Kultura i Społeczeństwo

An interesting fact in the intellectual history of the fin-de-siècle and first three decades of the 20th century is that the crisis of modernity was understood in categories of sex and gender. In spite of the differences dividing the German intellectual trend of cultural pessimism, the conservative revolution, and Fascist thinking, all these paradigms are linked by the characteristic conviction that ‘modernity’, being the consequence of the French Revolution, was ruled by the ‘feminine principle’. This principle was supposed to represent what is anti-military, anti-state, and anti-cultural at the same time. Variations on the theory of male bonding (Männerbund) were the intellectual reaction to that ‘feminine principle’. The intellectual patterns described here find their continuation in contemporary conservative thought.

The author analyzes attitudes to the phenomenon of sexuality on the basis of two theoretical perspectives, the evolutionary and the feminist, between which there has long been conflict. In his opinion, however, they are only seemingly contrary. The main texts of both trends of thought concern entirely different problems and at the substantive level there is basically no contradiction between them. It is important that evolutionary theory often undermines existing cultural schemas, although this is rarely perceived by proponents of feminist theories. Evolutionists, in turn, rather too often identify feminism with radical social constructivism. Another extreme is a view that could be described as evolutionary sexism, consisting in justifying the gender status quo by reference to biological essentialism. After elimination of the extreme approaches, which are rare in any case, it is possible to use the results of evolutionary research in the debate over gender equality and to transform the two monologues into a cohesive dialogue; this, in the author’s opinion, is an important task for empirically oriented social theory.

One of the main traits of a society of reflexive modernity is the critical analysis of categories that in the past appeared unquestionable. Socio-cultural gender and health or illness/mental disorders are categories of this type. Above all, they are socially constructed, that is, they are dependent on culture and on political, economic, and religious factors. The author undertakes to analyse the relations between the diagnostic criteria used in the international system of classifying mental diseases (DSM-IV and ICD-10) and traditional schemas of masculinity and femininity. Confirmation of the incidence of particular diseases in connection with gender is the author’s entry point for seeking answers to why individuals suffering from certain illnesses/mental disorders display behaviour corresponding to traditional gender roles, even though contemporary gender roles are fluid in many respects, and hypotheses about biological differences as causes of incidence of disease in men and women have not been empirically confirmed.

After World War II, sexology developed in Poland as a holistic discipline embracing achievements in medicine, psychology, sociology, anthropology, philosophy, history, and religious studies. Sexuality was perceived as multidimensional and embedded in relationships, culture, the economy, and society at large. This approach was fundamentally different than the biomedical model, which started to develop rapidly in the United States after Masters and Johnson’s Human Sexual Response. The author discusses the impact of the two different models of sexology on the understanding of gender, while also considering the influence of economic and political factors (capitalism and socialism) on the development of scientific knowledge.

The author considers the mechanisms limiting women’s access to power and the validity of their advance to positions of authority. She uses research into two extremely different social institutions–the Italian Mafia and the Polish Sejm (parliament)–in an attempt to illustrate that the contemporary process of redefining traditional cultural concepts of gender is not only an indicator of the spread of pro-equality attitudes but could equally well be considered an element of activity intended to preserve the patriarchal order. From this viewpoint, the ad hoc reconstructing of cultural concepts of gender is chiefly aimed at maintaining the constituting principle of the patriarchy–maintaining men’s domination at the price of breaking men’s monopoly on power. This process could therefore be perceived also as a symptom of the durability of the patriarchal model of social ties.

The author analyses the identity strategies appearing in women’s social movements in contemporary Poland. She considers the importance of gender in the process of constructing collective identity and how specific gender identity strategies influence their social reception and, in consequence, the success or failure of women’s initiatives as well. The aim of her considerations is to deepen critical reflection on the category of gender in the intersectional perspective, particularly in the context of research into social movements. The analysis includes two examples of women’s mass movements in the last decade: the movement to restore the Child Support Fund and the Women’s Congress. Her conclusions are based on a qualitative analysis of the media discussion, the self-representations of proponents of both initiatives (in publications and online), as well as interviews with their representatives and participants conducted in the years 2009–2013.

This text is devoted to selected questions on the border of the ethnography of Łódź and research into women’s issues, and thus joins the trend of women’s urban anthropology. The author reinterprets selected sources, such as various types of writings and field materials from the archives of the Institute of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology of the University of Łódź. Her aim is to reconstruct the local ‘herstory’ from the ethnographic-anthropological perspective. She therefore looks at certain aspects of the life of textile workers and locates them in the context of the perceptions of femininity and the work ethic around which Łódź’s image (stereotypical and auto-stereotypical) was created.

The situation of transsexual persons in Poland is not precisely known; there are only estimates determining the scale of the phenomenon. The lack of information fosters stereotypes and, not infrequently, injurious appraisal; fear of the unknown is also produced, and is gradually turning into widespread prejudice. A social analysis of the phenomenon of transsexuality is hampered by the predominance of the hetero-normative discourse, including in scholarly spheres. The basic issue addressed by the author is the acceptance of transsexual persons, viewed from the perspective of their own personal experiences. These observations concern both the sphere of personal life as well as functioning in the macro-social space (school, work, etc.). In each of these spheres, a change of gender produces complications with which transsexual persons must grapple as they strive to live in harmony with their psychologically intuited gender.

The article’s subject is the status of the homosexual minority in the world of sports, which–as one would assume–is a hetero-normative world. The author draws attention to the different situations of lesbians and gays in sports as a result both of the manner in which sports themselves are seen and of how femininity andmasculinity in sports are viewed (certain types of sports activity are perceived as being masculine, and certain as being feminine). The attitudes of the male and female athletes themselves are described, as well as the attitude towards them in the sports environment and their perception in public opinion. The Gay Games, competitions for sexual minorities, are also presented, with their relation to mainstream (heterosexual) sports. Particular attention is paid to the ambiguous status of sexual minorities and various practices used within these milieus and towards them.

This article is about selected issues in women’s sports, and above all the modest participation of women in so-called leisure sports. Statistical data concerning Poland and other countries (particularlyWestern Europe) is presented. The fashion for jogging, which is currently being seen in Poland as well, is analyzed. The author’s own research, done in 2013 and involving 865 participants in the Łódź ‘I Care About My Health’ Marathon, documents the smallness of women’s interest in participating in marathon struggles.On the basis of the information collected in the study’s survey questionnaires, it was possible for the author to create a socio-demographic portrait of the female Polish long-distance runner. It was also possible to note the sociologically interesting and elucidating difference between men and women in the sphere of training and in their running careers/biographies.

This article is devoted to the subject of age and the elderly in the Middle Ages, and the manner of viewing elderly people in those times. The author uses Jan Długosz’s Annals, books 9–12, as his basic source. His analysis concentrates on the following questions: Whom did the Polish historian consider worthy of remembrance in his Annals? How did he describe those figures? What words did he use to describe the phenomenon of age or aging? The author analyses the Latin terms used to describe specific older persons, and also presents the perceptions of older women, older men, and elderly people as a group. An attempt is made to answer the question of whether old age was a period of well-being and prosperity in medieval times.