Armenia debates ‘pre-election proposal’ for ministry of sex
Proposal to create ministry of sex in Armenia
There has been a heated debate in Armenia over a sensational statement by Sargis Karapetyan, the son of businessman Samvel Karapetyan, who is currently under house arrest after being accused of calling for the seizure of power.
“A strong Armenia will have no sexually dissatisfied women,” Sargis Karapetyan said while speaking on a podcast he has been hosting with a friend for several months. Following the remark, the podcast hosts discussed ways of addressing Armenia’s demographic problems, eventually arriving at the idea of creating a “ministry of sex”. Karapetyan added: “As far as I know, demographic problems cannot be solved without sex.”
Speaking about a “strong Armenia”, Sargis Karapetyan was referring to the Strong Armenia party founded by his family. It is already known that the party will take part in Armenia’s parliamentary elections, scheduled for June 2026.
Human rights defenders and organisations working on women’s rights have condemned Karapetyan’s remarks as unacceptable, describing them as a “stereotypical and discriminatory stance towards women”.
The Coalition Against Violence Against Women issued a statement saying:
“Women must not be used to generate dividends in political campaigns. Women and vulnerable groups cannot be objects of political speculation, as this constitutes discrimination and an affront to human dignity.”
Karapetyan’s comments so outraged one Armenian citizen that they filed a criminal complaint with law enforcement authorities.
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Sargis Karapetyan: ‘Phrase taken out of context struck many as unfortunate’
Responding to a wave of criticism, Sargis Karapetyan posted a short video on his Instagram page.
“I acknowledge that a phrase taken out of context struck many as unfortunate,” he said.
Karapetyan stopped short of apologising, explaining that his podcasts regularly address issues that remain taboo in Armenia:
“We constantly discuss external threats but forget about internal ones. My dear friends, let me ask this small circle [referring to representatives of the ruling party] a question: are you irritated by my wording, or by the fact that I voiced these problems?” he said.
Karapetyan argued that Armenia cannot be strong unless society is “physically, psychologically and morally healthy”.
Crime complaint: ‘Women are portrayed as sexual objects’
An Armenian citizen who filed a criminal complaint argues that Sargis Karapetyan and two other podcast participants made statements that demean women’s dignity. He said their remarks amounted to “gender discrimination, hatred or intolerance” towards a specific social group.
“They publicly stated that ‘there will be no sexually dissatisfied women in a strong Armenia’, and that a ministry of sex should be created to ‘satisfy’ them,” the complaint said.
In his view, the podcast participants treated women as sexual objects stripped of social agency.
He also argued that Karapetyan’s statement:
- “undermines the constitutional principle of gender equality;
- poses a public danger;
- may create an atmosphere of hatred, intolerance or humiliation towards women”.
Commentary
Representatives of the ruling party reacted sharply to the remarks made by the son of Samvel Karapetyan.
Health Minister Anahit Avanesyan said:
“It is no coincidence that the English consider ‘ill-mannered’ to be the most insulting epithet one can use about a person.”
MP from the Civil Contract faction Vahagn Aleksanyan said:
“Tell the son of a wealthy daddy that this is Armenia. Here, women — mothers, sisters, daughters, or simply women — are objects of respect and admiration.
Regardless of how much money you have in your bank account, Armenian women cannot be a means for your self-assertion. Otherwise, along with the ‘taste’ of the state, you will taste the anger of Armenian women — and the anger of men who value Armenian women.
P.S. Was it really so hard to raise a boy properly, Samvel, that you failed so badly?”
Another Civil Contract MP, Tsovinar Vardanyan, said:
“Before declaring ambitions to rule the country ‘in your own way’, you should have raised your own son. The state begins with the family.”
Dollar billionaire and Russian businessman Samvel Karapetyan was arrested on charges of calling for the seizure of power after making a statement in support of the senior clergy of the Armenian Apostolic Church. He said: “If Armenia’s political forces fail to cope with this situation, we will have to intervene in the authorities’ campaign against the church in our own way.”Following his arrest, Karapetyan’s supporters founded the In Our Own Way movement. The family later registered a political party called Strong Armenia.
Expert opinion
‘Any propaganda that labels women is unacceptable’
The Coalition Against Violence Against Women said that Sargis Karapetyan’s remarks contained elements of propaganda promoting discrimination against women.
“We condemn any political campaign based on inciting hatred, discrimination and division between different groups in society.”
The rights group stressed that:
- women are full and equal members of society,
- violence and discrimination against them are unacceptable.
It described statements that “insult women and other vulnerable groups” as inadmissible.
“We call on all political forces to refrain from such statements and to respect fundamental human rights,” the statement said.
‘Men were also stigmatised’
Human rights defender Zaruhi Hovhannisyan described the public discussion of such a topic without in-depth research as “superficial”.
In her view, the statements made on the podcast in fact stigmatised men to a greater extent:
“Judging by their words, men are blamed for failing to ‘satisfy’ [women]. Here, the correlation goes beyond simply questioning men’s abilities or capacities. They believe they stigmatised women, but in the end the opposite happened.”
According to Hovhannisyan, these narratives were voiced in order to provoke hype and spark public debate:
“They were aiming to trigger an emotional explosion, arousal. And in such cases, it does not matter whether the discussion develops in a positive or negative direction.”
