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Paper short abstract

Although Polish sex educators have successfully developed inclusive curricula and teaching methods, sex education has often been presented as coming 'from abroad'. This paper demonstrates how ideological boundaries are built, but also crossed in local educational discourses and practices.

Paper long abstract

Although sex education has been present in Poland for over a century and Polish sex educators have successfully developed innovative and inclusive curricula and methods, the subject has often been presented as coming 'from abroad'. In the context of ongoing heated debates surrounding the introduction of a new curriculum to Polish schools, sex education is frequently portrayed by right wing nationalists as a means of 'demoralizing' Polish children by exposing them to 'gender and LGBT ideology', thereby supposedly facilitating the destruction of the Polish nation and family at the hands of ill-defined foreign powers. This paper draws on archival and ethnographic research on the history of sex education and the current implementation of sex education in Polish schools. It demonstrates how ideological boundaries (Fassin 2011, Haukanes and Pine 2021, Buchowski 2025) around sex education are built, but also crossed or even destroyed in everyday educational discourses and practices.