Catholicism and reproduction in socialist and postsocialist Poland: “Some arguments used against contraception do not always correspond to reality”
We are inviting you to the online lecture “Catholicism and reproduction in socialist and postsocialist Poland: Some arguments used against contraception do not always correspond to reality” by prof. Agnieszka Kościańska from University of Warsaw. The lecture will take place online April 18, 5 PM (EET).
The lecture will be streamed online – over the Facebook page of the Institute of International Relations and Political Science of Vilnius University
Those willing to watch over zoom have to register: https://forms.office.com/e/Nnt1BE8rJ3
This presentation focuses on debates, practices and activisms related to birth control in state- socialist and postsocialist Catholic Poland. Firstly, the lecture examines debates over marriage and contraceptives in the 1960s in Więź, a progressive Catholic monthly. The contributors followed closely the international Catholic debate over contraception in the 1960s and argued that many Catholics experienced painful dilemmas concerning birth control and as result often left the Church.
Secondly, it shows Polish reactions to the publication of Humanae Vitae. It analyses the struggle between progressive Catholics and conservative Catholics, especially the bishop Karol Wojtyła, who strongly supported the encyclical. The third part of the presentation discusses the social consequences of Humanae Vitae. It analyses the existing statistical data on religiosity in Poland and on the usage of birth control methods, which are officially forbidden by the Church, as well as in-depth interviews with Polish Catholics conducted by Cathorep project team. It argues that the prohibition of contraception is one of the factors contributing to the fact that religion in Poland is mostly a matter of ritual, and not necessarily the way of life.
The event will be moderated by dr. Ieva Balčiūnė (Vilnius University).
The event is part of the Vilnius University gender research seminar series. Seminar series are organized by Feminist Politics and Critical Theory Research Group at the Institute of International Relations and Political Science and Thinking Motherhood research group at the Faculty of Philology.
Agnieszka Kościańska is a Professor at the Department of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology, University of Warsaw. In 2021 and 2022, she was Leverhulme Visiting Professor at Oxford School of Global and Area Studies. She is the International co-Investigator in “Gender Wars: East and South” funded by Arts and Humanities Research Council. In 2020-2023 she was the Principal Investigator in “Catholicising Reproduction, Reproducing Catholicism: Activist Practices and Intimate Negotiations in Poland, 1930-Present” funded by the National Science Center Poland.
Agnieszka Kościańska is the author and (co)editor of several volumes on gender, sexuality, and discrimination, including Go Away: On Polish Racism (in Polish, with Michał Petryk, 2022, Wydawnictwo Krytyki Politycznej), To See a Moose: The History of Polish Sex Education (Berghahn Books 2021, Polish edition 2017, Wydawnictwo Czarne), Gender, Pleasure, and Violence: The Construction of Expert Knowledge of Sexuality in Poland (Indiana University Press 2021, Polish edition 2014, University of Warsaw Press).
