Imposed Belonging: Family Crises in Poland in Film and Literature around 1968

The concept and realization of family and gender issues in socialist Poland was generally a contested topic. The family had remained a core institution of society—and yet, it underwent a significant transformation due to changing life-style models and social expectations. In the late 1960s, a crisis of the family was officially acknowledged, as the new models and expectations increasingly conflicted with the shortage of economic and social resources, and systemic limitations. Diverging ideas about gender roles and stereotypes intensified the tensions in the family and private sphere. This article discusses manifestations of the family crisis in literature and film of the time, tracing the issues debated in society and uncovering dominant narratives. Social problems like alcoholism or domestic violence found their way into official statistics as well as into literary or cinematographic productions, the arts presenting a qualitative seismology of the family in crisis. In staging issues like partnership pragmatism or a “monetarization” of gender relations, literature and film functioned as an introspective tool for social and cultural discourses. This cultural debate on the family crisis will be cross-read with the March 1968 crisis in Poland. The student revolts, their repression and an anti-Semitic campaign, events known as “March ’68”, brought about an ethno-nationalist paradigm in politics and society that silently reframed family lineage as a socially and politically relevant dimension. Yet the narrative of class and ethnic family liability suggested by the mass media went mostly unregistered in the arts, emerging only on the margins of cultural production

Marcowa minusowość: Strategie immunitarne i kontr-immunitarne w atmosferze roku 1968 w Polsce

The article discusses mechanisms of social immunisation in the context of the Polish ‘March 1968’. Whereas immunising strategies are a normal part of sociality, I argue that around 1968 a growing anxiety about the mechanisms of being-in-common led to an autoimmunitarian dissociation of the Polish society, which I conceptualise as an atmosphere of minusivity. Strategies to counter exclusions and discriminations were trapped in this immunitarian paradigm as well. A crisis of communication arose from the dissonance between the reality created by the official language surrounding March 1968, and the reality experienced by many people, as this latter reality was silenced and repressed. Mistrust in language resulted in an immunitarian retreat from affective communication, which was replaced by impersonal communicative scripts. This communicative crisis widely prevented the March experiences from being conveyed in the cultural production of the time; nonetheless, I will try to retrace some of the immunitarian and counter-immunitarian strategies in literature, film, and retrospective accounts.Niniejszy artykuł dyskutuje mechanizmy społecznej immunizacji w kontekście wydarzeń i dyskursu polskiego ‘Marca ’68’. Podczas gdy strategie obronne są normalną cechą społeczną, rosnące obawy wokół ‘Marca ’68’ dotyczące mechanizmów wspólnotowości doprowadziły do autoimmunitarnej dysocjacji polskiego społeczeństwa, co konceptualizuję jako atmosferę minusowości. Również strategie przeciwdziałania wykluczeniom i dyskryminacji zostały uwięzione w tym immunitarnym paradygmacie. Z dysonansu pomiędzy rzeczywistością stworzoną przez oficjalny język Marca 1968 a rzeczywistością doświadczenia wielu ludzi wynikał kryzys komunikacji, ponieważ ta ostatnia została wyciszona i wyparta. Nieufność do języka spowodowała immunitarny odwrót od komunikacji afektywnej, którą zastąpiły bezosobowe skrypty komunikacyjne. Ten kryzys komunikacyjny w dużej mierze uniemożliwił przekazanie doświadczeń marcowych w ówczesnej produkcji kulturalnej; mimo to spróbuję prześledzić niektóre strategie immunitarne i kontr-immunitarne w literaturze, filmie i relacjach retrospektywnych

Privatisierte Weiblichkeit: Genealogien und Einbettungsstrategien feministischer Kritik im postsozialistischen Polen

Von der kommunistischen Gleichmacherei zur bürgerlichen Sphärentrennung? Nach 1989 wird die Geschlechterordnung in Polen zu einer Gretchenfrage. Die postsozialistische Identitätssuche zwischen Liberalisierung und Konservatismus, zwischen transnationaler Anbindung und erstarkendem Polentum bringt einen von inneren Widersprüchen geprägten feministischen Diskurs hervor. Die Autorin zeigt anhand detailreicher Textanalysen zu Werken feministischer Polonistik der 1990er Jahre theoretische und soziopolitische Anknüpfungspunkte und Divergenzen auf. Der zunehmenden Spaltung der polnischen Gesellschaft wird mittels Konzepten von Intertextualität, Intonation und Ideologem nachgegangen.Between tradition, reform and opposition: feminist criticism in Poland

Privatisierte Weiblichkeit : Genealogien und Einbettungsstrategien feministischer Kritik im postsozialistischen Polen

Von der kommunistischen Gleichmacherei zur bürgerlichen Sphärentrennung? Nach 1989 wird die Geschlechterordnung in Polen zu einer Gretchenfrage. Die postsozialistische Identitätssuche zwischen Liberalisierung und Konservatismus, zwischen transnationaler Anbindung und erstarkendem Polentum bringt einen von inneren Widersprüchen geprägten feministischen Diskurs hervor. Nina Seiler zeigt anhand detailreicher Textanalysen zu Werken feministischer Polonistik der 1990er Jahre theoretische und soziopolitische Anknüpfungspunkte und Divergenzen auf. Der zunehmenden Spaltung der polnischen Gesellschaft wird mittels Konzepten von Intertextualität, Intonation und Ideologem nachgegangen

To overcome the hurdles: Locating Feminist Literary Research in 1990s’ Poland

The 1989 collapse of the Polish socialist system had several impacts on the country’s gender discourse. Not only did conservative discourses voice the return to a ‘traditional’ gender order, but also the legal grounds shifted with the ban on abortion in 1993 and the dismissal of a parity law in 2003. Even though this backlash evoked social movements and academic interest in gender issues, the new initiatives had to struggle with many obstacles. Feminism was strongly connoted with communism, a bogey which had only just been expelled. In this article, strategies of adaptation and subversion of public narratives will be examined on the example of feminist works in 1990s’ Polish literary studies. Unlike socialist gender research, feminist Polish studies of the 1990s shifted to an interest in culture and the historical dimension of gendered national narratives. In the 1990s, literary historical research integrated theoretical inputs from the so-called West. Both turning to pre-war literature and engaging with ‘Western’ theories worked towards distancing feminism from the connotation of communist ideology. Literary studies interfere with the discourses about national identity by questioning cultural memory and engagement with the past via their literary research material. This results in some cases in the establishment of feminism of difference, underlining the distinctiveness of female experience and cultural output. This in turn can be seen in the light of strengthening feminist identity in a disapproving society. At the same time, feminist Polonists subordinate to the narrative of catching up with global (academic) progress as they perceive feminist thought to be ‘lagging behind’ in Poland. The simultaneous reception of different theoretical strands leads to a certain conceptual fuzziness, while at the same time individualist approaches deny political engagement and support neoliberal cultural transformations

Privatisierte Weiblichkeit

Between tradition, reform and opposition: feminist criticism in Poland

Estimated physical activity in Bavaria, Germany, and its implications for obesity risk: Results from the BVS-II Study

BACKGROUND: Adequate physical activity (PA) is considered as a key factor in the fight against the obesity epidemic. Therefore, detailed description of the actual PA and its components in the population is necessary. Additionally, this study aims to investigate the association between PA and obesity risk in a representative population sample in Bavaria, Germany. METHODS: Data from 893 participants (age 13–80 years) of the Bavarian Food Consumption Survey II (BVS II) were used. In each participant, three computer-based 24-hour recalls were conducted by telephone assessing type and duration of PA in the domains occupation, sports, other strenuous leisure time activities (of mostly moderate intensity) as well as TV/PC use in leisure time and duration of sleeping. After assigning metabolic equivalents (METs) to each activity, estimates of energy expenditure (MET*h) and total daily PA level (PAL(est.)) were calculated. In a subgroup of adults (n = 568) with anthropometric measurements logistic regression models were used to quantify the impact of PA on obesity risk. RESULTS: Estimated average PA in women and men was 38.5 ± 5.0 and 40.6 ± 9.3 MET*h/d, respectively, corresponding to PAL(est. )values of 1.66 ± 0.22 and 1.75 ± 0.40. Obese subjects showed lower energy expenditure in the categories sports, occupation, and sleeping, while the time spent with TV/PC during leisure time was highest. This is confirmed in logistic regression analyses revealing a statistically significant association between obesity and TV/PC use during leisure time, while sports activity was inversely related to obesity risk. Overall, less than 1/3 of the study participants reached the recommended PAL of ≥ 1.75. Subjects within the recommended range of PA had an about 60 % (odds ratio = 0.43; 95% CI: 0.21–0.85) reduced risk of obesity as compared to inactive subjects with a PAL(est. )<1.5. CONCLUSION: Based on the results of short-term PA patterns, a major part of the Bavarian adult population does not reach the recommendations (PAL>1.75; moderate PA of > 30 min/d). Despite the limitations of the study design, the existing associations between sports activity, TV/PC use and obesity risk in this population give further support to the recommendation of increasing sports activity and reducing sedentary behaviour in order to prevent rising rates of obesity

Changes in mode of transportation to work or school from pre-pregnancy to early pregnancy in the Norwegian Fit for Delivery study

Objective To describe changes in mode of transportation to work or school from pre-pregnancy to early pregnancy, to describe levels of physical activity related to mode of transportation to work or school, and to examine associations between changes in mode of transportation to work or school and educational level, body mass index (BMI) and age. Methods Between September 2009 and February 2013, 575 healthy pregnant nulliparous women were included into the Norwegian Fit for Delivery (NFFD) trial. At inclusion they reported their current and their pre-pregnancy mode of transportation to work or school. Data were analysed by multilevel mixed models with dichotomized modes of transportation as dependent variables. Results There was a significant change towards less active transportation to work or school and a decrease in level of physical activity from pre-pregnancy to early pregnancy. Pre-pregnancy, 58% used private transportation to work or school, compared to 64% in early pregnancy (p = 0.001). The percentage of women who biked (11% v. 5%, p < 0.001) decreased significantly from pre-pregnancy to early pregnancy. Conclusions In this sample of Norwegian women there was a significant change towards less active transportation to work or school and lower levels of physical activity from pre-pregnancy to early pregnancy. Keywords: Active transportation, Biking, Commuting, IPAQ, MET-score, Physical activity, Pregnancy, Private transportation, Public transportation, WalkingpublishedVersio

Change in active transportation and weight gain in pregnancy

Background: Pregnancy is characterised by large weight gain over a short period, and often a notable change in mode of transportation. This makes pregnancy suitable for examining the plausible, but in the scientific literature still unclear, association between active transportation and weight gain. We hypothesize that women continuing an active mode of transportation to work or school from pre- to early pregnancy will have a lower gestational weight gain (GWG) than those who change to a less active mode of transportation. Methods: We analysed prospective data from the Norwegian Fit for Delivery (NFFD) trial. Between September 2009 and February 2013 606 women were consecutively enrolled in median gestational week 16 (range; 8–20). Of 219 women who used an active mode of transportation (biking, walking, public transportation) pre-pregnancy, 66 (30 %) converted to a less active mode in early pregnancy (“active-less active” group), and 153 (70 %) continued with active transportation (“active-active” group). Pre-pregnancy weight was self-reported. Weight at gestational (GA) weeks 16, 30, 36, and at term delivery was objectively measured. Weight gain was compared between the two groups. Linear mixed effects analysis of the repeated weight measures was performed including the group*time interaction. Results: A significant overall group effect was observed for the four time points together (“active-active” group: 77.3 kg vs. “active-less active” group: 78.8 kg, p = 0.008). The interaction term group*time was significant indicating different weight gain throughout pregnancy for the two groups; the mean differences between the groups were 0.7 kg at week 16, 1.4 kg at week 30, 2.1 kg at week 36, and 2.2 kg at term delivery, respectively. Conclusion: The findings indicate that active transportation is one possible approach to prevent excessive weight gain in pregnancy. Keywords: Active transportation, Biking, BMI, Pregnancy, Public transportation, Walking, Weight gainpublishedVersio

COVID-19 Vaccine Acceptance Among Parents of Children With Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children

Data on COVID-19 vaccine acceptability among parents of children with multisystem inflammatory syndrome (MIS-C) are limited. In this cohort of children with MIS-C, enrolled in the Swissped RECOVERY trial (NCT04826588), comparing intravenous immunoglobulins or methylprednisolone, who, in accordance with Swiss guidelines, were recommended for SARS-CoV-2 vaccination, 65% (73/112) of parents reported being vaccinated against SARS-CoV-2 before the MIS-C, while 70% were vaccinated after the MIS-C episode of their child. None of the children were vaccinated before the occurrence of the MIS-C, and only 9% (5/56) received the COVID-19 vaccine after the MIS-C. The predominant barriers to COVID-19 vaccination were concerns over potential side effects and insufficient support from their doctors. This emphasizes the crucial role of health care providers in promoting COVID-19 vaccination among children