). In her article Khafizova demonstrates how will, being a source of an intentionality of temporary and spatial structures of consciousness, together with one's gender life strategy places priorities in the influence of these structures on male/female lifeworlds. The main methodology of the description of temporary and spatial structures of existing is the phenomenology of consciousness of Gusserl and Heidegger owing to the fact that a kernel of gender life strategy is this or that form of activity of consciousness. In her article the author develops her approach to understanding gender as a style, the way of realization of the super-goals reflecting this or that strategy of life (gender is the answer to the question 'how' but not 'what'). For the first time based on ancient myths and the psychological facts of daily occurrence philosophical justification is given that the man's vital world is more connected with toposy, and women's - with chronos. Conclusions of the research can be used to describe further preferences and connotations of axioligical space male/female lifeworlds.

Keywords: phenomenology, lifeworld, gender life strategy, gender, irrational wil, rational will, chronotope, masculinity, femininity, axiology

Abstract: The subject of the research is the relationship between phenomenal manifestations of  transcendental will and gender. The author of the article provides the analysis of the concept of will in Kant's and Schopenhauer's works with the focus on the elements allowing to present will as an integral unit of the two modes, rational and irrational. The core of gender is the strategy of life as the balance of the two types of activity of personal identity – internal (development) and external (self-affirmation). The author of the article describes common features of these two modes, on the one hand, and associated life strategies, on the other hand. The definition of 'life strategy' is based on Hegel's dialectics of processes of objectivization (self-affirmation) and subjectivization (development). The author also offers a new approach to the definition of the concept of 'gender' not as a set of social roles of sex but a style, i.e. way of achieving super-goals that reflect this or that life strategy (in other words, gender is the answer to the question 'how' but not 'what'). The carried-out analysis of typical features of life strategies and will modes regarding their coincidence allows to prove that Kant was right relating rational will to the male strategy and irrational will to the female strategy. For the reason that the will shows the modes in each person, it is appropriate to say that there are both male and female beginnings in any man/woman, however, their balance is different. This circumstance allows to view the theory of Carl Jung as the method of a more detailed description of each will modes in a man. In the future the approach relating will modes to genders may allow to understand the mechanism of the mutual transition of will modes and features of time-space existence as well as preferences and connotations of axiological space and male/female lifeworlds. 

Keywords: rational will, irrational will, will to knowledge, will to action, will to life, will to power, gender, strategies of life, anthropology of will, metaphysics of will

Abstract: The article of the research is the personal traits (in particular, individual method of behavior in a profession) and creative work of female film directors. The research hypothesis is based on the point of view that 'film direction is not a woman's profession' and on the expression that 'all female film directors have a masculine personality'. The features of their creative work are analysed in terms of the following three indicators: 1) the levels of an artwork, elite and popular; 2) creative interest towards the Soviet theme; 3) genre features. The object of the research is a group of 19 female film directors who were best-known in the Soviet cultural environment of the 1960-1980s as well as the most known female film directors of today's Russia, Ukraine and Georgia. The research is based on the method of content analysis that has allowed to define the problem. The researchers have used this method to analyze sayings and expressions of female directors and their creative teams and colleagues regarding their personality and personal traits (based on the Internet sources). The statistical method has been also applied to the present research. In particular, the authors have chosen women for their research based on the lists of popular film directors on the Kino-Teatr.ru website. The main conclusions of the research are the following. Firstly, in terms of contemporary culture, even professional communities and associations retain traditional cultural stereotypes, such as: professional behavior and personal traits of female film directors related to universal human terminal and instrumental values are still viewed as 'masculine'. Secondly, discovered cultural, thematic and genre features of creative work of the most famous Soviet (1960 - 1980) and contemorary Russian female film directors demonstrate that even women with 'masculine personalities' make 'female' films, moreover, these are films of high artistic merit recognized by both the audience and authoritative professional community. 

Keywords: film director, men and women, character, creative work, art house, mainstream, Soviet theme, action film, biography genre, screen version

Abstract: The subject of investigation is a concept of norms, gender and sexuality in Ancient Greek society, as it was expressed in the classical myths. The purpose of research is to find out what gender stereotypes and biases were included in the ancient Greek myths and how these biases have been preserved in the modern science and the mass consciousness. As methodology were used the postmodern deconstruction and feminist critique, which can extend the opportunities of the contemporary scholar. It was done conclusion about gender specifics of Other in the ancient Greek culture, which reflect the gender hierarchy of masculinityoriented society in the texts that have received the status of classic. The results can be used in teaching courses in Cultural studies, Gender theory, Classical philology, Postmodernism.

Keywords: cultural studies, Other, otherness, gender, sexuality, standardization, body, femininity, masculinity, feminist criticism, gender analysis.

Abstract: The article is devoted to the process of special emancipation of Ukrainian women from the point of view of gender. The study has allowed to deÞ ne the main methods of spacial emancipation achieved by Ukrainian women which include: social, professional and geographical mobility and new forms of physical practices. The author describes the main prerequisites allowing women to achieve spacial freedom in public sphere: economic, ethical, socio-cultural and didactical.

Keywords: cultural studies, gender identity, gender ideology, patriarchal character, woman’s status, public space, family rules, social mobility, Ukraine, emancipation.

Abstract: Among topics studied by sociology of culture there are also concepts of happiness and love operating in culture and society. The author of the article analyzes representative opinion surveys of ideas existing in Polish society. It is shown that despite liberalization of customs, Polish people still believe in happy love based upon trust and mutual understanding. The author also draws attention at the topic of female happiness in literature and analyzes the results of the survey conducted among students at teachers’ training and technical universities in Warsaw. The author underlines how illusive the ideal of happy love is in terms of the consumer society. Based on the author, it is more possible to achieve a happy loving relationship as a part of everyday life.

Keywords: cultural studies, happiness, love, Poland, opinion surveys, values, female happiness, students, associations, society.