Seks, edukacja i syfilis. O społecznym obliczu kultury erotycznej w Rosji na przełomie XIX i XX w.
Sex, education and syphilis. Social type of erotic culture in Russia at the turn of 19/20 century

Summary/Abstract: The author of this article makes an attempt to describe sexual life of Russian community at the turn of 19th/20th Century. In the final years of 19th Century the ambiguous term gender issue (polovoj vopros) came into use. It meant mainly social relationships of men and women. The main subjects of this discourse were men, so gender issue should be seen as female issue, including social status and rights of the women, such as marital and family rights, love and sexual relationships. The issue of sexuality was discussed in several aspects, such as: sexuality and marriage, sexuality and birth control, sexuality and crime, sexuality and public health, sexuality and sexual education of young generation, sexuality and prostitution, sexuality and venereal diseases. The representatives of different professions (medical doctors, demographers, hygienists, educators and educationalists, criminologists) were particularly concerned with the secret sin of onanism, for masturbation was seen as the source of all illnesses and ailments. However, including sexuality into public discourse did not mean acceptance: the main issue of the discussion was how to control sexual life effectively. It was agreed, that such social control should be based on traditional religious and moral standards and values.

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