Paper Short Abstract:

This presentation examines how children and teenagers in Poland construct knowledge and non-knowledge about the body and sexuality, both in the 1990s and today. By focusing on informal peer networks, cultural silences, and ideological conflicts, I explore children’s epistemologies in relation to the

Paper Abstract:

This presentation explores how children and teenagers in Poland develop epistemologies of the body and sexuality in contexts shaped by social taboos, informal peer knowledge, and ideological conflicts. In the 1990s, children primarily exchanged knowledge within peer networks, often relying on rumors, myths, or fragmented media representations. These processes were embedded in a broader social framework where adults maintained silence on these topics, reinforcing epistemological gaps and perpetuating the circulation of partial or distorted knowledge. By applying the concept of children’s epistemologies, I analyze how young people engage with “existent beings” in their social and cultural world—not only in the form of imagined figures but also through their interactions with abstract entities such as norms, taboos, and ideologically charged representations of the body and sexuality. Looking at the contemporary Polish context, I examine the ideological tensions surrounding sexual education, particularly the impact of legal and educational shifts—such as the planned introduction of the “Health Education” subject in 2025—on children’s epistemologies of the body. By tracing continuities and transformations in these processes, I argue that the circulation of knowledge and non-knowledge about sexuality functions as a cultural and social mechanism that both structures children’s understanding and enforces generational silence. By placing children’s knowledge production at the center of analysis, this contribution engages with broader discussions on circularity as a social process and highlights how epistemological constraints shape young people’s transition into adulthood.