Polish Sexual Revolutions

Abstract This book studies the history of sexuality in state-socialist Poland in its European and global context, focusing on how communism transformed both sexual discourses and intimate practices between 1945 and 1989. It reconfigures our understanding of the sexual revolution, departing from the case study of Poland to complicate our understanding of ‘sexual modernity’ and ‘progress’. Engaging with the most recent scholarship on sexuality in East Central Europe, the monograph reassesses the role played by communist states in modernising their citizens’ approaches to sex. Contrary to the stereotype which perceives East Central Europe as ‘lagging behind’ the West in sexual matters and having to ‘catch up’ after 1989, the book sheds light on the ambiguous histories of state-socialist entanglements with sex to showcase alternative visions of sexual liberation. By focusing on forgotten genealogies of discussions of sexuality, the monograph historicizes the roots of contemporary debates on sex education, LGBTQ+, and women’s rights in the region.