Article | Poland

English title: Patriarchy after sexmission
Author: Agnieszka Graff
Source: Swiat bez kobiet. Plec w polskim zyciu publicznym
Keyword(s): feminist movement | gender and culture | Solidarity | post-communism
Languages(s): Polish
Manifest: view document: Patriarchat po seksmisji
Copyright:

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Summary:
This text analyses the relationship between presence/absence of women in politics and decision making process and cultural patterns of femininity and masculinity existing in Polish culture. According to Graff, relationships between men and women are based on old knight-lady contract, that defines the social roles of women and men and divides spheres. Graff reads recent Polish history, finding in “Solidarity” movement mimicry of those cultural patterns. In her reading, transformation process, including exclusion of women from the public sphere and severe anti-abortion law, was an attempt to reinstitute “real masculinity” supposedly destroyed by the communist system. In her opinion, women as well as men, support patriarchy by acting according to those cultural norms of gender. She calls for revolution, awakening of feminist consciousness that will lead to change in culture and politics.