...Across the globe, the women of Pussy Riot would form after feeling another sort of void. The band began last September, after Vladimir Putin announced he would try to reclaim the Russian Presidency (amidst opposition protests and allegations of election fraud, he did just that in March 2012). "At that point," one anonymous member of Pussy Riot toldVice days after the group was arrested, "We realized that this country needs a militant, punk-feminist, street band that will rip through Moscow's streets and squares, mobilize public energy against the evil crooks of the Putinist junta and enrich the Russian cultural and political opposition with themes that are important to us: gender and LGBT rights, problems of masculine conformity, absence of a daring political message on the musical and art scenes, and the domination of males in all areas of public discourse."
