An Unexpected Continuity: Voluntary and Compulsory Sterilization in the Rhetoric of the Pre- and Post-World War II Polish Birth Control Movement

Kuźma-Markowska, Sylwia

doi:10.1163/187633011x570792

Cited by 6 publications

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“…Most eugenics-focused research on reproductive politics concerning Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe stops, however, with World War II, and only marginally refers to continuities in professionals and discourses from the second half of the 1940s onwards (Promitzer et al, 2011;Szegedi, 2012;Turda, 2013;Turda & Weindling, 2007). Also, while there is a rapidly growing body of scholarship on the state socialist history of sex education and reproductive politics, only recently have scholars revealed the (re)surfacing of eugenics following the end of World War II (Demény, 2018;Hahn, 2009;Kuře, 2018;Kuźma-Markowska, 2011;Lišková, 2018;Melegh, 2011;Prajerova, 2019;Shmidt, 2019;Šustrová, 2019;Szamosi, 2018;Szegedi, 2014;Varsa, 2017;Żok & Baum, 2018).…”

Section: 'New Eugenics:' Continuities and Changes In Eugenic Thought mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Concerning state socialist countries in Europe as well as countries further away from the Western European center, such as Greece, research on postwar eugenics has just begun (Barmpouti, 2019;Trubeta, 2013). Studies point to a number of similarities with Western trends in 'new eugenics' especially in human genetics, genetic counseling and family planning-related measures and practices (Barmpouti, 2019;Demény, 2018;Hahn, 2009;Kuře, 2018;Kuźma-Markowska, 2011;Melegh, 2011;Prajerova, 2019;Shmidt, 2019;Šustrová, 2019;Szamosi, 2018;Szegedi, 2014;Varsa, 2017;Żok & Baum, 2018).…”

Section: 'New Eugenics:' Continuities and Changes In Eugenic Thought mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Existing research has also pointed to two further ways that ensured continuities in eugenic arguments in state socialist countries that were similar to those in Western democracies. Like their American, Western and Northern European colleagues, professionals in Poland and Czechoslovakia also presented the distortion that National Socialism brought to the otherwise useful scientific field of eugenics as a way to ensure its postwar survival (Kuře, 2018;Kuźma-Markowska, 2011;Żok & Baum, 2018). Furthermore, Demény (2018) has noted how in the Hungarian context prewar terminology recalling 'the contested notion of eugenics' and its negative associations was abandoned.…”

Section: 'New Eugenics:' Continuities and Changes In Eugenic Thought mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A second factor that ensured the survival of eugenics in some state socialist contexts was the continued existence of organizations and the employment of professionals from the interwar period, who maintained their earlier eugenic arguments (Kuźma-Markowska, 2011;Lišková, 2018;Szamosi, 2018;Szegedi, 2012Szegedi, , 2014Turda, 2013). Kuźma-Markowska (2019) discusses in this special issue how Polish antinatalist reproductive politics between the mid-1950s and the 1960s was built on the prewar Polish birth control movement led by the Society of Conscious Motherhood.…”

Section: 'New Eugenics:' Continuities and Changes In Eugenic Thought mentioning

confidence: 99%

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‘New eugenics,’ gender and sexuality: a global perspective on reproductive politics and sex education in Cold War Europe

Varsa

Szikra

2020

The History of the Family

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The article addresses reproductive politics and sex education in Cold War Europe in light of novel historical research. Integrating sex education into reproductive politics it delineates four hitherto little discussed conceptual and topical areas in the field, and points to possibilities for further research. Most importantly, the article places the globalized character of post-World War II reproductive politics at the center of historical investigation. It sheds light on the position of (state socialist) Europe in the global processes that shaped fertility-and sexuality-related discourses, policies and practices during the Cold War, and the role of transnational agencies. Secondly, the article highlights the postwar persistence of eugenic thought in reproductive politics, still largely missing especially from the historiography of state socialist countries. It points to the ways in which "new eugenics" is related to its earlier manifestations in Europe as well as how it adapted to state socialist contexts. Third, the article discusses the important contribution of gender and intersectional scholarship on the history of sex education and reproductive politics in Europe to the social and welfare history of the region. Finally, the article pays specific attention to the role of the Catholic Church in the former "Eastern bloc." It underlines how reproductive issues enabled the Church to affect politics and engage with the state in heterogeneous ways beyond opposition. The article suggests that further historical analysis could importantly contribute to a better understanding of the present rise of populist right-wing discussion focused on the demise of the traditional family and the fall of birth rates.

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Section: 'New Eugenics:' Continuities and Changes In Eugenic Thought mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: 'New Eugenics:' Continuities and Changes In Eugenic Thought mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: 'New Eugenics:' Continuities and Changes In Eugenic Thought mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: 'New Eugenics:' Continuities and Changes In Eugenic Thought mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

‘New eugenics,’ gender and sexuality: a global perspective on reproductive politics and sex education in Cold War Europe

Varsa

Szikra

2020

The History of the Family

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“…Desde finales del siglo XX, el interés historiográfico ha estado muy ligado a debates e intereses sociales contemporáneos y a los avatares de las políticas de igualdad y avances y retrocesos en los derechos reproductivos, tanto a escala local como global. Numerosos trabajos han estudiado las relaciones entre la regulación de la natalidad y la demografía, la política o la iglesia en países de Norteamérica (Schoen, 2005;McLaren & McLaren, 1997), Europa Occidental (Harris, 2018Cova, 2015;Grossmann, 1995), Europa del Este (Kligman, 1998;Ignaciuk, 2014a;Kuźma-Markowska, 2011) (Brugeilles, 2005;Casas, 2004;Necochea López, 2008Felitti, 2012;Zárate Campos & Gonzáles Moya, 2015).…”

Section: Los Relatos Historiográficos Del Siglo XXI Sobre La Anticoncunclassified

Investigar y comunicar la historia de la anticoncepción

Gómez

Ignaciuk²

2020

Atlanticas Rev Int Est Fem

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En este trabajo se lleva a cabo una breve revisión de la producción académica más reciente sobre la historia de la anticoncepción en un ámbito internacional y se establecen las principales líneas de investigación desarrolladas. A continuación, se presenta y reflexiona sobre una experiencia de divulgación online acerca de la anticoncepción en España durante el franquismo y la transición democrática.

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Explaining the Calendar: The Catholic Church and Family Planning in Poland, 1930–1957

Jarska

Kuźma-Markowska²

2023

Hist. J.

Self Cite

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This article explores continuities and discontinuities in Polish Catholic discourses on family planning across a time span that tends to be divided in the historiography on Poland and political history in general. The period we analyse begins in 1930, with the pivotal encyclical Casti connubii defining church doctrine on contraception, and ends with the legalization of abortion in 1956, and a state-sponsored family planning campaign the following year. In order to reconstruct Catholic teachings on marriage and family planning we examine advice publications that received official church approval, paying particular attention to their gendered dimensions, the emphasis placed on marriage, and the ‘calendar’ method. Although our research includes three politically and socially distinct periods, we argue that the content of Catholic teachings on family planning in Poland was consistent throughout. We also show that, although there were some distinct national characteristics, the Polish Catholic discourse on family planning resembled to a great extent the developments in other countries, particularly in regard to visions of marriage and sexuality. As we delineate, by engaging in the discussion on family planning, Catholic authors acted as active constructors of modernity, construed in both periods in relation to science and nationalism.

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An Unexpected Continuity: Voluntary and Compulsory Sterilization in the Rhetoric of the Pre- and Post-World War II Polish Birth Control Movement

Cited by 6 publications

References 0 publications

‘New eugenics,’ gender and sexuality: a global perspective on reproductive politics and sex education in Cold War Europe

‘New eugenics,’ gender and sexuality: a global perspective on reproductive politics and sex education in Cold War Europe

Investigar y comunicar la historia de la anticoncepción

Explaining the Calendar: The Catholic Church and Family Planning in Poland, 1930–1957

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