The paper seeks to problematise late state-socialist media discourses on sexuality as a manifestation of two larger crises: that of masculinity and state socialism in general. Through a close reading of print and visual media the paper reconstructs frameworks of portraying masculinity and heteronormative desire in 1980s Poland and argues that the sense of economic and political crisis profoundly shaped the discussions of sexuality in the last decade of state socialism. The misogynist visual culture of late state-socialist media, the paper argues, also paved the way for the backlash against women’s reproductive and economic rights after 1989. Therefore, if we are to fully understand the contemporary Polish reproductive regime and the discussions of gender and sexuality, it is necessary to turn our attention to 1980s transformations of heteronormative gaze.
About the speaker
Anna Dobrowolska is Max Weber Fellow in the Department of History and Civilisation at the European University Institute in Florence and a Visiting Fellow at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies. She holds a DPhil in History from the University of Oxford and her research concentrates on the history of sexuality, visual culture, and gender under state socialism. Her first monograph, Zawodowe dziewczyny. Prostytucja i praca seksualna w PRL (2020), explored the history of commercial sex in Poland between 1945 and 1989. Currently, she is working on a second monograph, tentatively titled Sex, Communism, and Videotapes. Polish Sexual Revolutions, 1956-1989 in which she explores the history of state-socialist entanglements with sex through case studies such as striptease shows, nudism, and pornography, to argue that there was indeed a sexual revolution behind the Iron Curtain.
PART OF THE GENDER SEMINAR SERIES
The Gender Centre has developed this series of research seminars in order to offer a platform for exchange for students, doctoral students in particular, and researchers whose work includes a gender perspective. During this monthly series, researchers have the opportunity to discuss their work, meet peers from different disciplines at the Graduate Institute, as well as interact with other students, guest speakers and faculty members.
See the programme of this semester's Gender Seminar Series here.