Sex on equal terms? Polish sexology on women’s emancipation and ‘good sex’ from the 1970s to the present

Abstract

This article is based on discourse analysis of Polish sexological publications in the 1970s and 1980s, as well as on ethnographic fieldwork among contemporary sex experts. In these publications, sustaining so-called traditional gender roles was perceived as a necessary condition for a good sex life, and women’s emancipation was presented as an obstacle to this process. At the same time, sex was presented as an important element of personal, marital and social happiness and detailed guidelines on how to achieve this were provided. The article focuses on the mechanism of construction of sexual-scientific knowledge. It shows the very specific historical development of sexology in Poland: in the 1970s and 1980s sexology developed as an interdisciplinary field and sexuality was perceived as embedded in the socio-cultural context. This approach established foundations for contemporary sexological discourses. My analysis of sexological publications is placed in the context of the changing cultural-political situation in socialist Poland. On the one hand, the Communist Party promoted women’s full employment, on the other, it supported the traditional marriage and gender roles causing women’s double burden. In the postsocialist period, this tension has been reinforced by neoliberal gender and sexual ideology. The article highlights the interactions between sexologists, their patients and other groups such as feminists, and emphasizes patients’ agency in the processes of knowledge construction.