The recognition that health and gender are related, was raised by Frances Berstain in the study of sexual enlightenment posters
in Russia in the 1920s. The prevalence of a healthy
population was regarded by the soviet authorities as vital for the success of socialism. With the escalating rate at which sexually transmitted diseases were spreading notably syphilis, the Soviet authorities were spurred to introduce the sexual enlightenment campaign as a means to sensitize the population on health issues. The goal of the campaign was basically intended to educate the Russian population on how to impede the spread of sexual diseases. How was this to be attain?. The introduction of posters was adopted as a medium through which the sensitization issues were to be attained. The posters illustrated graphic information of the varied modes through which people contracted sexual diseases. Worthy to mention is the fact that the posters in as much as they had as their prime objective of educating the public on sexual health, they inherently dealt with gender inequality issues. In the posters, most often than not , women were
portrayed in subordinate positions. They were always depicted as prostitutes and folk healers, which generally had a negative connotation. Another gender inequality aspect the posters raised, was that the men were portrayed as doctors or givers of treatment while the women were simply the receivers and transmitters of sexual diseases. Thus in order to hinder the spread of sexual diseases, men had to abstain from getting in contact with prostitutes. Furthermore, the posters also illustrated the notion that the rely on folk healers who were women, was not safe, rather the public should seek for treatment from doctors in hospitals. This however changed with more women getting in to the medical professional as demonstrated at end of the study