Why do we see so many images of Vladimir Putin on a motorcycle or bare-chested, on horseback? And why did 12 young women at Moscow State University pose provocatively, Victoria’s Secret style, for a calendar celebrating the Russian leader’s birthday in 2011?

These are the questions Clark University Valerie Sperling explores in her book “Sex, Politics, and Putin: Political Legitimacy in Russia,”subject of a recent hour-long podcast by Oxford Academic (Oxford University Press). Sperling was interviewed by host Amanda Jeanne Swain of University of California, Irvine.

You can listen to the podcast online.