Paper short abstract:

Through an analysis of sexological publications from the 1970s and 1980s, this paper shows the political context of the scientific approach to sexuality and gender roles within which women's emancipation was presented as an obstacles to a satisfying sexual life.

Paper long abstract:

The 1970s and 1980s mark a period in which sexology developed in Poland; several important books appeared, and sexologists published extensively in the popular press. Health professionals discussed various sexuality related issues, such as sexual techniques and pleasure, sexual "deviations," gender, marriage and violence. They provided guidelines on how to achieve pleasure and how to eliminate obstacles to good sex. One of the obstacles discussed by sexologists was women's emancipation. Referring to various scientific theories, sexologists argued that women's sexual expectation made many men unable to perform.

This paper is based on discourse analysis of Polish publications on sexuality in the 1970s and 1980s such as popular magazines and sexological books. The analysis focuses on the cultural notions of gender, sexuality and relationships embedded in scientific knowledge. In the analyzed writings, women are associated with the domestic and passivity, men with the public, activity and aggression; and sustaining this order is a necessary condition for a good sex life, hence women's emancipation is presented as an obstacle in this process. At the same time, these publications presented sex as an important element of personal, marital and social happiness and provided detailed guidelines on how to achieve this happiness. The analysis of sexological publications is placed in the context of the political situation in Poland. On the one hand, in this period the communist party promoted women's full employment, on the other, it supported traditional marriage and gender roles. This tension might be seen as a political background for scientific development.