What will we (not) learn about femininity and masculinity? Selectiveness in what is communicated by ‘sex education’ in Poland Cover Image

Czego (nie) dowiemy się o kobiecości i męskości? Selektywność przekazu „edukacji seksualnej” w Polsce
What will we (not) learn about femininity and masculinity? Selectiveness in what is communicated by ‘sex education’ in Poland

Author(s): Emilia Paprzycka, Joanna Dec-Pietrowska, Agnieszka Walendzik - Ostrowska
Subject(s): Sociology
Published by: Instytut Stosowanych Nauk Społecznych Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
Keywords: gender; sexuality; sex education; textbooks for FLE

Summary/Abstract: The topic tackled in the article deals with the social designing of sexuality in the context of the models of femininity and masculinity presented in textbooks for the school subject of family life education (FLE). The goal of the research described in the paper was to establish how women’s and men’s sexuality is defined in textbooks used in FLE, what messages are highlighted in them, and what messages are omitted. The research was conducted using a qualitative strategy with the application of content analysis. The choice of research material was targeted; the analysis covered the textbooks currently in use for the subject of family life education and approved by the Ministry of National Education. The concept of gender constituted a research perspective, and was simultaneously an analytical category. Conclusions from the research indicate than men’s and women’s sexuality is presented as constructs in keeping with the traditional model of the sexes, assuming dualism and polarisation. A conservative model was used for the presentation of sexuality itself. As a consequence, the educational scope of sexuality proposed in the textbooks analysed seems maladjusted to the standards of modern sex education. In addition it does not take into account the entire spectrum of developments coming as a consequence of changes in love lives observed in contemporary western societies.

  • Issue Year: 2017
  • Issue No: 23 (1)
  • Page Range: 103-120
  • Page Count: 17
  • Language: Polish