The Study of Sex And Gender: the Cultural, Social, and Economic Conditioning Of Mainstream Sexology in Poland and the United States

After World War II, sexology developed in Poland as a holistic discipline embracing achievements in medicine, psychology, sociology, anthropology, philosophy, history, and religious studies. Sexuality was perceived as multidimensional and embedded in relationships, culture, the economy, and society at large. This approach was fundamentally different than the biomedical model, which started to develop rapidly in the United States after Masters and Johnson’s Human Sexual Response. The author discusses the impact of the two different models of sexology on the understanding of gender, while also considering the influence of economic and political factors (capitalism and socialism) on the development of scientific knowledg

Is the Onanist still a Pole? The Masturbation Debate of 1993-1994

In 1993, Mariusz Szczygieł published in Gazeta Wyborcza an article entitled Polish Onanism, discussing the issue of masturbation in Poland, including a detailed description of The Onanist Manifesto, a book by Artur Krasicki who in a satiric fashion argues for masturbation. Szczygieł's article archived a lot of attention. Readers expressed their dissatisfaction by returning the issue of paper and sending letters to the editor. Articles harshly criticizing both Szczygieł and Krasicki were published in Gazeta Wyborcza and elsewhere. Kinga Wiśniewska-Roszkowska and Wanda Półtawska, highly influential Catholic authors and medical doctors, employing the discourses of medicine, psychology, science and religion, argued that masturbation was unhealthy and constituted a threat to the Polish nation. This paper analyses texts by Szczygieł and Krasicki as well as reactions to them and places them in the context of the debate over cultural and sexual citizenship, very vivid in the early 1990s, just after the downfall of real socialism in Poland. It argues that the heated reactions to the texts presenting masturbation as healthy and normal were not only due to the fact that masturbation is perceived as an improper topic for a daily newspaper, but also because Szczygieł and Krasicki, by promoting non-hetero, non-reproductive sex, destabilized the heteronormative concept of citizenship (the Catholic authors implied that only those married with children or those who are on their way to achieving this status could be considered Poles). From today's perspective, one might argue that Szczygieł and Krasicki together with many others dedicated to the struggle over sexual and reproductive rights contributed to at least partial redefinition of cultural citizenship in Poland.W 1993 r. Mariusz Szczygieł opublikował w Gazecie Wyborczej artykuł pt. „Onanizm polski” poświęcony kwestii masturbacji w Polsce, w którym nawiązywał do Manifestu onanistycznego. Wal pókiś młody Artura „Cezara” Krasickiego, będącego satyryczną obroną masturbacji. Artykuł ten wzbudził wiele kontrowersji. Czytelnicy i czytelniczki w geście niezadowolenia wraz z listami do redakcji odsyłały zakupione numeru gazety. W Gazecie Wyborczej i nie tylko pojawiły się artykuły krytykujące Szczygła i Krasickiego. Wpływowe katolickie autorki, a zarazem lekarki - Kinga Wiśniewska-Roszkowska i Wanda Półtawska, mieszając dyskursy: nauki, medycyny, psychologii i religii katolickiej, udowadniały, że masturbacja jest zboczeniem i stanowi zagrożenie dla narodu polskiego. Niniejszy artykuł analizuje teksty Szczygła i Krasickiego, jak również reakcje na nie oraz osadza całość w kontekście debaty dotyczącej kwestii kulturowego i seksualnego obywatelstwa, która przetoczyła się we wczesnych latach 90., zaraz po upadku realnego socjalizmu w Polsce. Autorka utrzymuje, że teksty konstruujące onanizm jako zdrową i normalną praktykę spotkały się z tak ostrą reakcją nie tylko dlatego, że powszechnie uważano, że masturbacja nie powinna być tematem poruszanym w gazecie, ale również dlatego, że Szczygieł i Krasicki, promując nieheteroseksualny, nienastawiony na reprodukcję seks, zdestabilizowali heteronormatywną koncepcję obywatelstwa (katoliccy autorzy zakładali, że tylko pary małżeńskie z dziećmi oraz wszyscy ci, którzy dążą do uzyskania takiego statusu, mogą być nazywani Polakami). Z perspektywy czasu można by rzec, że Szczygieł, Krasicki oraz wszystkie osoby, które angażowały się na przestrzeni lat w walkę o seksualne oraz reprodukcyjne prawa, przyczyniły się do przynajmniej częściowej redefinicji kulturowego obywatelstwa w Polsce

“It will incite an official protest from the Episcopate:” Productive Sexological Self-Censoring of Non-normative and Non-reproductive Sexuality under the Communist State and Catholic Church

Every publication in state socialist Poland, including sexological material, was inspected by a censor to ensure it adhered to socialist doctrine and morality. Censorship is generally understood as a tool of totalitarian oppression blocking the exchange of knowledge and ideas. The powerful Polish Catholic hierarchy has been considered an additional factor, collaborating with the Communist Party to silence progressive sexual discourse. Through analysis of sexological and sex educational writings on homosexuality and birth control, I argue for a more nuanced picture of censoring practices, by asking: How was the censorship practiced? What kind of writing strategies did it produce? Who conducted the censorship? What happened to those who decided not to become involved in the complex struggle over sexuality between Church and State? And, finally, what are the long-term consequences of practicing censorship? Based on archival research and in-depth interviews with sexologists and sex educators active during the late state-socialist period, I explore the personal and collective strategies that weakened but also strengthened censorship. Sex experts employed many writing strategies to “trick” the censors, yet at the same time practiced self-censorship, gauging what would be blocked by censors or incite a protest from the Church. They also disciplined colleagues attempting to be more open, believing such openness could be counterproductive to past and future achievements in the development of sex education and therapy in Poland. As a result, censorship appeared to be surprisingly productive, generating a particular style of writing that encouraged the public to read between the lines. However, in the long run, it produced an inability to speak openly about (liberated) sexuality in Poland. &nbsp

MARIA DĘBIŃSKA, Transpłciowość w Polsce. Wytwarzanie kategorii

Recencja książki Marii Dębińskiej pt. Transpłciowość w Polsce. Wytwarzanie kategorii, Warszawa 2020.Review of MariaDębińska, Transgender in Poland. Producing  Categories, Warszawa 202

Beyond Viagra: Sex Therapy in Poland

a1_In the 1970s and 1980s, Poland, like most other countries in the region, provided not only unlimited access to abortion and contraceptives, but also a liberal sex education. This period moreover constituted a golden age in sexology in the country. Sexual science developed as a holistic discipline, embracing achievements in medicine, psychology, sociology, anthropology, philosophy, history, and religious studies, providing recourses for sex education and therapy. Sexuality was perceived as multidimensional and embedded in relationships, culture, economy, and society at large. This approach was fundamentally different from the biomedical model, which started to develop rapidly in the United States after Masters and Johnson’s publication of Human Sexual Response in 1966. Contemporary feminist critics like Leonore Tiefer point out that Masters and Johnson’s approach initiated the process of biomedicalisation and commodification of sexuality and led to the domination of pharmaceutical industries in sex therapy. Meanwhile, owing to the given political and economic context, socialist sexual science was not tied to the market and remained holistic until the advent of capitalism in the 1990s. Along with the invention of Viagra, the free market significantly reshaped the field of sex therapy, giving priority to pharmacotherapy, promoting new sexual dysfunctions, and marginalising other forms of treatment. Nevertheless, Polish sexology was not fully transformed. It proved surprisingly resilient to the influence of pharmaceutical industries and the holistic approach to sex therapy remains highly valued and often practised; pharmacotherapy is perceived as insufficient and sexual dysfunctions, including erectile dysfunctions, are frequently treated using psychotherapy, which takes into account not only psychological but also social, economic and cultural issues. na2_This article is based on the author’s ethnographic and archival research on the development of Polish sexology since the 1970s. She focuses on the relationship between sexuality, socialism, and capitalism and shows that an analysis of socialist sexology sheds light on the nature of the contemporary hegemonic understating of sexuality and sex therapy.91993