Sex was intended to enlarge the family and was reserved for spouses. Pornography and sex toys are not for Poles - border controls eagerly picked up all illegal magazines. Cassettes and Playboy? Just be careful, quietly. From a friend, second-hand. What was the sexual awareness of the citizens of the Polish People's Republic like?
What about this sex?
Officially, the people's government protected citizens from Western rot and moral corruption, taking care of good morals. And unofficially? It's impossible to keep everyone in bed. Well…
While the generally declared moral norms are usually stiffer than the actual state of affairs, in the People's Republic of Poland the living conditions of most Poles were not conducive to love games . The post-war housing deficit initiated the process of creating the so-called "Cubicles" - small spaces that forced their tenants to eat, sleep, prepare meals and all other life activities in one room.
When there was (a bit) more space, the inhabitants increased. Children with parents, young couples with parents-in-law. When the young made a nest, offspring quickly appeared in it - numerous, but not enough to effectively prevent amora's parents. The fertility rate in the People's Republic of Poland oscillated around 2.43. Danuta Wałęsa gave birth to and raised all eight:Bogdan, Sławomir, Przemysław, Jarosław, Magdalena, Anna, Maria Wiktoria and Brygida.
And it might seem, after all, that in the Polish People's Republic, sex was approached more freely than it is today. Although the Church was held in high esteem and was "bursting at the seams" practically every Sunday, abortion was legal, contraceptives were widely available and the public debate on termination of pregnancy focused on psychological and medical aspects, without ever deviating from religious topics.
Advisors for body and spirit
In terms of science, it was even good. The sexology school developed rapidly, albeit in a different way than the American school. Is it worse? It's hard to judge. Kazimierz Imieliński - the first Polish sexologist - taught interdisciplinary doctors, not only in the field of medical but also spiritual sciences. It was an extremely different approach from American researchers, led by Alfred Kinsey.
The most famous pupils of Imieliński - Michalina Wisłocka and Zygmunt Lew-Starowicz - devoted years of work to popularizing modern sexology among Poles. Of course, not without clashes with the people's power.
Could you somehow counteract what is happening to women? (…) It's easy to pick them up, because they go to bed practically on their own.
The book About love almost everything Mikołaj Kozakiewicz was considered pornography, The Art of Loving Wisłocka waited several years for publication. Party politicians were reluctant to any sex education. Urgently needed, as shown in the collection of Intimate Letters published by Lew-Starowicz on the basis of questions from readers of his columns in the magazines "ITD", "Zwierciadło", "Magazyn Rodzinny", "Relaks", "Tygodnik Kulturalny" and "Zdrowie".
Pregnancy after every intercourse
(...) does the woman get pregnant after every intercourse? (...). Maybe there are some preventive measures? What and how are they used? (...) I don't mean terminating pregnancy, but preventing it. (Barbara)
Access to contraception did not yet mean common knowledge about it. Sex education in schools did not exist. Although students in biology lessons learned about the anatomy of the genital organs and how they work, the first classes on contraception appeared only in 1973. And besides ... preparation for life in a socialist family - explaining the marriage obligations to young people and traditional gender roles.
Those promiscuous women
Could you somehow counteract what is happening to women? (…) It's easy to pick them up, because they go to bed practically on their own. There are no rules, no brakes. They have intercourse very early, are promiscuous in bed, constantly invent technical innovations. You can't find a decent girl now, without experience. (Leon B. from Łódź)
Feminist movements with more than twenty years of delay broke through the Iron Curtain, which made the traditional model of sexuality in the PRL for a long time. So what about Michalina Wisłocka? Well, the sexologist, despite her "feminine-centric" thinking about sex, emphasized the importance of gender differences , marking male strength and violence. Contrary to American trends assuming the equality of sexual conditions in both sexes at the time, Wisłocka emphasized the greater emotionality of women - caused by hormones.
So what about Michalina Wisłocka? Well, the sexologist, despite her "feminine-centric" thinking about sex, emphasized the importance of gender differences
This is not surprising. Until the late 1980s, no one in Poland would have thought of preaching anything else. Reason? On the one hand, a pro-family mentality and a widespread belief in a woman's marital duties , on the other - the influence of the Imieliński sexology school. This could have been the source of Wisłocka's contemporarily criticized beliefs that women should avoid staying with men in secluded places, as this could lead to rape.
So what about Leon's dilemmas that echo in his letter to Lew-Starowicz? Perhaps the women around the author were a kind of swallows heralding a sexual revolution that would eventually reach the Vistula ... never reached? In fact, premarital sex was not particularly stigmatized in the People's Republic of Poland, but officially, erotic intimacy remained reserved for husband and wife. The rule, especially in smaller towns, was to wait for close-ups to the wedding. Well, maybe it was the climate of Lodz that loosened the customs, or maybe Leon was just unlucky.
Is it a deviation?
But what will he think when I come up with a bold proposition that he may think is a deviation? (...) Will he start suspecting me of debauchery before the wedding? Men don't seem to like it when a woman tells them what to do. (…) I guess the dream would be to relax completely, and not to wonder what is allowed and what is not during intercourse. (Kasia from Szczecin)
The fixation on the duty of a good wife was not conducive to bed revolutions. Just like the Poles' little awareness of what actually can be done in this bed. Among the letters that Lew-Starowicz received from readers there were concerns about his own "embarrassing places", questions about "THESE things", indignation at various perversions and debauchery. But also sheer curiosity and the need for knowledge. Especially on the subject of French love. In the collection of letters, questions about definition and techniques are often asked. And of course - is oral sex a pathology or is it a normal, healthy activity.
In fact, premarital sex was not particularly stigmatized in the People's Republic of Poland, but officially, erotic intimacy remained reserved for husband and wife. The rule, especially in smaller towns, was to wait for close-ups to the wedding.
Sexologists on this subject oscillated between party and ecclesiastical conservatism and a more progressive approach. In practice, they recommended having sex as a variety to foreplay, but warned against replacing traditional close-ups in this way. This was to lead to the development of conditional reflexes and a preference for one, learned form of stimulation. For women who, therefore, could not "normally" achieve orgasm, Wisłocka recommended experiments with other positions and penetration techniques, as well as exercising the muscles of the uterine fundus, the so-called Kegel muscles.
When homosexuality was treated as a disease
I realize that someone like me is just zero and a pervert. What should I do, it is really hard for me, life has no meaning for me, if there is no way out of my DISEASE, I will say goodbye to this world. Doctor, is this disease curable, but I think that in the 20th century for sure. I am asking you for the address of some good specialist or center. (Janek)
Non-heterosexual people were in the worst situation. The activity of the LGBT community, developing in the United States, reached Poland with almost thirty years delay. Back in the 1980s, homosexuality was on the list of diseases , and Lew-Starowicz himself admits that at the beginning of his medical practice he sometimes enrolled gays for electroshocking. The Warsaw Institute of Sexology and Pathology of Interpersonal Relationships supported sexual minorities, but maintained that their "affliction" was fully treatable. The center was regularly visited by priests.
Politically, homosexuality was undesirable to say the least. In 1985, the action "Hyacinth" was carried out - the police officers detained and interrogated people suspected of same-sex contacts, especially if the detained engaged in some political activity. The wave of pre-trial arrests resulted in the creation of "pink report files", some of which remain classified to this day. It is estimated that they contain files of over 11,000 people.
That is why 1989 brought Poles not only an economic revolution. Legal pornography, colorful equality marches and equality activities of feminist movements entered the lives of the citizens of the Third Republic of Poland, heralding the colorful, crazy nineties. Years when Big Brother didn't look down on anyone anymore.
Bibliography:
- Kościańska A., Science about sex and gender. Cultural, social and economic conditions of mainstream sexology in Poland and the United States [in]:"Kultura i Społeczeństwo" 2014, No. 1.
- Kośmiński P., Intimate life in the People's Republic of Poland. As it has been written about sex, masturbation, contraception, abortion ... [in]:"Gazeta Wyborcza", May 28, 2014.
- Lew-Starowicz Z. Intimate letters , Ossoliński National Institute, Publishing House 1989.
- Wanat E., Depko A., Chuć, or normal conversations about kinky sex , Warsaw 2012.
- Wisłocka M., The art of loving , Warsaw 2016.